Read "Mated" by W.W. Jacobs online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The schooner Falcon was ready for sea. The last bale of general cargo / had just been shipped, and a few hairy, unkempt seamen were busy putting / on the hatches under the able profanity of the mate.
"All clear? " inquired the master, a short, ruddy-faced man of about / thirty-five. "Cast off there!"