“‘Yes, sir,’ sez he. ‘I was walking for’ard, just afore eight bells, whin I see a keg av beer floatin’ in th’ air abaft th’ fore riggin’. I knew ’twas ’gainst orders t’ tech th’ stuff, an’ th’ only way t’ save the boys was to hide th’ keg as soon as it lit on th’ main-deck. How th’ rest av th’ watch missed seein’ the keg floatin’ past th’ fore riggin’ I can’t make out at all, at all. But that’s th’ truth, th’ whole truth, an’ a divil a bit besides th’ truth, s’help me Gawd!’ “Well, ye see, old Broadchin was so well satisfied with th’ explanation that he niver said another whurd, an’ he believed so well that he was a-tellin’ av th’ truth that he clapped him in irons an’ kept him ’tween decks th’ whole av’ th’ cruise. “Whin he was discharged he was all broke in health, an’ he got good an’ drunk an’ came back t’ say good-bye t’ all hands, for he was a good feller, even in liquor. “‘Good-bye, O’Toole, an’ may th’ Lord bless an’ prosper ye,’ sez he. An’ thin he shakes hands all around an’ comes aft t’ where th’ officers was sittin’. “‘Good-bye, Mr. McGraw, an’ may th’ Lord bless an’ prosper ye,’ sez he t’ th’ liftenant. Then he walked up t’ th’ owld man. “‘Good-bye t’ ye, too, sir,’ sez he. ‘Good-bye, Captain Broadchin, an’ may th’ Lord bless an’ prosper ye, too, sir--but to a damned limited extint!’ “An’ there was a good bo’s’n gone, all because av that Mike. So I made up me mind thin an’ there niver t’ take another man’s sins upon me sowl, nor shield any av his ornery doin’s by mesilf.” Brown laughed a little at O’Toole’s account, and then said, with more earnestness than I thought the occasion required: “After all, the bo’s’n did the right thing, for it would have been rather a mean piece of business to have told how the beer came into his possession and gotten the whole watch in trouble.” “Not a bit av it--it would have saved a good bo’s’n an’ me a lot av rope’s-ending upon th’ hide av that good-for-nothing man, Mike.” “Well, I don’t know about that,” replied Brown, “I don’t think much of a man who won’t shield his friends. Suppose, for instance, you had a good friend or brother, and something occurred that might get him into trouble. Wouldn’t you do what you could to keep him out of it?” “Now, ’pon me whurd, if ye ain’t entirely out av your reckoning. I’d see him forty fathoms below anywhere at all before I’d risk mesilf.” Brown rose from the hatch and gave a groan of disgust. Then he went aft on the quarter-deck, and all of that watch he appeared to be thinking over some interesting subject. He was so absorbed that he hardly spoke to me until midnight. Then he gave a sigh of relief, and, as O’Toole came to relieve us, we went below. I stopped a few moments to take a bite of the salt junk set out on the cabin table for the mates. Afterward, seeing the light in his stateroom, I passed by his open door to see why a third mate should stay awake during his watch below.