human
Peter, said Pat Casey to his old shipmate, when, after toiling for four hours, they knocked off to get a little rest,
gpt
You no gib up, Pat, answered Peter.
human
We fall in with 'nother ship, or sight some land, and we get 'shore, or stop de leak. When de cap'n finds de ship make too much water, he keep her 'float by fixin' a sail under her.
gpt
You may say what ye plaise, but before a sail could be thrummed an' passed under her keel, she'll be many fathoms down into the depths of the ocean. An' supposin' we did fall in with a ship, sure, how could we get aboard of her with this sea runnin'? Then, as to reaching land-- where's the land to reach? I niver heard speak of any land away to the south'ard, except the icy pole, an' that we should niver see if we wished it ever so much.
human
Dat may be de case; I nebber could make out de meanin' ob a chart, but wheneber I hab been in de Pacific, me find many islands, and tink dere mus' be some here'bout. Why you so down-hearted?
gpt
Down-hearted is it, sure? I'm not down-hearted, Pater; but I'll tell ye, I dreamed a dream the night the gale came on, as I lay in me hammock; the ould mither--who's gone to glory these six years--came and stood by me side, an' I saw her face as clearly as I see yours, an' says she, `Tim, me son, I've come to wake you;' then says I, `Mither, what's that for?' Says she, `I can wake ye well, although I cannot give ye dacent burial.' Upon that she sit up such a howlin' I thought it would be heard all along the deck. Says I, `Mither, just hold fast there, or you'll be afther disturbin' the whole watch below.' But she wouldn't, an' still howled on, jist as I mind th' women doin' in ould Ireland whin I was a boy. Again I sung out, `Mither, if ye love me, hold your peace. I don't want to be waked just now,' and as I uttered the words I heard the boatswain pipe all hands on deck, when sure if the wind wasn't shrieking, an' the blocks rattling, an' the masts groaning, showin' that a dacent hurricane was blowin'. Me mither vanished immediately, an' I tumbled up on deck, more asleep thin awake, thinkin' of what the good soul had been saying to me.