All, however,
suffered very much for the want of water, crowding around two half
hogsheads when they were brought on board, and often fighting for the
first drink. On one of these occasions a Virginian near me was elbowed
by a Spaniard and thrust him back. The Spaniard drew a sheath knife,
when the Virginian knocked him headlong backwards, down two hatches,
which had just been opened for heaving up a hogshead of stale water
from the hold, for the prisoners' drink. This water had probably been
there for years, and was as ropy as molasses.
"There was a deal of trouble between the American and the French and
Spanish prisoners. The latter slept in hammocks, we, on the
_floor_ of the deck next above them. One night our boys went down
* * * and, at a given signal, cut the hammock lashings of the French
and Spanish prisoners at the head, and let them all down by the run on
the dirty floor. In the midst of the row that followed this deed of
darkness, the Americans stole back to their quarters, and were all
fast asleep when the English guard came down.
"No lights were permitted after ten o'clock. We used, however, to hide
our candles occasionally under our hats, when the order came to 'Douse
the glim!' One night the officer of the guard discovered our
disobedience, and came storming down the hatchway with a file of
soldiers. Our lights were all extinguished in a moment, and we on the
alert for our tyrants, whom we seized with a will, and hustled to and
fro in the darkness, till their cries aroused the whole ship.
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