I daren't go up these rope ladders; if I did I know I should be drowned." In spite of this Mr Gregory one day ordered him aloft, and the poor fellow managed to get up as high as the mainmast head, when he seemed entirely to lose his nerve, and, letting his legs slip in between the shrouds, he clung there with his hands clutching the ratlines, and holding on for life.
"Go on up, sir; go on up," shouted the first-mate, and his hoarse orders attracted the attention of the passengers.

But the poor fellow did not move, and growing tired at last, the mate ordered him to come down.
This order was of as much effect as those which preceded it, the man remaining motionless.
"If this was only the royal navy," cried the mate, "I'd have you spread-eagled up there and lashed to the rigging till you got used to it.

Here, where are you going, youngster ?" "Up to see what's the matter," said Mark coolly; and swinging himself up he began to climb the rigging.
It was his first attempt, and as his feet began to make acquaintance with the ratlines he awoke for the first time to the fact that though they looked just like a ladder to climb it was a very different matter.
They gave and the shrouds felt loose and seemed to sway; the height above looked terrific, and the distance below to the deck quite startling.

That clean-boarded deck, too, appeared as if it would be horribly hard to fall upon; but a doubt arose in his mind as to what would be the consequences if he slipped--would he fall with a crash upon the deck, or slip part of the way down the shrouds, and be shot off into that extremely soft place, the sea?
The idea was so startling that he glanced down at it, to see that it looked gloriously clear and sunlit--transparent to a degree; but the great ship was gliding through it swiftly, and he knew that he would go down and down with the impetus of his fall, and come up somewhere in the current to be carried far astern in the troubled water in the wake of the ship.
How long would it take them to get down a boat?
and what would become of him while he was waiting?
He could swim as boys do swim in an ordinary way, who learn in some river or pool at school; but that was very different to being left astern in the sea with the ship going eight or nine knots an hour; and he felt that he would be drowned before help could come.
Then there were the sharks! He did not know that there were any sharks, but his brain suggested to him that there would certainly be at least one big fellow whose back fin would be seen cutting the water as he glided towards his victim, his cross-cut mouth with its cruel, triangular saw-edged teeth ready; and then there would be the water stained with blood, and as he rose to the surface without, say, a leg, he would hear his mother's despairing shriek, and then-- He had got up about a dozen ratlines while his imagination had painted all that picture for him, and the result was that he set his teeth hard and went on climbing, but thoroughly realising the while how it was David Jimpny, the miserable stowaway, had lost his nerve, and was now clinging above him in that absurd attitude, with his legs stuck through between the shrouds.
Another minute and he was as high, holding on with both hands, and listening to the buzz of voices on deck, but particularly careful not to look down again.
"I'll think about what I'm doing," he said to himself, "and then I sha'n't be afraid." "Hullo! Jimpny," he said aloud, "what's the matter ?" and, setting one hand at liberty, he gave the man a slap on the shoulder.
"Don't, don't! Pray, don't touch me, or I shall fall," groaned the wretched man.
"Nonsense! you won't fall.

Get up through that hole on to the woodwork." "What, is it you, Mr Strong, sir ?" "Me?
yes.