Young Tom BowlingThe Boys of the British Navy

By J. C. Hutcheson________________________________________________________________________This book fills a gap about just how boy seamen were trained at the endof the nineteenth century. From first to last it is very credible, andalso very readable. It was not very easy to transcribe, because theboys we meet come from a variety of country places, and hence have avariety of dialects. In particular one of the boys has a strong Irishbrogue, and another has an equally strong west Hampshire accent. It isthis boy, `Ugly', that comes to a very sad and noble end. 

Our hero, Tom, is trained for a little over a year in "Saint Vincent", after which he moves on to various postings in the Fleet. There is aninteresting period during which he is serving in a vessel that is takingpart in the British efforts to capture and punish slave-traders on theAfrican east coast. 

It all rings true to me, because your reviewer has been in the RoyalNavy himself, and knows the way the Navy works. ________________________________________________________________________YOUNG TOM BOWLINGTHE BOYS OF THE BRITISH NAVY

BY J. C. HUTCHESON

CHAPTER ONE. 

FATHER AND I "ARGUE THE POINT. "

"Hullo, father!" I sang out, when we had got a little way out from thepontoon and opened the mouth of the harbour, noticing, as I looked overmy shoulder to see how we were steering, a string of flags being run upaboard the old _Saint Vincent_. "They're signalling away like mad thismorning all over the shop! First, atop of the dockyard semaphore; andthen the flagship and the old _Victory_, both of 'em, blaze out inbunting; while now the _Saint Vincent_ joins in at the game of `follow-my-leader. ' I wonder what's up?"

"Lor' bless you, Tom!" rejoined father, still steadily tugging on at hisstroke oar as we pursued our course towards the middle of the stream, sothat we might take advantage of the last of the flood, and allow thegradually slackening tide, which was nearly at the turn, to drift usdown alongside the old _Victory_, whither we were bound to pick up afare for the shore--"nothing in pertickler's up anyways uncommon that Isees, sonny; and as for the buntin' that you're making sich a fussabout, why, they've hauled all that down, and pretty near unbent all thesignal flags, too, and stowed 'em away in their lockers by this time!"

"But, father, " I persisted, "they don't always go on like this fornothing, I know!"

"In coorse they don't, stoopid!" said he, giving the water an angrysplash as he reached forwards, the blade of his oar sending up a tidysprinkle across my face. "Why, where's your wits, Tom, this mornin'?"

"Where you put them, father, " I replied with a laugh; "you know I'm yourson, and mother says I'm `a chip of the old block' whenever she's a bitput out with me. "

"None o' your imporence, Tom, " said he, laughing too; for he and I werethe best of friends, and I don't think we ever had a serious differenceabout anything since first I was able to toddle down to the Hard, alittle mite of four or five, to see him put off in his wherry, andsometimes go out for a sail with him on the sly when mother wasn'twatching us, up to the time, as now, when I could help him with an oar. "None o' your imporence, you young jackanapes. But touching that theresignallin', I'm surprised, sonny, you don't know by this time that whenthe commander-in-chief up at Admiralty House, in the dockyard, wishesfor to communicate to some ship out at Spithead, he telegraphs from hisoffice to the semaphore, which h'ists his orders, and then every ship inport's bound to repeat the signal till the craft he means it for runs upher answering pennant, for to show us how she's took the signal in andunderconstubled it. "

"Oh yes, father, I know that, " said I, leading him on purposely. "Butwhat is the signal they've been so busy about this morning? I can'tmake it out at all. "

Father snorted indignantly. 

"Tom Bowling, junior, I'm right down ashamed on you for a son o' mine!"he said, digging away at his oar savagely, as if trying to dredge upsome of the silt from the bottom of the harbour. "You, turned fifteenyear old, and been back'ard and forrud 'twixt Hardway and the Gosportshore for a matter of five years or more, and not for to know and read acommon signal like that, which you must 'a seed run up at the semaphoreor on board the _Dook_ a hundred times at least. Lor'! I'm jest'shamed of you, that's what I be!"

"But that ain't telling me, father, " I retorted, "what _is_ the signal. You needn't make such a blooming mystery of it, like that chap we sawt'other night at the theayeter!"

In return for my `cheek' he splashed the water over me again. 

"Well, if you don't know it, sonny, which I can hardly believe on, andwants for to know to improve your mind, which needs a lot ofimprovement, as I knows, that theer signal, Tom, was that cruiser we sawout at Spithead yesterday a-trying her speed at the measured mile, the_Mercury_, I thinks she is, axin' the port-admiral if she might have hersailin' orders; and look there, sonny, the `affirmative' 's now run upat the mizzen aboard the _Dook_, over yonder!"

"Yes, father, " said I, playing him artfully, like the wily old fish hewas, with an object which you will soon learn--"and what does thatmean?"

"What does that mean? You blessed young h'ignoramus! Why, Tommy, yourbrains be all wool-gathered this mornin'! Can't you see that old SirOmmaney is tellin' the cruiser to `carry on' as soon as she likes, andbid adoo to Spithead when she's weighed her anchor? See, too, sonny, the old _Vict'ry_ and the _Saint Vincent_ be now a-repeatin' the signalarter the _Dook_, the same as they did that first h'ist, jest now!"

"That is, father, " said I innocently like--"the port-admiral gives thatcruiser outside permission to go to sea?"

"Aye, Tom, " he answered, without suspecting what my inquiry was leadingup to--"that's just it. You've reckoned it up to a nicety, my hearty. "

Now came the opportunity for which I had been waiting. 

"The old port-admiral may be a martinet, as they say, in the dockyard, "I said; "but he's a kinder chap than you are, father. "

"The admiral kinder than me, sonny, " he repeated, in a surprisedtone--"why, how's that, Tom?"

"Because he gives leave when he's asked for a fellow to go to sea. "

We were just then about midway between the _Saint Vincent_ and the old_Victory_; and, startled by my thus unexpectedly broaching my maskedbattery, father dropped his oar and let the wherry drift along thealmost motionless tideway towards the stern of Nelson's whilom flagship, which was slowly swinging round nearer us on the bosom of the stream, thus showing that the ebb was setting in, or, rather, out. 

"You owdacious young monkey!" he cried, slewing his head round on hisshoulders, even as the old _Victory's_ hull slewed with the tide, sothat he could look me full in the face. "So, my joker, that's thelittle rig you're a-tryin' to try on with me, Master Tommy, is it?"

"It ain't no rig, father, " said I sturdily, sticking to my guns, nowthat the cat was out of the bag. "I can't see why you won't let me goto sea. I'm sure I've asked you often enough. "

"Aye; and I'm sure I've had to refuse you jest as often. "

"Why, father?"

"For your own good, sonny. "

"I can't see it, father, " I rejoined. "Look at them _Saint Vincent_boys in that cutter a-crossing our bows now. How jolly they all seemsworking at their proper calling, just as I'd like to be!"

"Aye, mebbe, " said father, in his sententious way, cocking his eye asthe cutter sped on its way towards the training-ship. "But jest youlook at me, Tom, and see what forty years' sailorin', man and boy, havedone for one o' the same kidney as them boys, jolly though they seemsnow. Poor young beggars, they all has their troubles afore 'em!"

"Most of us have our troubles, father, " I replied to this bit of moralphilosophy of his, speaking just in his own manner. "So our old parsonsaid on Sunday last, when mother and Jenny and I went to church. We areall bound to have them, he said, whether on sea or on land; and I can'tsay as how a sailor has the worst chance. "

"Ship my rullocks, Tom, can't ye? Jest you look at me!"

"Why, father?" I asked. "What's the use of that?"

"None o' your imporence, Master Tommy; jest you look at me!"

"All right, father, " said I. "I am a-looking at you now!"

"Very good, Tom--one dog one bone! Well, what d'ye see?"

"I see a brave sailor and a gallant defender of his country, " Ianswered, giving the bow oar I was pulling a vicious dig into the wateras I spoke, like as if I were tackling one of the Queen's enemies; "Isee a man who has got no cause to be ashamed of his past life, though hemight be getting on in years--you are that, father, you know; and onewho has won his medal with four clasps for hard fighting. In real wars, mind you, not your twopenny ha'penny Bombardment of Alexandriabusiness!--aye, I see one who ought to wear the Victoria Cross if he hadhis rights. That's what I see, father. "

"Bosh, Tom, none o' your flummery, " said he, grinning as he always doesat the mention of the Egyptian affair which they made such a fuss about, just when I was a little nipper learning to run about, and that old men-o'-warsmen thought all the more ridiculous from its contrast to AdmiralHornby's rushing the British fleet through the Dardanelles, and stoppingthe Russians in their march to victory at the very gates ofConstantinople, shortly before, in the days of `old Dizzy'--which wasreally a deed to boast of, if any one wanted to talk of the British Lionshowing his teeth and waggling his tail, as he did when he `meantbusiness' in the good old days of Nelson! Aye, that _was_ `somethinglike, ' father says; and worth all the `bronze stars' in the Khedive'scollection of leather medals! "None o' your flummery, Tom; you onlywants to put me off my course, you rascal, so as to make me forget whatI were a-talking about. But I don't forget, sonny! Look at me, I says, and see what I've come to, with my forty year o' sailorin' all about theworld an' furrin parts--a poor rhumenaticky chap as is half a cripple, forced to eke out his miserable pension of a bob an' a tanner a day bypulling a rotten old tub of a boat back'ards and forruds, up and downPorchm'uth Harbo'r, a-tryin' to gain an honest livin', an' jest onlyarnin' bread an' cheese at that!"

"Oh, father!" said I. "How about that rabbit smothered in onions we hadyesterday for dinner, and the `tidy little sum' you told me you andmother had in the Savings Bank? Besides that, we've bought the freeholdof our little house at Bonfire Corner, I know, father, and there's thebird-shop and all the stock!"

"You knows too much, Master Tom, I'm a-thinking, " he rejoined, scratching his head again, as he always did, as now, when he was in aquandary about anything, especially when any one had got the better ofhim in an argument, or, as he said, `weathered' on him, and he wasn'tquite prepared with an answer, reaching over the sternsheets of thewherry and dipping the blade of his oar, ready to make a stroke. "But, look out, my lad! I think we'd better be a-going alongside now. Ain'tthat a jolly there, signalling to us from the entry-port o' the old_Victory_?"

