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 days 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 . No class of man is altogether bad , but each has its own faults and virtues ; and these shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule . Rough they were , sure enough ; and bad , I suppose ; but they had many virtues . They were kind when it occurred to them , simple even beyond the simplicity of a country lad like me , and had some glimmerings of honesty . There was one man , of maybe forty , that would sit on my berthside for hours and tell me of his wife and child . He was a fisher that had lost his boat , and thus been driven to the deep-sea voyaging . Well , it is years ago now : but I have never forgotten him . His wife -LRB- who was `` young by him , '' as he often told me -RRB- waited in vain to see her man return ; he would never again make the fire for her in the morning , nor yet keep the bairn when she was sick . Indeed , many of these poor fellows -LRB- as the event proved -RRB- were upon their last cruise ; the deep seas and cannibal fish received them ; and it is a thankless business to speak ill of the dead . Among other good deeds that they did , they returned my money , which had been shared among them ; and though it was about a third short , I was very glad to get it , and hoped great good from it in the land I was going to . The ship was bound for the Carolinas ; and you must not suppose that I was going to that place merely as an exile . The trade was even then much depressed ; since that , and with the rebellion of the colonies and the formation of the United States , it has , of course , come to an end ; but in those days of my youth , white men were still sold into slavery on the plantations , and that was the destiny to which my wicked uncle had condemned me .
The cabin-boy Ransome -LRB- from whom I had XXXXX heard of these atrocities -RRB- came in at times from the round-house , where he berthed and served , now nursing a bruised limb in silent agony , now raving against the cruelty of Mr. Shuan .
Riach States bairn daylight days fire first hours third voyaging