To be sure , I would tell him how kindly I had myself been used upon that dry land he was so much afraid of , and how well fed and carefully taught both by my friends and my parents : and if he had been recently hurt , he would weep bitterly and swear to run away ; but if he was in his usual crackbrain humour , or -LRB- still more -RRB- if he had had a glass of spirits in the roundhouse , he would deride the notion . It was Mr. Riach -LRB- Heaven forgive him ! -RRB- who gave the boy drink ; and it was , doubtless , kindly meant ; but besides that it was ruin to his health , it was the pitifullest thing in life to see this unhappy , unfriended creature staggering , and dancing , and talking he knew not what . Some of the men laughed , but not all ; others would grow as black as thunder -LRB- thinking , perhaps , of their own childhood or their own children -RRB- and bid him stop that nonsense , and think what he was doing . As for me , I felt ashamed to look at him , and the poor child still comes about me in my dreams . All this time , you should know , the Covenant was meeting continual head-winds and tumbling up and down against head-seas , so that the scuttle was almost constantly shut , and the forecastle lighted only by a swinging lantern on a beam . There was constant labour for all hands ; the sails had to be made and shortened every hour ; the strain told on the men 's temper ; there was a growl of quarrelling all day long from berth to berth ; and as I was never allowed to set my foot on deck , you can picture to yourselves how weary of my life I grew to be , and how impatient for a change . And a change I was to get , as you shall hear ; but I must first tell of a conversation I had with Mr. Riach , which put a little heart in me to bear my troubles . Getting him in a favourable stage of drink -LRB- for indeed he never looked near me when he was sober -RRB- , I pledged him to secrecy , and told him my whole story . He declared it was like a ballad ; that he would do his best to help me ; that I should have paper , pen , and ink , and write one line to Mr. Campbell and another to Mr. Rankeillor ; and that if I had told the truth , ten to one he would be able -LRB- with their help -RRB- to pull me through and set me in my rights . `` And in the meantime , '' says he , `` keep your heart up . You 're not the only one , I 'll tell you that . There 's many a man hoeing tobacco over-seas that should be mounting his horse at his own door at home ; many and many ! And life is all a variorum , at the best . Look at me : I 'm a laird 's son and more than half a doctor , and here I am , man-Jack to Hoseason ! '' I thought it would be civil to ask him for his story . He whistled loud . `` Never had one , '' said he . `` I like fun , that 's all . '' And he skipped out of the forecastle .
CHAPTER VIII THE ROUND-HOUSE One night , about eleven o'clock , a man of Mr. XXXXX 's watch -LRB- which was on deck -RRB- came below for his jacket ; and instantly there began to go a whisper about the forecastle that `` Shuan had done for him at last . ''
Campbell Rankeillor Riach crackbrain forecastle head-seas head-winds hour laird over-seas