"Aye, father, " said I, for I had seen the marine holding up his hand tosummon us before he spoke. "The court-martial must be over sooner thanwas expected. "

"Not a bit of it, Tom, " he replied, as he and I bent our backs and madethe boat spin along towards the old flagship, fetching the gangway atthe foot of the accommodation ladder on the starboard side in half adozen strokes. "The ship's corporal told me it'd last all day. It'sonly them lawyer chaps wanting to get ashore to their lunch, that's all. Those landsharks be as hungry arter their vittles as they is for theirfees, Tom; they be rare hands, them lawyers, for keeping their weathereyes open, and is all on the look-out for whatsomedever they can pickup. They be all fur grabbin' an' grabbin', that they be, or I'm aDutchman!"

"Really, father?" I said innocently, as I stood up in the bows of thewherry and hung on by a boathook to one of the ringbolts in the side ofthe old three-decker that towered up above our heads, waiting to help ina couple of gentlemen who came hurrying down the accommodation ladder totake passage with us. "Why, I thought you and mother wanted me to gointo a lawyer's office and become one of those very same sort of chaps!"

"I'd rayther see you an honest sailor, like your father an' grandfatherafore you, " he answered, with some heat, unthinkingly; and then, catching my eye, he grinned, recognising how seriously he had committedhimself by this rash utterance after his previous advice respecting theunsatisfactory character of the vocation he now extolled, and hemuttered under his breath while lending his arm to assist the gentlemento pass astern on their jumping into the boat. "Ship my rullocks, youyoung rascal! Don't you sit there grinning and winking at me, like aCheshire cat eatin' green cheese, thinkin' no doubt you've got towin'ard of me; though, I'm blest, sonny, if I didn't nearly slip mypainter then!"

The rudder of the wherry being shipped, one of the gentlemen took theyoke lines as he sat down in the sternsheets facing father, handlingthem in a manner that showed he was no novice. 

"Hullo!" he exclaimed presently, looking steadily at father, as hesteered us aslant the tide so as not to check the way of the boat, whilemaking straight for the pontoon across the stream, which was now runningout, like a regular good coxswain. "Aren't you Tom Bowling?"

"Aye, aye, sir, that's my rating, " said father, looking at him in histurn. "But I can't say as how I can place your honour;--though, ship myrullocks, if it ain't young Mister Mordaunt; `Gentleman Jack' we used tocall you on the lower deck aboard the old _Blazer_--beg pardon fortaking the liberty, sir!"

"Yes, I'm that same, Bowling, only grown a bit since then in stature andlikewise in years; for none of us can manage to work a traverse on oldFather Time and grow younger, " said the other, laughing lightheartedlyand showing his white teeth as he stretched out his hand to father inthe most cordial way, like a real gentleman, as if he were a friend andfellow-sailor. "I'm very glad to see you again--aye, and looking sohale and hearty, too, old shipmate!"

"So am I to see you, sir, " rejoined father, resting on his oar, whilethe two exchanged a good grip of their fists; I also stopping pulling, of course, and grinning in sympathy. "Why, I were only talking aboutyou last pension day to Bill Murphy--You remembers Bill; don't you, sir?He wer' cap'en of the foretop in the _Blazer_ with us, Mr Mordaunt--alittle chap with ginger hair. "

"Oh yes, I recollect Murphy well enough. He was a mad Irishman, alwaysfull of fun and mischief, " rejoined the other, smiling at theremembrance of some joke in which the chap of whom they spoke had part. "But you must put a handle to my name, Bowling; I'm posted now. "

"Beg pardon, cap'en, I didn't know it, in course, or wouldn't haveforgot my manners, " said father, raising his hand in salute; and then, gripping the loom of his oar, he started a long steady stroke towardsthe pontoon at the foot of the railway jetty, on the Portsea shore, abreast of the old _Victory_; I following suit, of course. "You won'tmind an old seaman, sir, 'gratulatin' you, sir, on getting your step soyoung? Ship my rullocks, why, it do seem but t'other day when you werea mite of a middy along o' me!"

"Time flies, my man; and if youth were the only bar to our promotionwe'd soon be all admirals of the fleet, " said the other, laughing again. "Why, it's more than twenty years ago, Bowling, since we were in theold _Blazer_ together. "

"Aye, I knows that, Cap'en Mordaunt, " replied father, in his dry way;"an' I knows, too, that there's many a youngster o' yer own standing asain't got further than liftenant yet, sir! It's only the smart officerslike yerself that gits promoted. "

"Well, well, we won't argue about that, Bowling; `kissing, ' you know, sometimes `goes by favour, '" said father's old friend, smiling; andthen, to turn the current of conversation from this rather personaltheme, Captain Mordaunt, as I afterwards found out for myself when Isailed with him, being of a singularly modest and retiring disposition, he abruptly asked, "This your son, eh?"

"Yes, sir--Cap'en Mordaunt, I means, sir, " replied father. "I've gotone darter as is older; but he's my only son. "

"How old is he now?"

"Fifteen years an' ten months, " said father, after careful considerationand much counting on his fingers. "He'll be sixteen next April, on`Primrose Day, ' as they call it. "

"Another Tom Bowling, eh?"

"Yes, sir, " said father. "He's `young Tom, ' an' I'm the `old un' now!"

"Humph! He's a fine grown young chip for his age. What are you goingto make of him? He ought to be a sailor and serving the Queen by now, like his father before him!"

Father `hummed' and `hawed, ' not knowing what to answer to this; while Iburned all over with joy at having so potent an advocate coming to myaid in this unexpected way. 

Captain Mordaunt saw this: though anybody could have seen it from oneglance at my face; for if I grinned `like a Cheshire cat eating greencheese' on ordinary occasions, as father used to say, why, I must havelooked now as if I had bolted all the cheese in one lump, and it hadstuck in my throat, keeping my mouth open on the stretch!

So, noticing this, father's old friend put the question to me point-blank. 

"I think, youngster, you've pretty well made up your mind already in thematter, if I'm not very much mistaken, " said he to me, as I unshipped myoar and stood up in the bow of the wherry, ready to fend her off fromthe pontoon as we ran up alongside, right under the stern of one of theRyde steamers that was just backing out from the railway pier above us. "You'd like to go to sea, young Tom, I'm sure, eh?"

"There's nothing I should like better, sir, " I answered glibly enough, catching hold of one of the piles of the pier with my boathook andbringing up the wherry easily to the landing-stage. "I only wish you'dcoax my father, sir, to let me be a sailor!"

"Now, Bowling, my old friend, " said this new ally of mine, who, itstruck me, would turn out to be a very important factor in this decisionanent my future destiny, "the matter rests entirely with you. `Toby ornot Toby, ' as Hamlet says in the play. Is your son, young Tom here, togo to sea or not?"

Father took off his hat with his right hand and scratched his headdeliberately and deliberatively with his left, `humming' and `hawing'over this crucial question. 

"Well, sir--Cap'en Mordaunt that is, begging your pardon, sir, ag'in, "said he--"as you goes on to make sich a favour on it, sir, we'll seeabout it, sir. "

"See about it?--Stuff and nonsense, Bowling, my man, that won't do forme!" exclaimed the other, as, resting his hand lightly on my shoulder ashe crossed the thwarts, he stepped out of the wherry on to the landing-stage. "I tell you what it is, young Tom must go to sea, my man--aye, and to-morrow too!"

"Lor' sakes, you're just the same, sir, as you were aboard the old_Blazer_ twenty years ago!" said father, breaking into a regular horse-laugh, which he never did except something particularly funny tickledhis fancy. "You allers gave your orders sharp as a youngster, and someof us used for to call you `Commander Jack' sometimes. Lor', Iremembers it all as if it wer' but yesterday!"

"All right, Bowling, I'm glad your memory is so good, " replied CaptainMordaunt, standing on the pontoon and looking down at us, with a smileon his cheery, handsome face. "You will remember, too, that my word wasalways as good as any bond, and when I say a thing I mean a thing! I'mstopping for a day or two at the Keppel's Head, and if you'll come overthere this evening after dinner, or send young Tom, should you like thatbetter than a glass of grog, why, I will give you a letter for him totake on board the _Saint Vincent_ to the commander, who's an old friendof mine like yourself, and we'll have young Tom entered on the books ofthe training-ship in a brace of shakes!"

"Thank you kindly, sir, " said father, raising his hand to his cap againin salute as the captain turned to leave us. "You're very good, sir, for to h'interest yourself, sir, in this yere young scamp of a son o'mine, sir!"

"Not a bit of it, Bowling, not a bit of it, " rejoined the othercheerily, as he chucked father a sovereign for his fare ashore, and toldhim to be sure to come up to the Keppel's Head on the Hard and see himin the evening for the letter of introduction for me. "It's a shamethat such a likely young fellow should not be allowed to follow in hisfather's footsteps and turn out as brave and handy a sailor as himself. He's a born seaman, every inch of him, Bowling, and a regular chip ofthe old block!"

CHAPTER TWO. 

"A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK!"

"Oh!" exclaimed mother, when an hour or so later father set aboutexplaining the matter of our meeting Captain Mordaunt, and his promiseof sending me aboard the _Saint Vincent_ to be trained for the service. "You just go and tell that to the marines! Don't you try on any of yourold yarns with me!"

"I ain't a-tryin' on nothing, old woman, " protested father, after a vainattempt to continue his dinner, bolting a piece of potato, which stuckin his throat and set him coughing. "I'm a-tellin' you the honesttruth, Sarah, that I be!"

"Well, and suppose it is true, " retorted mother, giving him a slap onthe back to send the obstructive potato down, "p'raps you'll tell me, Tom Bowling, how Jenny and I are a-going to get along without young Tom?Who's going to look after the birds in the mornin's, I'd like to know--with twelve dozen fresh canaries a-comin' from Norwich the day arter to-morrow, too?"

"Oh, we'll manage all right, mother, " put in my sister Jenny, with amerry laugh. "You'll make Tom conceited if you let him think we cannotget along without him!"

She was a bright, fairy-like little creature, with beautiful hazel eyes, and a wealth of brown hair on her tiny head that was a veritable crownof glory, reaching below her waist, and looking like a tangle of goldwhen the sun played upon it; and, somehow or other, she was the life andlight of our home, always having a kind word for everybody, and everacting as the peacemaker when any little difference arose between fatherand mother, as sometimes happens in most family circles. 

