"Mr. Jones," continued the captain, "never went aloft to reef topsails without having a belaying pin stuck into the leg of his boot. He used to take his stand in the slings of the yard, and if the sail wasn't picked up pretty lively, before you could count twenty he would have been out on both yard-arms, and hit every man a tap on the head that made 'em take hold like young tigers. Then when the sail was reefed he'd sing out, 'lay down,' and as every man got into the rigging, if he wasn't mighty spry, he'd get helped along with a kick, and then he followed the last man down and jumped on his head and shoulders, if he could overtake him. I tell you it was fun to see them scatter when he said 'lay down.' They would come sliding down the backstays like a parcel of monkeys, and once a Dutchman, who happened to be the last man, and saw the second mate's boots just above his head, got so frightened that he jumped down from half way up the main-rigging and broke his leg. I had to scold Jones though a little for that, as the galoot was laid up the rest of the voyage." "I should think that was rather poor economy," said I, "to lose a man's labor for several months, for the sake of gaining a few seconds time in getting down from aloft." "It paid though, after all," answered the captain, "for Jones could get as much work out of six men as _some_ could out of a dozen. It's worse economy to be too humane with sailors." "If that is being a smart officer I hardly think I shall become one," said I. "I'll tell you what it is, you'll never make one unless you give up some of your conscientious scruples. I must say you do very well about your work, but you're too humane a man to go to sea, and if you want to get along in this profession you've got to leave your nice principles on shore. There's no religion off soundings. The captain of a ship has got to be a liar, a cheat, a swearer, a fighter and a tyrant; in fact, if you mean to be a good mate or a good captain you've got to be a rascal." "If good principles are good for anything they are good for everything," I replied, "and if what you say is true, either this is a profession no one ought to follow or else religion is a sham and ought to be hove overboard entirely. A good God would never have imposed laws upon us which would interfere with our necessary occupations, and I don't believe he meant the Golden Rule to be confined to the shore."