Jethou | Page 8

leg of flesh having
been lost in my father's service), gave a funny jaw-breaking Scotch
song, with a chorus which no one could repeat, so when the chorus
came he sang it alone, while we contented ourselves with howling
"Rule Britannia"--at least all those who knew it, while the others who
did not, laughed and smoked.
Then a Spaniard (who was a shipwright) sang one of his national songs

to an accompaniment of thumb-snapping (to imitate castanets), at
which he was very expert. He had a fine baritone voice, and his song
was full of fire, being a famous bull-fighting ditty, in which El Toro
came in for a dashing chorus.
By and bye the fun became still faster and more furious, till old Ross,
of the timber-toe, took exception and would insist on order being kept.
Ross always constituted himself Master of the Ceremonies when
anything festive was on foot, and our men, as a matter of course, left
everything in his hands; but the men of St. Peter Port knew him not,
and would have no authority from him, and as a kind of good-natured
revenge for his interference, some of them played a practical joke upon
him; but they did not know their man, for no sooner had the joke been
carried into effect (gunpowder in his pipe) than Ross seized his stick
and knocked two of his tormentors down, the rest quickly fleeing out of
doors. His wooden leg greatly handicapped him, but he at length got
one of the men in a corner, who, on finding there was no means of
escape, struck out right and left at Ross's somewhat prominent nose,
causing the claret to flow like the cataract of Lodore. Now his Scotch
blood was up, and he certainly would have done his assailant an injury,
as he was a very powerful man, had not some of his comrades rescued
him. But this did not appease his fury, for he went at them all with a
glass bottle in one hand and a heavy stick in the other; but luckily his
career was cut short by a man who ran behind him, and with a
well-directed blow with an iron rod broke his leg clean in two just
below the knee--the wooden one, of course. Down came the hero, who
in his rage tore up the earth around him to fling at the circle of grinning
faces. By this time my father and the skipper came upon the scene, and
after a time cooled down the gallant Scot, and persuaded him to "gang
awa" to bed, which he did, going in state, borne at the four corners by
four of his shipmates.
This incident put a stop to the singing, but commenced fun in another
way. Some of the fellows cut up the remains of Ross's leg and stick and
set them on fire, the barrel which had done duty for a rostrum being
also broken up and added; other wooden articles were quickly flung on,
till at length quite a large bonfire was formed, round which these

excited men danced hand-in-hand like children round a Maypole. Their
manners, however, were hardly childlike, for they jumped, and yelled,
and sang with the ruddy firelight glowing on their countenances, till
they looked like a lot of demons performing some diabolical
incantation. All around was the dark night, and rocks, and trees, which
gave a most weird aspect to the scene when viewed from a short
distance.
And thus they were enjoying their pandemonium when my father, the
skipper, and I left them in the "wee sma' hours" and retired to rest.
How long they kept it up I know not, but when I awoke and dressed at
daylight all was quiet. At six all hands were called, and a sorry sight
they presented. Ross had mounted a jury-leg, while among the other
men no less than three black eyes appeared, beside bruised cheeks, and
red swollen noses. However, all were friendly again, and agreed that
they had hardly ever before spent such a jolly night. Such was a sailor's
idea of a jolly time or "high old spree!"
Breakfast over, my goods were hauled from the beach and placed in the
different rooms and sheds according to their kind, while by noon the
"Cormorant," with her Blue Peter flying, was ready for a start
northward to dear old England. The Guernseaise had departed amid
give and take cheering directly after breakfast, so that only the crew of
the vessel remained. My father bade me an affectionate farewell on the
deck of the vessel, but at the last embrace I felt too full of emotion to
speak, for a lump was in my throat, and a tear started from my father's
eye and rolled down his bronzed