Father and I when out together in the wherry, talking over home matters, would often wonder where Jenny could have come from, she was sodifferent to all of us; mother being a big stout woman, with dark hairand eyes; while father `belonged to Pharaoh's lean kine, ' as the countryfolks say, being tall, and thin, and wiry, with as little flesh on hisbones as a scaffolding pole. In this respect, I may add, he was said toresemble all the Bowlings ever mentioned in history, up to the time ofour remote ancestor, the celebrated Tom Bowling of Dibdin's song, who`went aloft' more than a hundred years ago. 

Aye, she was a pretty little girl was my sister Jenny, though but a mereslip of a thing to me, who almost stood a head and shoulders over her, and she, the mite, quite a year my elder; but, what is more to thepurpose, she was as good as she was pretty, taking all the cares of thehousehold off mother's hands and winding her, aye and father too, roundher tiny fingers in whatever way she pleased when the fancy took her. 

I used to like best seeing her, however, amongst the birds. 

We lived in a queer little double-fronted, old-fashioned cottage nearBonfire Corner. This is close up against the dockyard wall, and not farfrom the Marlborough Gate, you must know, if you be a stranger to theold town of Portsmouth and that labyrinth of narrow streets lying to thenorth of Hardway and the harbour. Yes, a labyrinth of rectangular rows, arranged in parallel lines and all precisely alike, of twin two-storied, russet-bricked houses of the same size and pattern, all looking as ifthey had been turned out of a mould, and all of them having littleprojecting circular bay-windows of wood, mostly English live oak, orteak from the Eastern Indies. All were painted green alike, andfurnished with diamond panes, or bottle glass with bull's-eye centres, of the last century; and all, likewise, had similarly retreatingdoorways, sheltered by timber pent-houses to keep off the rain, accessto them being gained by three or four perpendicular steps, so as toavoid flooding from the rivers of mud that covered the cobblestoneroadway in wet weather, overflowing the narrow gutters, and narrowerflagging along the side that did duty for a pavement. 

Attached to our cottage was an out-house which ran flush along the sideof Beacon Street, fencing off our bit of a garden from the road and anadjacent tenement; and this out-house, mother, who was of an inventivenature, with a strong proclivity for money-making, had converted into ashop for the sale of all sorts of birds, both foreign and native born, and pigeons, in addition to sundry specimens of the rarer species ofpoultry. 

Mother said she had been forced into the trade from the necessity of herhaving to do `something for a living' after grandfather's death, onaccount of her having us two children to keep, as well as herself, ononly the allotment pay of father, who was away at sea at the time; but, in a weak moment she once confessed she had started the bird-keepingbusiness more for the sake of having her hands employed than anythingelse, she not being partial to needlework, like most west-country women, while she was particularly fond of birds!

Not only that, she was certainly accustomed to their feathery ways, andlearned in the art of their breeding and bringing up, even from thenest; for Jenny and I could bear witness to having seen her often enoughpoking pap with a stick down the outstretched throats of gaping youngblackbirds and thrushes as soon as they had sufficiently developed beaksto open, and coddling up shivering little canaries and larklets inflannel before the fire when their proper parents would not attend totheir infantile needs--mother tenderly feeding them with the point of acamel's-hair brush dipped in egg paste and weak wine and water beforethey were old enough even to `peep' or flutter their nascent littlewings. 

Bye-and-bye, when my sister got big enough, she took charge of all thispart of the business, and saved mother a world of trouble, as shethankfully acknowledged, without being a bit jealous of her greatersuccess with the fledgelings; for Jenny handled the little things astenderly as if she were a canary herself, and was so fortunate in hertreatment of them, medical and otherwise, that she never lost even themost delicate of her bird baby patients, nursing them through theirvarious ailments, and rearing them triumphantly up to the fullperfection of their plumage and song. 

You should only have seen her amongst them of a morning when I had thejob of cleaning out their cages, while Jenny gave them all fresh foodand water!

They did not pay much attention to me, save to flutter a bit as I movedthem about, and especially when I put my hand between the bars of theirlittle wooden prisons; but with Jenny the case was very different. 

"Bless you!" as father would say, every one of them knew her andrecognised her as a friend and fellow-comrade, for she would sing tothem sometimes like a lark, which always set them all on the twitter;goldfinches, linnets, and bullfinches, of which mother kept a largestock, hopping about their cages trying by every means in their power toattract her notice on her entering the shop and coming near them; whilethe lemon-crested cockatoo, who was christened `Ally Sloper, ' on accountof his fine flow of language, and a habit he had of ruffling up thefeathers round his neck when spoken to, making him look as if he had aparticularly high and stiff collar on, would shriek out `Say-rah!' whichwas mother's name, just as if father were shouting for her to comedownstairs in a sort of `reef topsails' on a stormy night sort of voice. 

Our pet thrush `Jack' also liked her better than any of us, though hewas tame enough to eat out of my hand, giving me a friendly nip with hissharp beak occasionally, just to show what he could do if he had a mindto and was not socially disposed. 

But he never nipped Jenny's little fingers--not he!

On the contrary, he used to dance with delight if she only uttered hisname in a whisper, chuckling first to express his great pleasure at thesight of her, and then breaking into a regular roulade that wound upwith the call `Jenny! Jenny!' or something which we all thought soundeduncommonly like it; for he used to keep it up for a good spell if shewent away without speaking to him, or even failed to put in anappearance to wish him "good morning. "

Avast there, however. 

I'm afraid I am making a long circumbendibus from my original yarn; but, as mother says of father, it runs in the blood, all the Bowlings havingtheir jaw tackle well abreast, and not knowing when to stop when oncethey begin; so, being a `chip of the old block' and a Bowling all overin my love of talking and love for the sea, I hope you will excuse meand let me start afresh again. 

I was saying when I went off my course on this tangent about the birds, that little Jenny stepped in just as father and mother were getting tologgerheads about my going on board the _Saint Vincent_, the old ladysaying she couldn't possibly spare me, and that he, to put it mildly, was not a very sensible person to think so lightly of losing my servicesin the wherry just when I was beginning, as she pointed out to him, tobe of some use to him. 

"But it's no good my talking, " she cried at the end of a long harangue, to which father politely listened, with his knife and fork expectantlyin hand, and his dinner getting colder and colder on the plate beforehim. "It's just like you Bowlings all over! You're all headstrong andfoolish, and always bent on having your own way, in spite of all thegood advice one gives you!"

"All right, Sarah, " said father, in his quiet way, bowing, wise man thathe was, before the storm. "All right. "

"No, it's nothing of the sort, " retorted mother. "It's all wrong!"

At that moment a happy diversion was made by the lemon-crested cockatoo, who, by reason of his highly respectable deportment and polishedmanners, had been made free of our parlour, and could hop in and outfrom the shop when the mood seized him, through a small trapdoor orporthole, originally constructed for a window, and which served `AllySloper' as a means of intercommunication between the two apartments, thewily bird being easily able to unlatch at pleasure the swing door of hiscage. 

"I'll wring your neck!" he screamed in his hoarse, sepulchral voice;"I'll wring your neck! Say-rah! Say-rah!"

This, of course, made us all laugh, even mother joining in, though thejoke was certainly against her; and taking advantage of the opportunitythus afforded of `throwing oil on the troubled waters, ' little Jennywent on to speak of the advantages to be gained by my going to sea andearning my living as a gallant seaman in the service of my country, pointing out to mother how I had always hankered after father'sprofession, and that she was sure I would never be contented in anyshore billet, and might possibly go to the bad if I had my inclinationsthwarted!

"Who knows, too, " she added, as a clincher to her argument, "whether Tommay not rise to be a leftennant, ay, and even an admiral, through thisgood Captain Mordaunt's introduction!"

"Right you are, my lass, bless you!" chimed in father, rising upenthusiastically from his seat and tossing off the glass of beer he heldin his hand. "So he will too, you'll see, or I'm a Dutchman. Hurrah, Sarah, here's good luck to the boy and speedy promotion!"

"'Oo-ray, Say-rah!" screamed `Ally Sloper, ' the cockatoo, in cordialappreciation, apparently, of this sentiment. "'Ip, 'ip, 'oo-ray!"

That settled the matter. 

So, early the following morning, after an affectionate hug from motherand a kiss from Jenny, who came to the corner to see the last of me, Istarted off for the _Saint Vincent_ with father, who rowed me aboardhimself, I being the very first fare he had for the day, though, ofcourse, as you can imagine, he did not earn much by the job. 

However, it pleased father at any rate; and, as soon as he had landed mesafe and sound at the foot of the accommodation ladder on the port sideof the old ship, which lay broadside on, almost on the mud abreast ofHaslar Creek, the tide being out, he handed me a big official letterwhich Captain Mordaunt had given him overnight, as he had promised, recommending me to the commander of the training-vessel, and enclosingcertificates of my birth and character. 

"There, sonny, them's yer papers, " said he, thus laconically wishing megood-bye, sheering off out of the way of an approaching galley from theshore whose sternsheets were chock-full of big quartern loaves of bread, and then laying on his oars as I skipped up the ladder. "You jest givethat there letter to the cap'en when you sees him, and good luck to you, my lad!"

I waved my hand in reply as he sculled away, all alone now in thewherry, towards the flagship to try and pick up some stray passenger forGosport or Hardway; and the next instant I had gained the top of theaccommodation ladder, and was standing within the entry-port leading onto the middle deck. 

"Hullo!" cried a bluejacket stationed at the gangway, who, I noticed, had a red stripe on his arm, and subsequently learnt was one of theship's corporals, who serve as police always aboard a man-of-war. "Whatdo you want here, boy?"

"I've come to join the ship, sir, " said I to him respectfully, seeingthat he was some one in authority, and having been taught by father tobe deferential to everybody, especially those who were my superiors, respect to rank and station being the very essence of the discipline ofthe service. "Got a letter for the cap'en. "

"Give it here, my lad, " said the man more civilly to me, calling to amarine close by. "I'll have the letter passed off to him at once; andyou'd best step into the office there and wait till the master-at-armscan see you. "

So saying, he pointed to a large open sort of cabin, with glass sides toit, immediately adjoining the entry-port, where I found a couple of boysof about my own age, and who had evidently come aboard on a similarerrand. 

One of these was a red-haired, short, thickset fellow, with an ugly, bulldog sort of a face, whose beetle-brows met over a pair of ferretyeyes, giving him a most forbidding appearance, and I did not like thelook of him at all. 

