no man prefers to sleep two in a bed. in fact, you would a good deal rather not sleep with your own brother. i don’t know how it is, but people like to be private when they are sleeping. and when it comes to sleeping with an unknown stranger, in a strange inn, in a strange town, and that stranger a harpooneer, then your objections indefinitely multiply. nor was there any earthly reason why i as a sailor should sleep two in a bed, more than anybody else; for sailors no more sleep two in a bed at sea, than bachelor kings do ashore. to be sure they all sleep together in one apartment, but you have your own hammock, and cover yourself with your own blanket, and sleep in your own skin.