Wiping the
water from his face, he roared:
"Yes, cut down my hammock! Don't you see the netting has been cut?"
"The truth ye tell, quarter-master; some haythin has surely been
cutting yer netting. Now who could have done that? I hope the culprit
may be found, that's all."
And the face of the quarter-master himself did not evince more savage
fury than the Irishman. He was the first to report it to the lieutenant,
and in his zeal actually burst in on the captain himself and told of the
disaster, volunteering his services to hunt down the culprit.
"Find him!" thundered the captain, his face white with rage. "Find him,
and, by the trident of Neptune, I swear I'll see his backbone!"
No one in the whole ship was as zealous as the Irishman in searching for
the culprit; but he took care never to find him.
Captains of men-of-war are fond of delicacies, and the captain had a
fine fat pig, which he intended for a special feast to be given for his
officers. Terrence, through his zeal, became such a favorite, that he
was even permitted to superintend the cooking.
The quarter-master's favorite dog, which was as fat as the pig, suddenly
disappeared the day before the feast, and Terrence had a search
instituted for him without avail, and gave it out as his opinion that
the dog had fallen overboard. On the same day the officers feasted on
roast pig, Terrence's mess had roast pig.
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