The other was a poor ragged chap, without any shoes to his feet; but hehad a jaunty devil-me-care air, and such a pleasant smile and merrytwinkle about the corners of his mouth, that I could not help taking afancy to him, at once hoping that we might be chums. 

However, I did not have much time for reflection anent either of them;for hardly had we taken stock of each other, when a stoutish middle-agedman, dressed in a tight-fitting monkey-jacket, ornamented with theletters `NP' on the collar, and a row of bright crown-and-anchor buttonsdown the front, besides having a gold badge bearing the same device overthe mohair band of his blue peaked cap, appeared at the doorway of thecabin, or `police office, ' as the place is properly called, where wethree boys were waiting anxiously to learn our fate. 

"Ha, humph! A nice lot of raw material to be licked into shape!"observed this gentleman, whose uniform denoted that he was the master-at-arms, or head of the ship's police. He was evidently cogitatingwithin himself as to our respective and collective capabilities, for heeyed us critically the while as we stood before him, hats off and muteas mice. "Hi, my lads! I fancy I know what you're after this finemorning. You want to join the service, I can see, eh?"

"Yes, sir, " the three of us shouted in three different keys--"yes, sir--yes, sir!"

"Keep your hair on, lads, " he said, amused at our eagerness. "Got yourpapers all right, eh?"

To this the ugly chap, as well as the one to whom I had taken a liking, responded by handing over to the master-at-arms certain officialdocuments representing their certificate of birth to show they were ofthe proper age, and a declaration of their parents that they werejoining Her Majesty's Service with their full consent and goodwill. 

When it came to my turn, though, I had absolutely nothing to show. 

"Hullo!" exclaimed the master-at-arms. "Where are your papers, young'un?"

I was about to explain; but the ship's corporal who had first spoken tome at the entry-port and taken on to the captain the letter from CaptainMordaunt which father had handed to me, saved all further trouble. 

"Here are Tom Bowling's certificates, sir, " said he, giving the coupleof sheets of foolscap in question to his superior officer. "The cap'ensays they're all right, and he's to be entered if he passes theschoolmaster and is medically fit. "

"That's all right, then, Mister Bowling, " said the master-at-arms to me, with a mock bow. "Hullo, though, Bowling--Bowling? It strikes me I'veheard that name before, my lad. Father in the service, eh?"

"He _has_ served in the navy, sir, " I replied. "But he's a pensionernow, and works as a waterman up and down the harbour. "

"Ah, I thought so! He and I were old shipmates together out in theAshantee War on the West Coast, and I recollect him well. You are verylike him, too, I can see now from the cut of your jib, youngster!You're a regular chip of the old block. "

"So everybody says, sir, " I said with a grin. "I only hope, sir, I willturn out as good a sailor!"

"Only act up to that wish, my boy, and you'll do! I say, corporal, takethese three lads down to the schoolmaster and see what he makes ofthem. "

With that, giving me a friendly nod, the master-at-arms dismissed us, and the ship's corporal conducted us down the nearest hatchway to thelower deck. 

At the other end of this we three neophytes were ushered into a largeapartment, fitted with rows of desks and benches, arranged in parallellines, which gave it the appearance of an ordinary schoolroom ashore;the only difference being that there was a harmonium on one side, and acottage piano on the other, while a large circular band-stand stood inbetween the two in the centre. 

Here one of the assistant-masters took charge of us, placing `Ugly' and`Rattlebrains, ' as I had mentally christened my two companions, alongwith myself at a table in a corner of the room, away from the rest ofthe boys, some three hundred odd in number, who were all busy at theirlessons. 

No great obstacle to our joining the service was put in our way by theexamination which we underwent; for, after being asked to spell a feweasy words, tested as to our arithmetic with a sum in simple addition, and the multiplication table as far as six times six, besides beinggiven a short sentence from some reader to write from dictation, thehead schoolmaster filled up a form, which he attached to our papers, notifying that we were sufficiently educated to become _Saint Vincent_boys. 

Our ordeal was thus ended. 

The three of us were then escorted back again to the police office onthe middle deck, where our papers were again handed to the master-at-arms to show that the regulations had been complied with. 

This functionary did not seem at all surprised at our reappearance. 

"Ha, Bowling, so you've passed your schooling all right, my lad, eh?" hesaid to me. "I thought you'd manage to pull through, somehow or other;and you, too, young shaver--you with that fine pair of flesh-colouredstockings on, I mean! I can't quite make out your name here from thewriting. It looks like `Damerum, ' or `Dunekin, ' or `Donkeyvan, ' orsomething of that sort! What do you call yourself, my lad, when you'reat home, eh?"

"Donovan, sor, " promptly answered my friend the ragged boy without anycovering to his feet, whom, of course, he was addressing. "Me name'sMick Donovan, sor. "

"An Irishman, eh?"

"No, sor; Oi'm an Oitalian, yer honour. "

The master-at-arms burst out laughing, for really the devil-me-carechap's brogue was strong enough to have hung a kettle full of potatoeson it. Even the ship's corporal could not help smiling, though in thepresence of his superior officer. 

"Nonsense, boy, don't you try to gammon me, " cried the master-at-arms, as soon as he was able to speak. "An Italian from the county Cork, I'mthinking!"

"Oi'm that same, yer honour, " protested the other, as grave as a judge. "Me fayther came over here harvestin' last summer, sor, an' turnedorgan-grinder; an' now, sure, he's an Oitalian. "

"Was it him that signed this paper?" asked the master-at-arms, when hewas able to control his speech again after a second burst of merrimentat the Irish boy's droll way of expressing himself, and comical look. "I s'pose it's his new foreign style of writing and spelling thatprevented my making out your name at first?"

"Sure, sor, he wanted the praste fur to soign it, " said the other in hisracy brogue. "But Father Maloney said he'd be persecuted for bigummy ifhe did it, an' he'd have fur to do it himsilf; an' so, bad cess to it, fayther stuck the ind of his dhudeen in the ink-bottle, I'll take meoath, sor, an' soigned his name thare, sor, jist whare ye say it, widhis own hand, as Oi'm a livin' sinner!"

"Well, well, Donovan, that's enough. I'll take your word for it, " saidthe master-at-arms, anxious to get rid of him, feeling his gravitygiving way again. "But you'll first have to pass your medicalexamination, my lad, before you can join the ship. Corporal, take allthree of them to the doctor in the sick-bay, at once!"

With that, the lot of us started off, in company with the corporal. 

CHAPTER THREE. 

I BECOME AN "UNCLOTHED BOY!"

"Look sharp, my lads!" sang out after us the master-at-arms, or "Jaunty"as he is always called on board ship. "The sick-bay's away there forrudon the starboard side; and if you're spry and pass the doctor soon, before the bugle sounds for `cooks to their messes, ' why, you'll be ableto eat your first meal at Her Majesty's expense, my lads, afore you're aday older. "

"Faith an' sure, " rejoined our ragged comrade Mick Donovan innocentlyenough, as we hurried along the middle deck towards the fore part of theship, under the tutelage of the corporal, "I'll pass the gintleman aisyan' civilly if he ounly comes foreninst me an' gives me a chance, begorrah, to go by him!"

The corporal sniggered at this audibly, not being any longer in thepresence of his superior officer the master-at-arms, and therefore notnow bound in the interests of discipline to repress his emotions; and, in another minute, pushing aside a red curtain that hung in front of theopen door of a cabin on the starboard side, forward of the galley, wherethere was an appetising smell of cookery going on that made my friendMick sniff approvingly and wink at me, our conductor led the three of usinto the doctor's quarters, or hospital of the ship, nautically styledthe sick-bay. 

Here, the sick-berth steward, distinguished by a red-cross badge withina circlet of gold on his arm, took us in tow, the corporal handing himour papers, which he in turn handed to the doctor, who was in the usualundress uniform of an officer, a thin line of red braid interlardedbetween the rows of gold lace on the cuff of his tunic sleeve betokeninghis special medical rank. 

This gentleman was seated at a writing-table in a larger cabinamidships, opening out of the first apartment; and here I noticed therewere a couple of hospital cots rigged up at the farther end, for thetreatment, no doubt, of any urgent cases, such as a fall from aloft orother mishap which might happen on board the ship, prior to the removalof the patients to Haslar, which lay within convenient reach up thecreek opposite. 

The doctor looked up on our entrance from what seemed suspiciously likea copy of one of the daily journals, which he had been apparentlystudying with great interest; but, of course, I might have beenmistaken. 

He was a pleasant, easy-going gentleman, I thought; and when I spokeabout him subsequently to father, he said he was probably like most ofthe `sawbones' he had met with in his time in the Navy--"chaps aswouldn't let their sense of duty ever fret their minds too much!"

I could not help seeing now, that, though the steward held out ourpapers to him, he did not take the trouble to stretch out his hand forthem; allowing the man to lay them on the table before him when he wastired of holding them out. 

"Oh, that you, Trimmens?" he said languidly, as if he were too tiredalmost to get out the sentence, though he had a nice, agreeable voice. "What! You don't mean to say you've brought in another batch of boys tobe examined?"

"Yes, sir, " replied the sick-berth steward, opening his mouth, andclosing it again with a sort of snap, and uttering the two words as one. "Three of 'em now, sir!"

"Why, that makes the fourth lot this morning!" exclaimed the otherplaintively. "The ship'll be chock-full if they keep on coming in likethis. Only at the beginning of the month, too!"

"Yes, sir, " agreed the steward. "Shall I make a start with 'em, sir?"

"Oh yes, carry on, Trimmens, " said the doctor, looking at his watch, andthen sitting bolt upright in his chair with more alertness than he hadyet displayed. "But, by Jove, you must look sharp! It's close on lunchtime, and we haven't much time to spare. "

"Yes, sir, " answered the sick-berth steward in the same snappy, mechanical way; and then, turning to us, he said, "Which of ye camefirst, boys?"

"Me, zur, " replied `Ugly, ' stepping forwards. "I were first aboard thismornin'; an', by rights, I comes first. "

"Boys have no rights in the Navy, or wrongs either if they behavethemselves properly, " observed the doctor, giving my joker a `snop' forhis bumptiousness. "What's your name?"

"Reeks, " replied `Ugly, ' a bit abashed. "My name be Moses Reeks, zur. "

"Leeks?"

