But in these cases one's muscles have their own way.
In exercising my other extremities, I was obliged to hold on to something, and leap with both feet; for my limbs seemed as destitute of joints as a pair of canvas pants spread to dry, and frozen stiff.
When an order was given to haul the braces--which required the strength of the entire watch, some two hundred men--a spectator would have supposed that all hands had received a stroke of the palsy.

Roused from their state of enchantment, they came halting and limping across the decks, falling against each other, and, for a few moments, almost unable to handle the ropes.

The slightest exertion seemed intolerable; and frequently a body of eighty or a hundred men summoned to brace the main-yard, would hang over the rope for several minutes, waiting for some active fellow to pick it up and put it into their hands.

Even then, it was some time before they were able to do anything.

They made all the motions usual in hauling a rope, but it was a long time before the yard budged an inch.