`` In all that time , sir , ye should have learned to know me : I 'm a stiff man , and a dour man ; but for what ye say the now -- fie , fie ! -- it comes from a bad heart and a black conscience . If ye say the lad will die -- '' `` Ay , will he ! '' said Mr. Riach . `` Well , sir , is not that enough ? '' said Hoseason . `` Flit him where ye please ! '' Thereupon the captain ascended the ladder ; and I , who had lain silent throughout this strange conversation , beheld Mr. Riach turn after him and bow as low as to his knees in what was plainly a spirit of derision . Even in my then state of sickness , I perceived two things : that the mate was touched with liquor , as the captain hinted , and that -LRB- drunk or sober -RRB- he was like to prove a valuable friend . Five minutes afterwards my bonds were cut , I was hoisted on a man 's back , carried up to the forecastle , and laid in a bunk on some sea-blankets ; where the first thing that I did was to lose my senses . It was a blessed thing indeed to open my eyes again upon the daylight , and to find myself in the society of men . The forecastle was a roomy place enough , set all about with berths , in which the men of the watch below were seated smoking , or lying down asleep . The day being calm and the wind fair , the scuttle was open , and not only the good daylight , but from time to time -LRB- as the ship rolled -RRB- a dusty beam of sunlight shone in , and dazzled and delighted me . I had no sooner moved , moreover , than one of the men brought me a drink of something healing which Mr. Riach had prepared , and bade me lie still and I should soon be well again . There were no bones broken , he explained : `` A clour * on the head was naething . Man , '' said he , `` it was me that gave it ye ! '' * Blow . Here I lay for the space of many days a close prisoner , and not only got my health again , but came to know my companions . They were a rough lot indeed , as sailors mostly are : being men rooted out of all the kindly parts of life , and condemned to toss together on the rough seas , with masters no less cruel . There were some among them that had sailed with the pirates and seen things it would be a shame even to speak of ; some were men that had run from the king 's ships , and went with a halter round their necks , of which they made no secret ; and all , as the saying goes , were `` at a word and a blow '' with their best friends .
Yet I had not been many XXXXX shut up with them before I began to be ashamed of my first judgment , when I had drawn away from them at the Ferry pier , as though they had been unclean beasts .
Ay Riach berths daylight days fie first minutes sea-blankets smoking