"No-a, zur, Reeks. We spells it with a `har, ' double `he, ' and a `k'and a `hess, ' zur. "

"Oh, all right, Reeks; but it looks uncommonly like Leeks on your paperhere; and I thought you were a Welshman, " said the doctor, smiling athis queer Hampshire pronunciation; for some of the chaps down our wayspeak just as badly as the cockneys in the east end of London, especially those coming from the country part beyond Cosham and Fareham. "Now, strip off your clothes to the waist, Reeks, and you, Trimmens, just take his chest measurement, please. You need not take off yourtrousers, boy!"

He added this caution in the nick of time, for `Ugly' appeared about topeel off everything, to his naked pelt!

The sick-berth steward then proceeded to put a tape-measure round hisbody, just under the armpits, compassing his chest. 

"He's just the regulation, sir, " he said, after inspecting the measure. "Thirty-one inches, sir, exactly. "

The doctor looked at Reeks's papers again. 

"Ah, yes, all right, his age is under sixteen, I see, " said he. "Justtest his height, Trimmens. "

The sick-bay steward took Reeks to the bulkhead opposite, where was astandard for measurement, the same as they keep in barrack-rooms. 

"He's five feet two, sir, " he called out--"to a h'inch, sir. "

"All right, that'll do, " said the doctor. "I don't think Mr Reeks willgrow much more, though; he's too thickset. Get me my stethoscope, Trimmens, and I'll sound his lungs and heart. "

The doctor's examination appeared satisfactory, for he made a note on`Ugly's' papers; and he was then made to hop across the cabin on eachfoot alternately and swing from a hook suspended to the deck above witheither hand; after which his sight was tested, to see whether he coulddistinguish colours at a distance, besides being made pick out variouslyformed letters placed six feet or so away from him. The ordeal wascompleted with an inquiry as to the state of his bowels!

"You'll do all right, " said the doctor, signing his papers to show hehad complied with the requirements of the service. "Next boy!"

This, of course, was Mick Donovan, who gave out his name clearly enough;but, on the order being given him to strip, he seemed somewhat abashed, as if reluctant to comply with this request. 

The doctor, very kindly, I thought, seemed to anticipate the poor lad'sreason for hesitating. 

"Never mind, my boy, if your shore toggery is a bit seedy, " he said. "You'll soon be blooming out in a bran-new sailor's rig, and be as goodas anybody!"

At this, Mick slipped off his ragged jacket at once, dragging an evenmore tattered shirt over his head. But I noticed though, and so did thedoctor too, who had pretty sharp eyes of his own in spite of hissomewhat indolent demeanour, that, if poor Mick's garment was ragged, asindeed it was--aye, and `holy' enough to have served his patriot saint, Saint Patrick, for a vestment--the shirt, or rather the remnant of thearticle, was scrupulously clean. The Irish boy's skin also appearedmuch more accustomed to soap and water than that of the ugly Reeks, who, I saw, regarded my new friend with contempt, though he seemed to me avery dirty fellow, if outwardly better dressed. 

However, in spite of his dilapidated raiment, Mick passed all themedical tests; though he had a narrow squeak in regard to the dimensionsof his chest, failing in the proper measurement for his age by just aneighth of an inch. 

"Faith, sor, I'll fill out soon enough whin I git outside ov a good maleor two, " pleaded the defaulter, on the sick-berth steward noting thedeficiency. "An' sure, yer anner, if Oi arn't broad enough in thechist, I make up for it by being taller for me age--Bedad, Oi'm that, sor!"

The doctor seemed tickled by this unanswerable piece of logic. 

"We'll see about that, Paddy, " he said. "Trimmens, measure his height!"

"Five feet five, sir, " ejaculated the steward, after adjusting thesliding roll of the standard and reading the index. "That's threeh'inches over the h'average, sir, for his age, I think, sir. "

"Very good, that'll do; I'll pass you, Donovan, " said the doctor, wheeling round his chair and facing Mick. "But, mind, you'll have tofill out, my boy. "

"Faith, I will that same, sor; and thank you kindly, sor, for yourgoodness to a poor misfortenate gossoon:" replied the other, all full ofgratitude. "Your honour won't know me, bedad, in a wake's toime if Iownly git enough praties an' mate!"

The doctor laughed outright at this; whereat, the somewhat demure sick-berth steward smiled grimly, allowing himself this slight indulgenceamid the stormy austerities of duty, the only departure from the gravityhe had all along displayed. 

As for me, I was on the broad grin the whole period of my examination. 

This lasted from the time I unbuttoned my braces till I threw them overmy shoulders again, my grin expanding as I passed each test with flyingcolours, and broadening all over my face to express my inward joy. For, thank God, I proved to be not only `sound in mind and limb, ' but tallerand broader-chested than most lads of my age. While as for my sight--

"By Jove, Trimmens, " observed the doctor, "I think he could prettynearly see through that bulkhead and the Bill of Portland beyond! Hehas eyes like gimlets!"

"Yes, sir!"

With that, the sick-berth steward, hailing the ship's corporal, who hadbeen waiting all the while at the entrance to the doctor's sanctum, handed him our papers; and the three of us were then escorted to thepaymaster's office, aft there, to undergo our last ordeal. 

Here, each of us had to sign a document, binding us to serve Her Majestyfor a period of twelve years after we should have attained the age ofeighteen. 

A number was thereupon given to Reeks and Donovan, as well as myself, and these numbers entered in the ship's books against all three of ournames; the one apportioned to me being 2799, which I looked upon as ahappy omen, there being always luck in the odd figures. 

Then, finally, one of the clerks noted down in turn the respectivecolours of our hair and eyes, asking also if we had any special markingson any part of our several persons; so that the authorities would beable to identify us should we `cut and run' at any time, and try toleave the service before we worked out our allotted spell of twelveyears as bluejackets "under the flag. "

"Now, lads, " said the corporal, as we emerged from the ship's office, asthe paymaster's domain is styled, after going through all theseformalities, "you're entered on the ship's books and you've signed thewatch bill, and can call yourselves _Saint Vincent_ boys at last!"

"Be the powers, sor, " exclaimed Mick Donovan, at once executing a caperwhich had some remote resemblance to an Irish jig, "it's deloighted Oiam at that same! Oi fale so glad, alannah, Oi could dance for joy, loike the piper that played before Moses!"

"What d'you mean?" retorted Reeks, thinking he was taking liberties withhis name. "We don't have no Irish pipers or pigs in this country!"

"Faith an' sure, " retorted Mike, "that's bekase ye don't want 'em, avic. Ye've got so many pigs, me darlint, amongst ye, bedad, ov yer own, sure, an' not fur off, nayther, I'm a-thinkin'!"

Before `Ugly' could make any reply to this sharp home-thrust, a buglerang out loudly throughout the ship fore and aft, putting a stop to theinteresting conversation. 

"Look sharp, lads!" cried the corporal, hurrying us on to where we hadleft the master-at-arms. "There's `cooks to their messes, ' and you'rejust in time for dinner. "

"Dinner, faith!" ejaculated Mick Donovan. "Oi'm the boy for ye, begorrah. Where shall we go, sor, for to git it? Sure, the docther, God bless him! Towld me Oi wor to fill mesilf out; an' the sooner I sitabout it, the betther, Oi'm afther thinkin'!"

"Come along with me and you'll be all right, " said the corporal kindly. "You novices will mess here on the middle deck, along with us police, till you pass your bag and hammock drill and get your uniforms. You'reonly what they calls `unclothed boys' at present, my lads!"

So saying, he led the way to the aftermost mess on the port side of theship. 

Its number was `52, ' near at hand to the office of the ship's police, and adjoining the entry-port where we had come on board that morning, and on reaching it we were directed to seat ourselves at the table, oneof the oldsters being `told off' to look after us, and supply our wantsas soon as the boatswain's pipe was heard; when some six hundred andfifty odd boys came tumbling down the hatchways from `divisions' on theupper deck, diving below, to their dinners on the lower. 

"You're in luck, my lads, " said patronisingly the first-class boy, witha double stripe on his arm, who had been deputed to fetch our food, wehaving no cook or captain of our mess appointed yet. "Not many gitssich a chance on first j'ining!"

"Why?" asked I--"how's that?"

"It's pay-day to-day, being Thursday; and so you'll have roast muttonand gammy duff for dinner, let alone your pay, mate. "

"I don't fancy any of us will get fat on our pay, " said I, with a grin, in response to his chaff. "But, what's `gammy duff'--I never heard tellof such a thing before?"

"Plum puddin', with raisins in it, stoopid, " he quickly sang out, wedarting off, on catching sight of our friend the ship's corporal, whojust then popped his head out of the office to see how we were gettingon. "I means a puddin', Johnny Green, with as many `gammies' as theboys don't `sneak' when the cook's working up the duff!"

CHAPTER FOUR. 

I AM "CUT DOWN IN MY PRIME. "

After dinner, which, by the way, my friend Mick Donovan appeared toenjoy mightily, not having had a decent meal for more than a month past, as he confessed to me afterwards, the bugle loudly sounded the`assembly, ' when all the boys below came rushing up the hatchway nearus, trooping onwards by the ladder above to the upper deck. Theyjostled and shoved past each other, I thought, as if Old Nick were afterthem, none wishing to occupy the unenviable position of last man, orrather boy. 

There wore eight other new boys in addition to us three, the latest ofthe novices, who had joined the ship that morning; and, although we allrose up from the mess-table, where we had very satisfactorily polishedoff our dinners in company, the lot of us hung together about the spot, not knowing what to do, or where we should go. 

We were, besides, pretty well confused with all the bustle and hurry, and scurry catch-me-who-can business, going on around us. 

It seemed, indeed, to bewilder even `Ugly, ' free and easy chap as heappeared to be. 

Our friend the master-at-arms, however, solved the difficulty for usbefore we were many minutes older, as you will see. 

"Ha, my lads!" said he, advancing towards us from the office with theglass windows, through which he could overhaul all that was going on ondeck, and where he probably had been enjoying his own meal on the quiet;"got through your dinners, eh?"

"Yes, sir, " we shouted in chorus, Mick Donovan adding a very appropriategrace, which most of us had forgotten. "Thanks be to God, yer 'anner!"

"Ah, I needn't have asked the question, " said the `Jaunty' to this, glancing meaningly at the empty plates that littered the table, not ascrap or a crumb being left by any of us. "But now, my lads, you mustset to work to pay for your grub. Here, look sharp and clear up! Wealways have things shipshape aboard here, and the sooner you learn yourduties the better. "

The same first-class boy who had previously got our dinners for us fromthe cook's galley, and who, you may remember, had tried a `barney' on mewhen he brought them, happening to be passing by at the time again, themaster-at-arms hailed him. 

