a capital ship for an ocean trip was the walloping window blind no gale that blew dismayed her crew or troubled the captains mind the man at the wheel was taught to feel contempt for the wildest blow and it often appeared when the weather had cleared that he d been in his bunk below the boatswain s mate was very sedate yet fond of amusement too and he played hop scotch with the starboard watch while the captain tickled the crew and the gunner we had was apparently mad for he sat on the after rail and fired salutes with the captain s boots in the teeth of the booming gale the captain sat in a commodore s hat and dined in a royal way on toasted pigs and pickles and figs and gummery bread each day but the rest of us ate from an odious plate for the food that was given the crew was a number of tons of hot cross buns chopped up with sugar and glue and we all felt ill as mariners will on a diet that s cheap and rude and the deck shook when we dipped the cook in a tub of his gluesome food then nautical pride we laid aside and we cast the vessel ashore on the gulliby isles where the poohpooh smiles and the anagazanders roar composed of sand was that favored land and trimmed with cinnamon straws and pink and blue was the pleasing hue of the tickletoeteasers claws and we sat on the edge of a sandy ledge and shot at the whistling bee and the binnacle bats wore water proof hats as they danced in the sounding sea on rubagub bark from dawn to dark we fed till we all had grown uncommonly shrunkwhen a chinese junk came by from the torriby zone she was stubby and square but we didn t much care and we cheerily put to sea and we left the crew of the junk to chew the bark of the rubagub tree