His account of his own hardships and sufferings here, in the discharge
of his duty, is truly comic. “How do you like it, ma'am?” he says to me,
“though it's hardly fair to ask you yet, because you know almost nothing
of the joys of this sort of life. But wait till November and December,
and then you'll get a pretty taste of them! Running along in these cold
passages, then bursting into rooms fit to bake you, then back again into
all these agreeable puffs!--Bless us! I believe in my heart there's wind
enough in these passages to carry a man of war! And there you'll have
your share, ma'am, I promise you that! you'll get knocked up in three
days, take my word for that.”