It rang eight bells

About a dozen pirate spiders getting off the graveyard watch came ambling into the mess, grabbed their trays, and moved down the serving line, as Slops and I dished out the grub.  In twenty minutes, they had all finished and were gone....Slops was fixing us a decent human-style breakfast, while I wiped the tables.  "Slops" I asked.."Just how old are you anyway?"  He paused from flipping the pancakes for a moment, and replied..."I don't rightly know, I've kinda lost track of the years, I'm afraid.  I can tell you though that I was born in 1948."  "Damn, Slops.."  I said.."That would make you almost five hundred years old!"  "Yeh, that seems about right, I guess", he said, scratching at his scraggly white chin whiskers.  "You must have quite a tale to tell." I speculated.  "Well, I have been a lot of places and seen a lot of strange things, I reckon...."    (stay tuned for a tale of strange places and things)