"Where are you going, my joker?" said he. "You seem to be having a goodtime of it!"

"Jist goin' a message fur the bosun, " stammered he. "He sent me to axthe gunner, sir, fur a copy o' the mornin' paper. "

"That's a bouncer, " rejoined the `Jaunty, ' who, no doubt, was up to suchtricks. "Why, you're going away from the gunner's cabin and not towardsit, as you very well know. You just stop here and show these new boyshow to clean up the mess-table. "

"Yes, sir, " replied the boy very humbly; and then a grin came over hisface as he looked at the empty plates, like as the master-at-arms haddone previously, asking demurely, "Shall I show 'em where to chuck thescraps, sir?"

"Yes, if you can find them, " answered the `Jaunty' shortly. "It strikesme, Larrikins, you'll soon be on short allowance yourself if you don'tkeep a better hold on your tongue! Let me see these mess-tables allcleared up before I come back from the wardroom, or you'll smell powderbefore Six Bells, I promise you, and shan't go ashore to-day. "

This threat had the effect of sobering down our lively friend, who thenput us in the way of what we were to do; and, all of us lending willinghands, we soon had the place as trim as it was before we had sat down toour dinners. 

After this, taking the dirty plates back to the galley, we washed all ofthem up in a bucket of water and restored them to their proper racks, returning to the entry-port just as the master-at-arms came saunteringback along the deck from the officers' quarters aft. 

"Ha, done that job all right, I see, " said he in an approving tone. "Now, let me see what we can find for you, to keep your hands out ofmischief. Corporal, have they told off any hands yet to clear thebilge?"

"Yes, sir, " replied one of the ship's corporals who had just come up theforward hatchway from the lower deck. "I jest heered the bosun givin'orders for a gang to go down on the orlop deck. "

"Then, take th's lot of new boys with you and show them the way down. They're almost enough to man the pumps all by themselves!"

"Aye, aye, sir, " responded the corporal, turning to retrace his stepsdown the hatchway which he had just ascended. "Come along, my lads, follow me!"

Down we all trooped accordingly, on to the lower deck, where we saw anumber of the boys, who had been dismissed from quarters, busy at theirvarious instruction drills; which we, unhappy `unclothed' ones, couldnot participate in till we had been clad in uniform and become part andparcel of the ship's company. 

Giving these the go-by, and also passing the schoolroom, leaving thatastern on our starboard hand, we descended yet lower to the orlop deck, the lowest in the ship, being just above the hold where lies theballast, and the water-tanks are stowed, as well as spare gear. 

Here, some twenty other boys, under the superintendence of one of thepetty officers, were working away at the cranks of the Downton pumpswith the energy of so many convicts on the treadmill; clink-clanking atsuch a rate, that one could hear the suck of the pumps and the rush ofthe water through the pipes, ending with a sort of gurgle at the end ofthe stroke!

In the `dim religious light' produced by a couple of ship's lanternshung at the head of the hatchways, widely apart, not very much could beseen of the interior, save the broad substantial deck beams and curvedknees at the sides; but I noticed that the faces of two or three of theboys nearest one of these lights were streaming with perspiration, whichshowed that the work was "taking it out of them. "

"Tail on here!" shouted out the petty officer, who seemed a rathergrumpy individual, on our coming down to join the gang. "We don't wantno idlers here!"

With that, Mick Donovan and I gripped the handle of one of the cranks, two others of the new boys facing us; and we soon all found our places, clink-clanking away like the rest had done before we joined in. Indeed, we couldn't stop once we had started, but had to `sling on' whether weliked it or not, the handles of the pumps keeping up their up and downmotion through the action of the others; so that if we had let go, weshould have got either a tidy crack under the chin, or else been tumbledover on the deck. 

After half-an-hour's experience of this exhilarating labour, the pettyofficer sang out, "Spell ho!" and we left off the job, the pumps havingsucked dry, and the bilge being thus clear for the day. 

We then returned up the two hatchways to the middle deck above, the boymessenger Larrikins being sent down by the direction of the master-at-arms to fetch us to be measured for our uniforms, the tailor having comeaboard. 

The `snip' did not take long over his business; for he and hisassistant, after putting their tapes round us, and punching `Ugly, ' whowould stoop, to make him really stand upright, promised that we shouldall have our new clothes by the following Saturday. 

"Hurrah!" said one of the novices near me. "I'll then be able to gohome and see mother again!"

"G-a-a, cry babby!" jeered `Ugly. ' "Yer oughter 'a bin tied to yermother's aprun string!"

"Begorrah!" interposed Mick Donovan, "that's more'n ye could be afther!I doesn't think ye're afther havin' a moother at all. Faith, ye're toougly fur inny one to own ye, save the divvle; an' he'd be a born foolfur his pains if he did. "

A laugh went round amongst us, which was only quenched by the master-at-arms singing out "Silence there!" and then; the lot of us were taken byLarrikins to the ship's steward, who served out to each of us a hammockand a pair of blankets, part of the outfit to which all second-classboys are entitled on joining the Navy, when a grateful country makesthem a present of six guineas to furnish themselves with a rig-out!

Mind you, though, this sum is not allowed to be spent at the suckingseaman's own discretion, but is laid out for him in a wardrobe of themost approved nautical type, suited alike to his wants and therequirements of the service. 

The afternoon, through these means, passed away so quickly, that thoughI was once or twice near the entry-port on the starboard side, close byto which the tailor had measured us, I declare I never once thought oflooking out over the waterway to see what had become of father and hiswherry; albeit, from the tide having ebbed, my outlook was now much morecircumscribed than when I had come afloat in the morning, it seeming buta stone's throw to Point; while on the port side of the ship one couldalmost have walked ashore, the mud flats of Haslar Creek being out inall their glory, and stretching up almost to the old _Saint Vincent's_rudder-post!

On account of its being Thursday, a lot of the boys were allowed ashore;and in the quiet that generally reigned, the majority of the othersbeing occupied drilling below, the middle and upper decks werecomparatively deserted, and things apparently at a standstill. 

At Eight Bells, however, all this was altered, the boys scuttling aboutto their respective messes to supper, or what we call `tea' time ashore. 

This meal was as fairly nourishing as the dinner that was served out, each boy having ten ounces of bread, an ounce of sugar, and one-eighthof an ounce of tea, to his own cheek. 

Tea, you must know, is styled `plew' on board, in the slang of thetraining-ship; possibly, through some association with the `sky blue'known in the boarding-schools of shore folk. 

Larrikins was put by the master-at-arms to `show us the ropes' ingetting our supplies from the galley for this supper, as previously; andamused himself considerably at our expense, chaffing some of the newchaps about their not having "smelt such a thing as tea before, " so hehinted. 

"I s'pose now, " he said to Mick Donovan, whose queer description ofhimself had already got wind through the ship. I'm afraid from thecorporal who took us to the sick-bay having `split' upon him, "in yourcountry you'd eat them tea leaves, instead o' wettin' on 'em, stooed inile, same as the I-talians cook everything I'm told, hey?"

"Faith, if I had ye in the ould counthry, " answered back Mick, not for amoment nonplussed, "I'd soon show ye how an Oitalian of the raal sort, loike me fayther, sor, lives! Bedad, it's praties an' crame we hev furtay, sure, ivvery day in the wake!"

This created a good deal of noisy merriment as we sat round the mess-table near the entry-port, causing the sharp-eared, lynx-eyed `Jaunty'to spot the offender from his convenient post of observation hard by. 

"Be quiet there, Paddy!" he sang out, poking his head above the window-sill. "Do you think you're in your own mud cabin in the wilds ofConnemara? As for you, Larrikins, I have warned you before, and you hadbetter keep your weather eye open, my joker!"

We were all as quiet as lambs in an instant, not a sound being heardabove the clatter of the cups and saucers, and the gulps made by `Ugly'in swallowing his tea, that individual being as piggish in his habits ashe was in his appearance; and, presently, this clatter was increased byour collecting the mess-traps after finishing our meal, when the sameprocess of cleaning up was effected as before, everything being left astidy in and around the vicinity of Mess Number 52 as we had found itwhen first installed there. 

From Six to Eight Bells, in the second dog-watch, the boys, I found, were allowed to skylark about the upper deck and aloft, playing `followmy leader' up and down the rigging, without any interference orinterruption from the officers and instructors, save when it seemed tothem the larking might degenerate into horseplay. 

Then, it was put a slop to, so far as the particular incident wasconcerned, in a twinkle. 

Not being in uniform, I kept aloof from these mad pranks, sticking closeto Mick Donovan, who I saw was ashamed of his ragged clothes, beingafraid of the boys jeering him, like Larrikins. 

That worthy soon picked us out, though; aye, in spite of our shelteringunder the lee of the bridge, and being almost concealed in the eveninggloom. 

"S'pose yer afeerd o' clim'in' riggin'?"

"Divvle a bit!" replied Mick in a moment. "Oi'd cloimb in a jiffey;ounly the jintleman downstairs, faith, tould us all we wasn't. "

This allusion to the `Jaunty' silenced the incorrigible Larrikins forthe nonce; though he sniggered at Mick saying `downstairs' instead ofbelow, as most landsmen do when new to board-ship life. 

The next moment, however, Master Larrikins was at it again, trying to`take a rise out of me, ' Mick having thus discouraged his advances inthat direction. 

"You'll be havin' orful times when yer goes aloft, " he said, in a sortof awesome tone meant to frighten me. "I've bin up theer on the maincrosstrees when yer jist couldn't 'old yer 'air on yer 'ead, let alone'oldin' on with one 'and fur yerself and t'other for the Navy. "

"Stow that, " said I, laughing in his face. "Why, I've been up to themain truck of a line-o'-battle ship before to-day and am not afraid ofclimbing! I'm not strange to the sea, my smart chap, let me tell you. My father, though he's a waterman now, is an old sailor, and has taughtme pretty well all he learnt. "

"Aye, aye, that's right enuff; but 'earin of it an' a-seein' it's twodifferent things. You jist wait till yer gets to sea and ain't a-plyingbark'ards and forruds in Porchmouth 'arbour. My stars, won't yer beflummuxed then. "

"Don't you believe it, " I retorted. "I've been to sea, I tell you, before to-day. "

"Oh aye, that's right enuff; but there's goin' to sea, an' goin' to sea. Lor! Yer 'aven't ever bin out in the _Martin_ brig, have yer, now?"

