"I don't like to see the skipper taking such an interest in you," Samuel said with a shake of his head. "Mr. Bludsoe, the mate, is a fine man. You can trust him as you would a father. But these Orientals--I question their motives. True, Murad was a skipper in the Sultan's navy, but he's hiding something. He's more than a mere captain. We older men can take care of ourselves, but you've had no experience with men. You'd better stick close to me aboard ship, and closer still when we land!" Samuel was our chantie man, and good service he did in stimulating us to work the windlass in hauling up the anchors--sometimes buried so deep in the mud at the sea's bottom that it needed the liveliest sort of chantie to inspire our hearts and strengthen our sinews. The secret of the swift way in which we heaved up the anchor, cleared away lashings, pumped the ship, unreeved the running gear, and mastheaded the topsails lay in the fact that the chantie caused us to work in unison. No matter how tired we were, our spirits rose and the blood coursed as we worked to the chantie Samuel roared forth: "Way, haul away; Oh, haul away, my Rosey. Way, haul away; O, haul away, Joe!" There being a fine breeze from the shore, we made sail at the wharf and headed out to sea. As the wind increased, all sail was made, topmast stun'sail booms were run out, stun'sails spread, anchors secured, and all movable things on deck were made fast. When we hove the log it was seen that we were doing better than ten knot, a rate of speed that made Murad well satisfied with his ship. We were mustered aft--watches were to be chosen. There were ten able seamen, three ordinary seamen, and one boy--myself. The men were divided between the port and starboard watches. Mr. Bludsoe, the chief officer, was in command of the port watch. Mr. French, the second officer, was in charge of the starboard watch. When we were not attending to the sails, we were kept busy scraping, painting, tarring and holy-stoning. At four bells--six o'clock--the port watch came on deck to relieve the starboard. The starboard watch then went below for supper, and were allowed to remain off duty until eight o'clock--eight bells. The port watch was then relieved by them, and its members were allowed till midnight for resting. Short "dog" watches were provided for so that the port and starboard watch had eight hours off instead of four hours' duty every other night. When the watch was changed, the man at the wheel was relieved, the lookout man climbed to the topgallant forecastle to relieve the weary lookout who in loneliness had faced exposure to the weather for four hours, while the rest of the men smoked their pipes in as comfortable places as they could find, and swapped yarns. The cry that caused the most excitement aboard ship was "All hands shorten sail." This meant "going aloft." The order had no terrors for me, thanks to my early experiences on schooners in the Chesapeake Bay.