A Sailor’s Apology for Bow-legs.

There’s some is born with their straight legs by natur —

And some is born with bow-legs from the first —

And some that should have grow’d a good deal straighter,

But they were badly nurs’d,

And set, you see, like Bacchus, with their pegs¹

Astride of casks and kegs:

I’ve got myself a sort of bow to larboard,

And starboard,

And this is what it was that warp’d my legs. —

’Twas all along of Poll, as I may say,

That foul²’d my cable when I ought to slip;

But on the tenth of May,

When I gets under weigh,

Down there in Hertfordshire, to join my ship,

I sees the mail

Get under sail,

The only one there was to make the trip.

Well — I gives chase,

But as she run

Two knots, to one,

There warn’t no use in keeping on the race!

Well — casting round about, what next to try on,

And how to spin,

I spies an ensign with a Bloody³ Lion,

And bears away to leeward⁴ for the inn,

Beats round the gable,

And fetches up before the coach-horse stable:

Well — there they stand, four kickers in a row.

And so

I just makes free to cut a brown ’un’s cable.

But riding isn’t in a seaman’s natur —

So I whips out a toughish end of yarn⁵,

And gets a kind of sort of a land-waiter

To splice⁶ me, heel to heel,

Under the she-mare’s keel,

And off I goes, and leaves the inn a-starn!

My eyes! how she did pitch!

And wouldn’t keep her own to go in no line,

Tho’ I kept bowsing, bowsing at her bow-line,

But always making lee-way to the ditch,

And yaw’d her head about all sorts of ways.

The devil sink the craft!

And wasn’t she trimendus slack in stays!

We couldn’t, no how, keep the inn abaft⁷!

Well — I suppose

We hadn’t run a knot — or much beyond —

(What will you have on it?)— but off she goes,

Up to her bends in a fresh-water pond!

There I am! — all a-back!

So I looks forward for her bridle-gears,

To heave her head round on the t’other tack⁸;

But when I starts,

The leather parts,

And goes away right over by the ears!

What could a fellow do,

Whose legs, like mine, you know, we’re in the bilboes,

But trim myself upright for bringing-to,

And square his yard-arms, and brace⁹ up his elbows,

In rig all snug¹⁰ and clever,

Just while his craft was taking in her water?

I didn’t like my berth¹¹ tho’, howsomdever,

Because the yarn, you see, kept getting tauter¹² —

Says I— I wish this job was rayther shorter!

The chase had gain’d a mile

A-head, and still the she-mare stood a-drinking;

Now, all the while

Her body didn’t take of course to shrinking.

Says I, she’s letting out her reefs, I’m thinking —

And so she swell’d, and swell’d,

And yet the tackle held,

‘Till both my legs began to bend like winkin.

My eyes! but she took in enough to founder¹³!

And there’s my timbers straining every bit,

Ready to split,

And her tarnation hull¹⁴ a-growing rounder!

Well, there — off Hertford Ness,

We lay both lash’d and water-logg’d together,

And can’t contrive¹⁵ a signal of distress¹⁶;

Thinks I, we must ride out this here foul weather,

Tho’ sick of riding out — and nothing less;

When, looking round, I sees a man a-starn:—

Hollo! says I, come underneath¹⁷ her quarter! —

And hands him out my knife to cut the yarn.

So I gets off, and lands upon the road,

And leaves the she-mare to her own consarn,

A-standing by the water.

If I get on another, I’ll be blow’d! —

And that’s the way, you see, my legs got bow’d!

1 pegs   

n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平

参考例句：

• She hung up the shirt with two (clothes) pegs. 她用两只衣夹挂上衬衫。 来自辞典例句
• The vice-presidents were all square pegs in round holes. 各位副总裁也都安排得不得其所。 来自辞典例句

2 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

3 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

4 leeward   

adj.背风的；下风的

参考例句：

• The trees all listed to leeward.树木统统向下风方向倾。
• We steered a course to leeward.我们向下风航驶。

5 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

6 splice   

v.接合，衔接；n.胶接处，粘接处

参考例句：

• He taught me to edit and splice film.他教我剪辑和粘接胶片。
• The film will be spliced with footage of Cypress Hill to be filmed in America.这部电影要和将在美国拍摄的柏树山乐队的音乐片段粘接在一起。

7 abaft   

prep.在…之后；adv.在船尾，向船尾

参考例句：

• Abaft every acknowledged man,there is a woman.每个成功男人的背地,都有一个女人。
• The captain ordered the crews to stand abaft the main deck.船长命令船员们站在主甲板后面。

8 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

9 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。

10 snug   

adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房

参考例句：

• He showed us into a snug little sitting room.他领我们走进了一间温暖而舒适的小客厅。
• She had a small but snug home.她有个小小的但很舒适的家。

11 berth   

n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊

参考例句：

• She booked a berth on the train from London to Aberdeen.她订了一张由伦敦开往阿伯丁的火车卧铺票。
• They took up a berth near the harbor.他们在港口附近找了个位置下锚。

12 tauter   

adj.紧的( taut的比较级 )；绷紧的；（指肌肉或神经）紧张的；整洁的

参考例句：

13 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

14 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

15 contrive   

vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出

参考例句：

• Can you contrive to be here a little earlier?你能不能早一点来？
• How could you contrive to make such a mess of things?你怎么把事情弄得一团糟呢？

16 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

17 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。