"No, of course not, " I replied. "I've only just joined the service, Itell you. "

"Ah, you jist wait then, " said he, taking this observation of mine for afresh lead. "I wer' out once, I tells yer, in the brig when the sea wosmountings 'igh, an' the wind--Lor'! Yer shood 'a 'errd it blow! Ittook the mizzen to's'le right clean out of 'er; an' there wos four on usat the wheel, ay, 'sides old Jellybelly. "

"Why, " I exclaimed, "who is he?"

"The quarter-master, in course, " rejoined Larrikins indignantly. "Wherewos yer raised not fur to know that afore? He allers goes by that nameaboard ship, as everybody knows. "

He was proceeding to tell me some thrilling and highly adventurousexperiences he had had in the Channel and off the Isle of Wight, out onthe autumn cruise in the training-brig, when the bugle sounded, and theboys all mustered at quarters before turning in for the night. 

Staying on the upper deck for a time, Mick Donovan and I witnessed themad race which presently took place on the order being given to slinghammocks; each boy scurrying to the nettings and hurrying below, hammockunder arm, to rig up the same in the billet allotted to him on the lowerdeck. 

Ere long, the idea struck both Mick and myself, almost simultaneously, that it was high time for us to think of our sleeping accommodation forthe night; and so, we hurried down at the tail end of the crowd of otherfellows, to seek the aid of our old friend the master-at-arms, the `Deusex machina' of our hopes and fears. 

Our new hammocks had been left in the police office of the ship underhis immediate eye; so, on ascertaining the doubt that harassed our mindsanent the night-lodging question, the `Jaunty, ' as heretofore, solvedthe difficulty at once by saying that we were to sling our hammocks onthe middle deck, adjacent to the mess-place where we had dined andsupped so sumptuously. Just then, as luck would have it, Larrikins, ourold cicerone, came up abreast of where we were standing. 

"Hi there!" sang out the master-at-arms. "Come and show these boys howto sling their hammocks. "

"Yes, sir, " replied Larrikins, with a scrape and a touch of his cap. "Werry good, sir. "

So saying, he set about knotting the lanyard of Irish Mick's hammock;and, after slinging it from the hooks in the deck beams, over the mess-table where the famished lad had enjoyed such a rare `tuck out' thatday, Larrikins went on to explain how the blankets should be `tucked in'to the frail structure and wrapped round the occupant, so as to preventhim from tumbling out, which Larrikins declared, almost with tears inhis eyes, he should deeply regret were such a catastrophe to occur. 

"Lor', " he asseverated, "I'd never forgive myself--strike me silly if Iwould!"

"Faith an' sure, is it ai'ther expectin' me now for to schlape in thatthare outlandish consarn yez are?" exclaimed Mick, to whom a hammock wasan entire novelty. "It's jokin', faith, ye are entirely, sure!"

However, after, like `vaulting ambition, ' overleaping himself whentrying to jump into his unaccustomed bed-place, falling, equallyunceremoniously, `on t'other side, ' Mick succeeded in ensconcing himselfvery comfortably in his hammock. 

Now came my turn, my friend Larrikins being even more obsequious in hisaid to me than to Mick. 

The result amply justified his solicitude, for, although I managed tojump in all right, and even to go to sleep presently soundly enough, wearied out with all the excitement of the day, I was in the midst of aterrible dream, in which I thought I was at sea in the _Martin_ brig, ina fearful tempest, with the waters overwhelming us, and the vessel onthe point of foundering, when I was awakened by a crash that seemed toresound through the ship, and then I'm sure I saw more stars than wereever seen by mortal in the bright blue firmament of heaven!

I had been `cut down, ' as the nautical phrase goes. 

CHAPTER FIVE. 

BOXING THE COMPASS. 

Sudden as had been my downfall, I was sufficiently awake, after thefirst momentary giddiness caused by the sharp crack with which my headcame against the deck had passed away, to have a shrewd idea as to whohad brought about my sad calamity; the giggling and whispering, thatwent on around, in the semi-darkness, telling me, had I needed any suchassurance, that my fall was due to no accident. 

"Hullo, my joker!" I sang out, recognising the voice of Larrikins as Ifumbled about amongst the blankets and loose hammock cloth, feeling verymuch as if I were tightly tied up in a sack, part of the lanyard havingtaken a round turn round my neck. "I say, you first-class boy, there!You with the mug on you like a vegetable marrow! Wait till to-morrowmorning and I'll serve you out for this--see if I don't!"

"Lor', yer doesn't mean fur to say as how ye've gone a downer?" cried mytormentor, in a tone of great commiseration, lending a hand to extricateme from the folds of the blankets. "I never seed a chap go down sosuddink. Lor'! Yer must hev made a slippery hitch when yer fastened upthe end on yer lanyard to the hook. Lor', I am that orful sorry!"

"Oh yes, " said I, shaking myself free from the last of my encumbrancesand standing up erect, "you can just tell that to the marines!"

I was not, however, at all out of temper, having learnt long since frommy father, even were I not fond of a bit of practical-joking myself, notto take umbrage at the skylarking of any of my comrades on board shipwhere no malice was really intended. As he told me, the more a fellowshows he's `riled, ' the more his shipmates ever will tease him. 

"If you want to have a happy life at sea, Tom, " said he, "you mustalways bear everything good-humouredly--everything; aye, should youtumble from aloft and risk losing the number of your mess into thebargain!"

Hearing the row and the sound of our talking after `lights out!' hadbeen called, one of the ship's corporals came up with a lantern to seewhat was the matter; and he at once spotted Master Larrikins. 

"Hi, young feller!" said he to that arch-conspirator; "what are youdoing here? How's it you haven't turned in on the lower deck, in yourproper billet?"

"The master-at-arms told me, sir, as how I wer fur to see as thesenovices wos slung their hammicks propingly, " replied Larrikins glibly. "An' I wer jist a-seein' to do it, sir. "

"Aye, and a precious fine way you have done it, too!" rejoined theship's corporal, whose face I could clearly see by the light of his ownlantern had a broad and beaming grin on it, as he proceeded to inspectthe lashings now of my hammock, the foot-end of which was still attachedto its hook in the deck beam. "Why, you've been and activally gone andtriced the poor beggar up with a bit of spunyarn. No wonder he comedown all standing on his cocoanut!"

The other fellows near me had wakened up by this, and there was a goodsnigger all round; until the ship's corporal, having rigged up myhammock again in the way it should have been rightly done at first, witha double turn of the lanyard round the hook, shoved me in and kindlytucked my blankets round me, before going off to complete his rounds;telling us, as he disappeared forwards in the darkness, that if we didnot "keep quiet for the rest of the night we'd each get `four dozen' onthe quarter-deck next day, besides being spread-eagled in the weatherrigging as a caution to all novices about to join the ship!"

This warning, uttered in a deep, sepulchral voice, no doubt awed most ofthe new boys, but it only made me laugh to myself, as I was pretty wellup to such `barney'; and, with little dread of any penalties in store--though for that matter there was not much that could be said against me, for I certainly had not tried the strength or the softness of the ship'splanks of my own free-will--I cuddled into my hammock and went to sleepas soundly as if I were in my own old bed at home, in spite of thesnoring and choking noises made in his dreams by that ugly chap MosesReeks, who occupied the next hammock to mine. 

"Whe-e-e-e-e! Who-e-o-e-o! Whe-eep!"

So the boatswain's whistle rang out through the ship with a shrilliteration that pierced my ears in the fresh and chilly air next morning, awaking me, if possible, in even yet more startling fashion thanLarrikins' successful trick of the previous evening. 

"Whee-e-ah! Whee-e-ah!"

There it was again; and, should this not be sufficient to disturb theslumbers of heavy sleepers, the sharp boatswain's pipe was supplementedby the hoarse shouts of his `mates' up and down the hatchways far andnear, a very legion of voices!

"Rouse out! Rouse out! Rouse out! Show a leg. "

I really thought the nor'-east wind had brought up a great haul with theflood-tide, and that innumerable costers were calling out some strangefish in the streets round Bonfire Corner; while our white cockatoo, `Ally Sloper, ' was having a bit of fun with himself and mother byimitating the cry!

Presently, though, a rough shake of my hammock and the hail of one ofthe boatswain's mates close by me told a different tale. 

"Here, out of this, my lad!" said he, giving a twist to the swingingconcern that landed me on the deck in a twinkling. "You can't stopthere snoozing any longer! Don't you see the sun is scorching your eyesout?"

He had a good deal of imagination, had that man; for it would havepuzzled the `Philadelphia lawyer, ' whom father was so fond of quoting, to have discovered the ghost of a ray of sunlight this cold, foggy, February morning at Four Bells!

The rest of the novices--there being, as you know, ten other `unclothed'boys besides myself--had been roughly aroused in like fashion; and to aby-stander all of us must have looked a forlorn lot of shiveringcreatures, adrift there on the cheerless deck in the half light of earlyday, not knowing what to do with ourselves until somebody told us whatto do and bearing, I fancy, a strikingly strong resemblance to a flockof lambs in some strange pasture deserted by their dams!

I make a mistake there, however, for the muttered growling exclamationsI heard uttered by one of the warrant-officers, who came past where westood clustered together, certainly sounded uncommonly like the name ofthe lambs' mothers I have just mentioned, showing that its `eidolon'remained. 

The observation made by this officer, who, to my surprise, Isubsequently found was the boatswain, brought our old police friend, themaster-at-arms, on the scene. 

"Here, boys, " said he to us, "you must bestir yourselves, and not standstar-gazing there, like so many country bumpkins at a fair! TomBowling, if you're the son of your father, you ought to know that you'vegot to unsling your hammock when the `lash up and stow' is sounded! Andyou, too, my Irish-Italian friend over there, roll up your hammock, mylad!"

"Sure, an' is it manin' me yez afther?" inquired Mick Donovan, unhitching the lanyard of his hammock from the hook above in a brace ofshakes. "Faith, it's makin' a rowly-powly puddin' of it I will, sor, entirely!"

The `Jaunty' grinned at Mick's naive remark, but soon mastered thedifficulty of teaching us by passing the job on to other hands. 

