Illegal punishments were still inflicted, for there were always then, as now, a certain percentage of ruffians forward who were amenable to no discipline, and could be managed only by meeting them with their own weapons. The “spread-eagle” and the ride on the “gray mare” were still resorted to to compel obedience. They “spread-eagled” a man by tricing him up inside the rigging, taut lines holding his arms and legs outstretched to the farthest shrouds, a bight of rope passed around his body preventing too great a strain. He was gagged, and so he could not answer back. The “gray mare” on which the obstreperous were forced to gallop was the spanker-boom--the long spar that extends far over the water at the ship’s stern. By casting loose the sheets, the boom rolled briskly from side to side, and the lonely horseman was forced in this perilous position to hold himself by digging his nails into the soft wood or swinging to any of the gear that flew into his reach. At best it was not a safe saddle, and a rough sea made it worse than a bucking broncho. [Illustration: THE SMOKING HOUR] Paul Jones had a neat way of disciplining his midshipmen aloft. He would go to the rail himself, and casting loose the halyards, let the yard go down with a run, to the young gentleman’s great discomfiture. But the life of the old salt was not all bitterness. It was not all shore-leave, but there was skittles now and then for the deserving and good-conduct men. Jack’s pleasures were simple, as they are to-day. There was never a crew that did not have its merry chanter and its flute, fiddle, or guitar, or the twice-told tale of the ship’s Methuselah to entertain the dog-watches of the evening or the smoking-hour and make a break in the dreary monotony of routine. On public holidays, when everything was snug at sea or in port, a glorious skylark was the order of the afternoon. At the call of the bos’n’s mate, “All hands frolic,” rigorous discipline was suspended, and the men turned to with a will to make the day one to be talked about. Mast-head-races, potato- and sack-races, climbing the greased pole, and rough horse-play and man-handling filled the afternoon until hammocks were piped down and the watch was set. Purses from the wardroom and prizes of rum and tobacco--luxuries dear to Jack’s heart--were the incentives to vigorous athletics and rough buffoonery. The rigging was filled from netting to top with the rough, jesting figures, and cheer upon cheer and laugh upon laugh greeted a successful bout or fortunate sally.