But I had no sooner swallowed a mouthful,
than I thought my entrails were scorched, and endeavoured with a
deluge of small-beer to allay the heat it occasioned. Supper being
over, Mr. Morgan having smoked a couple of pipes, and supplied
the moisture he had expended with as many cans of flip, of which
we all partook, a certain yawning began to admonish me that it was
high time to repair by sleep the injury I had suffered from want of
rest the preceding night; which being perceived by my companions,
whose time of repose was now arrived, they proposed we should turn
in, or in other words, go to bed. Our hammocks, which hung parallel
to one another, on the outside of the berth, were immediately
unlashed, and I beheld my messmates spring with great agility into
their respective nests, where they seemed to lie concealed, very
much at their ease. But it was some time before I could prevail upon
myself to trust my carcase at such a distance from the ground, in
a narrow bag, out of which, I imagined, I should be apt, on the
least motion in my sleep, to tumble down at the hazard of breaking
my bones. I suffered myself, however, to be persuaded, and taking
a leap to get in, threw myself quite over, with such violence, that
had I not luckily got hold of Thompson's hammock, I should have
pitched upon my head on the other side, and in all likelihood
fractured my skull.
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