The mate was not harsh with the sailors, and carried on his work with very little noise, giving ordinary orders in a mild tone. But still he was strict, and the men had to move at a lively pace and be wide awake; and sometimes when they failed to do this, he did not resist the temptation of sending a curse and a belaying-pin after them, or perhaps giving them a touch of a rope's end. There was nothing, however, like Mr. Howard's abuse of men, and if a sailor did come in for a rap, he was pretty sure to be in the wrong. His relations to me were very pleasant. When relieving each other at night, if no work was going on, we had a short chat, or the mate told some little yarn about the Liverpool packet trade, which he had sailed in a good deal. There was no third mate this voyage, so we had to depend on each other for sociability. Though it was the month of August the weather was blustering and changeable. The S.W. wind which had favored us so well gave place to northerly and easterly winds, with unsettled and squally weather. At times nearly all sail would be set to a steady breeze, when suddenly the black, threatening clouds would spring up from the horizon, and with only a few minutes' warning, spread over the sky, bursting upon the ship in a furious gust, while all hands would be at work clewing up and hauling down the slatting, booming and rustling sails; and officers and sailors increased the noise by what would seem to a landsman a perfect Babel of harsh orders and shrill cries. Those are the times that try officers' souls, and the times that test the sailors' merit. In fine weather a little laziness or ignorance may perhaps be borne patiently, but in a squall there is no forgiveness for a man who "hangs back," or "doesn't know what he's about." In the confusion attending these squalls some of the sailors seemed to forget what little they knew, and were frequently letting go the wrong ropes or running everywhere except to the place where they were wanted. The captain's good resolutions succumbed to this pressure so far as to allow his tongue to regain its old fluency at cursing; the mate was pretty active both in words and deeds; and as for the second mate, he used to bite his lips pretty hard to keep his tongue quiet. There was an old sailor on board who had greatly attracted my interest, partly owing to the circumstances attending his coming on this voyage, and partly because of his good nature and willingness to work as well as his feeble energies would permit. He was now fifty-two years old, and a confirmed drunkard. The day after leaving Baltimore he came to the steward, as he was about going into the galley with a pan of dough, and asked him if he knew where the ship was bound to. "Certainly," said the steward, "don't you?" He shook his head, and the steward told him: "We're going to Amsterdam."