And he confirmed it with a poor , silly , ugly oath . I have never felt such pity for any one in this wide world as I felt for that half-witted creature , and it began to come over me that the brig Covenant -LRB- for all her pious name -RRB- was little better than a hell upon the seas . `` Have you no friends ? '' said I . He said he had a father in some English seaport , I forget which . `` He was a fine man , too , '' he said , `` but he 's dead . '' `` In Heaven 's name , '' cried I , `` can you find no reputable life on shore ? '' `` O , no , '' says he , winking and looking very sly , `` they would put me to a trade . I know a trick worth two of that , I do ! '' I asked him what trade could be so dreadful as the one he followed , where he ran the continual peril of his life , not alone from wind and sea , but by the horrid cruelty of those who were his masters . He said it was very true ; and then began to praise the life , and tell what a pleasure it was to get on shore with money in his pocket , and spend it like a man , and buy apples , and swagger , and surprise what he called stick-in-the-mud boys . `` And then it 's not all as bad as that , '' says he ; `` there 's worse off than me : there 's the twenty-pounders . O , laws ! you should see them taking on . Why , I 've seen a man as old as you , I dessay '' -- -LRB- to him I seemed old -RRB- -- `` ah , and he had a beard , too -- well , and as soon as we cleared out of the river , and he had the drug out of his head -- my ! how he cried and carried on ! I made a fine fool of him , I tell you ! And then there 's little uns , too : oh , little by me ! I tell you , I keep them in order . When we carry little uns , I have a rope 's end of my own to wollop 'em . ''
And so he ran on , until it came in on me what he meant by XXXXX were those unhappy criminals who were sent over-seas to slavery in North America , or the still more unhappy innocents who were kidnapped or trepanned -LRB- as the word went -RRB- for private interest or vengeance .
beard father head rope seaport stick-in-the-mud swagger trade twenty-pounders uns