 so; getting neither more nor
less inebriated, but, to use his own phrase, remaining just about right. When in
this interesting state, he had a free lurch in his gait, a queer way of hitching
up his waistbands, looked unnecessarily steady at you when speaking, and for the
rest, was in very tolerable spirits. At these times, moreover, he was
exceedingly patriotic; and in a most amusing way, frequently showed his
patriotism whenever he happened to encounter Dunk, a good-natured, square-faced
Dane, aboard.
    It must be known here, by the by, that the cooper had a true sailor
admiration for Lord Nelson. But he entertained a very erroneous idea of the
personal appearance of the hero. Not content with depriving him of an eye and an
arm, he stoutly maintained that he had also lost a leg in one of his battles.
Under this impression, he sometimes hopped up to Dunk with one leg curiously
locked behind him into his right arm, at the same time closing an eye.
    In this attitude he would call upon him to look up, and behold the man who
gave his countrymen such a thrashing at Copenhagen. »Look you, Dunk,« says he,
staggering about, and winking hard with one eye to keep the other shut; »look
you: one man - hang me, half a man - with one leg, one arm, one eye - hang me,
with only a piece of a carcass, flogged your whole shabby nation. Do you deny
it, you lubber?«
    The Dane was a mule of a man, and understanding but little English, seldom
made anything of a reply; so the cooper generally dropped his leg, and marched
off, with the air of a man who despised saying anything further.
 

                                  Chapter XVI

                              We Encounter a Gale

The mild blue weather we enjoyed after leaving the Marquesas gradually changed
as we ran farther south and approached Tahiti. In these generally tranquil seas,
the wind sometimes blows with great violence; though, as every sailor knows, a
spicy gale in the tropic latitudes of the Pacific is far different from a
tempest in the howling North Atlantic. We soon found ourselves battling with the
waves, while the before mild Trades, like a woman roused, blew fiercely, but
still warmly, in our face.
    For all this, the mate carried sail without stint; and as for the brave
Little Jule, she stood up to it well; and though once in a while floored in the
trough of a sea, sprang to her keel again and showed play. Every old