"Ah, perhaps you'd better `go through the ropes, ' my lads, properly, andbegin at once at your `bag and hammock drill, ' as all new boys should;though sometimes, they wait till they get uniforms first, " said he, hailing, as he spoke, one of the first-class boys standing by the policeoffice, detailed to act as messengers, like our friend Larrikins. "Boy, there! See if you can find one of the instructors handy, and tell him, with my compliments, I should like to see him for a minute!"

"Yes, sir, " replied this chap, saluting. "I seed Mister Saunders by thefore-hatchway jist now. "

"He'll do, " said the master-at-arms. "Carry on, my lad. Look sharp!"

The next instant, back came the boy with one of the instructors in hiswake, a stalwart seaman, dressed in the usual bluejacket rig, with apetty officer's badge. 

"These boys here, Mr Saunders, " said the master-at-arms, pointing usout with a collective sweep of his long brawny arm, "are all novices, who came aboard yesterday, and don't know what to do with themselvestill they join the ship's company. Hadn't they better pass their `bagand hammock' while waiting for their rig, instead of loafing about here?Mr Gadgett, the bo'sun, was complaining just now of their taking upall the fairway of the deck, and told me I must get rid of them fromhere somehow or the other!"

"All right, " responded the seaman-instructor to this suggestion of themaster-at-arms; and, turning to us, he said, "Take up your hammocks, mylads, and follow me down to the lower deck. You'll have a practicallesson in seeing how your shipmates do it, lads. We're just in time!"

We were, barely so; for, as we passed down the hatchway from the middledeck to the lower region he had previously indicated, it was hard workfor us to shove by the surging crowd of boys who were hurrying up, eachwith his hammock neatly made up and lashed in the regulation form, to bestowed in the nettings on top of the bulwarks amidships the upper deck, according to nautical routine. 

Some, however, were slower at the work, and, taking stock of these, inobedience to the instructor's orders, I got a very fair notion of howthe thing was done; the more especially, as father had shown me the wayhe used to lash up his hammock in the old days when he was at sea, bythe aid of a biscuit bag and a piece of string. 

But our instructor was not satisfied by our now having mere oculardemonstration and doing nothing further; not he. On the contrary, hetook us up to make another requisition on the ship's steward for ourregular kit, which was promptly served out to us; and all the morning, after a good breakfast, which made Mick Donovan open his eyes wider thanordinarily and stare like a stockfish, consisting as it did of cold saltpork and bread, with some splendid hot cocoa, that was more likechocolate, and such as he had never tasted before, we were kept hard atit till the `assembly' was bugled out before dinner--going through thedetails of `bag and hammock drill' seriatim, from the initiatory stageof plaiting the ends of the `nettles' to lashing it up with thespecified number of turns. 

We new boys returned to Number 52 Mess on the middle deck for dinner, when `cooks to their messes' was sounded. 

Our meal this day, it being a Friday, was of a different kind, thoughquite as substantial as we had experienced on the previous day; a well-piled plate of beef and potatoes being allotted to each of us by thepresiding genius of the galley, the sight of which viands made ourmouths water. 

"Lor', it ain't much to holler about!" exclaimed the fastidiousLarrikins, on Mick rubbing his hands at seeing those appetising viands;while `Ugly' cried out joyously, on noticing his mealy mass of potatoes, "Them's the raal jockeys fur I, " thus paraphrasing the remark of a oncecelebrated millionaire possessed of much lucre but boasting of littleconversational power, when at a state banquet, "Why, we only calls thisaboard `two spuds and a Jonah!'"

"I can see the `spuds' all right, " said I; "but where's the Jonah?"

"That be the bone, silly!"

With which withering rejoinder, Larrikins left us to enjoy ourselveswith the food he contemned; though he probably went away to make ahearty dinner off the same at his own mess on the deck below, where hisdivision "hung out. "

Nothing further of any note occurred during the afternoon to mar theharmony or vary the monotony of our `bag and hammock drill, ' at which wewere religiously kept up to the time to leave off work; when we enjoyedagain our tea-supper, and skylarked afterwards till it was time to `turnin, ' which we managed to do now more comfortably as well asexpeditiously than on the night before; while, I may add, my dreamshappily were not disturbed by any storms and thunder-claps of that impLarrikins' contrivance. 

The next day, Saturday, it was a case of `wash and scrub decks, ' andwash and scrub everything, I think, from early morning till dewy eve. 

A very `dewy' eve it was, too, if dampness made it so; but if one didfeel wet and miserable, as I confess I was, the remembrance it broughtback to my mind of my mother's house-cleaning at home being almost toovivid to be pleasant, still, everybody on board had the satisfaction ofknowing that the ship was as smart as holystone and sand could make her, from upper deck to keelson, I verily believe!

I was none the less miserable, either, the following morning, when allthe boys were rigged out in their best and inspected by the captain; forthe tailor, true to the character of all `snips' since the days whenAdam started in that line with his fig-leaf costume, never sent onboard, as he promised, the uniforms of us unfortunate novices, so wecould neither make a decent appearance with the rest of our comrades, nor have permission to go ashore--`unclothed' scarecrows, as some of uswere, would have seemed queer fish to come from a well-ordered ship. 

On Monday, however, all things were made right in this respect; and, having satisfactorily passed `bag and hammock drill, ' the test of ournovitiate, I and my fellow-unfortunates became not only clad like ourfellows, but were enrolled amongst the rest of the second-class boys, and appointed to our proper place in the ship. 

My number being 2799, through some occult system of nautical numeration, I was detailed to the `Third, ' or second starboard, division of theship's company; so I joined mess Number 38, which was on the port sideon the lower deck, the first one aft of the schoolroom. 

I also proceeded a day or two after, being thenceforth regarded as aneophyte no longer, to take part in all the regular drills of the ship, and one morning, subsequent to breakfast, underwent that rudimentarystage of seamanship styled `boxing the compass'--though I might havereally told the painstaking instructor, who painfully and ploddinglylaboured to instil the cardinal points into my head as if I were anignoramus, that I not only knew the `lubber's point' probably as well ashe did, but could, on a pinch, have conned the ship in and out ofPortsmouth Harbour!

This `boxing the compass' business, though, brought me to loggerheadswith that brute `Ugly' somehow or other, strangely enough. 

I don't know how it was, but from the moment, I believe, I first casteyes on his singularly unprepossessing face, Moses Reeks had been myspecial antipathy!

It was not so much that he said anything to me or of me, as from thefact of his always `putting it on' poor Mick Donovan, for whom Ientertained as great a liking as I disliked the other. 

`Ugly' was always snarling at my chum, and ever giving him a chance kickor blow, should he be able to do so unobserved and without beingdirectly taxed with it; though, of course, he would deny it if observedby any of the other boys, being an unmitigated liar, in addition tohaving a sour and vindictive disposition. 

That very morning I noticed him deliberately stamp on poor Mick's baretoes with all the weight of his big heavy foot, as we were coming downthe hatchway from early `divisions'; and when I spoke to him about it hesaid coldly he "hadn't done nuthin' of the sort!"

I knew this was an untruth; but I bided my time, judiciously watchingfor an opportunity to pay him out. 

This came sooner than I expected; for during our compass lesson Imanaged to get him into a fog about the points which the instructor wasexplaining, drawing down on my joker the wrath and outspoken opprobriumof that officer. 

`Ugly' noted this, and in his turn bided his time. 

The watch was dismissed, and the `stand by' had been bugled beforequarters, preparatory to our being dispersed for dinner; when `Ugly'nudged me as we passed up the hatchway together, coming much closer tome than I liked, the very touch of the unclean brute being obnoxious tome. 

"Wot d'yer mean by comin' the barney over me and a-makin' that codger ofa kinstructor bullyrag me afore all the t'other chaps fur?"

"What do you mean, Reeks?" said I, in reply to this, returning his nudgewith a good dig from the bony knob of my elbow in his ribs, and knockingthe wind pretty well-nigh out of him. "You jumped on poor MickDonovan's bare foot this morning, and now you try to shove me!"

"Oh!" he exclaimed, as we emerged on the upper deck, where our divisionhad by now already partly assembled on the starboard side, forward;"that be it, mister?"

"Yes, " said I, as I slipped into my place near Mick, "that's it!"

After `divisions, ' when the other boys were rushing down below to theirmesses to dinner, the bugle-call for which was braying out its cheerfulsounds, I stopped behind on the upper deck, as did "Ugly. "

"Sure an' what are ye stoppin' fur, Tom, mabouchal?" said Mick to me insurprise. "Begorrah, I can smill the mate alriddy, an', faith, thepraties, too! I can say their smilin' faces bickonin' to me an' sayin', `Coom an' ate me!'"

"I'm not coming yet, " I replied, in a more serious tone than Mickevidently expected. "I've got some business with this chap here. "

`Ugly' overheard me, as I intended he should. 

"Hay, " said he, "did yer speak to Oi?"

"Hay is meant for horses and asses, " I answered drily, with a grin; "andif you be one of them latter, as I think, and so does Mick here I know, why, I did refer to you!"

"Want ter fight?"

"Yes, " I said, launching out my fist straight towards his bullet headand giving him a cropper on the mouth that sent him tumbling backwardson the deck, all of a heap; "I do. "

`Ugly' rose slowly to his feet, his face streaming with blood; and hewas just about making a rush at me like a mad bull at a gate, while Iput myself in a posture of defence in proper pugilistic fashion, when aninterruption, though but of a temporary character, came to theseproceedings. 

The ubiquitous Larrikins was the intervener. 

"Lor', you be green 'uns!" he cried, sinking his voice to a cautiouspitch. "Don't you fight here; why, the `crushers' will nab yer aforeyer can strike a blow comfortably! If fight yer must, coom up here onthe fo'c's'le, and then you can fight away theer to yer 'art's content, without nobody not a-hinterfeerin' with yer!"

CHAPTER SIX. 

A KNOTTY POINT!

I led the way towards the forecastle of the old ship, where the highbulwarks, I saw, would screen us well from observation; although theplace, of course, was on the open deck, and visible from aloft, hadanybody been there on the look-out, anxious to take a peep at us. 

In the old days, indeed, had this rencontre between `Ugly' and me thentook place, we might have fought in an enclosed arena; for the _SaintVincent_, I have been told, when she was first built, was fitted with apoop and topgallant-forecastle, and went to sea with them, but AdmiralSir Charles Napier, who was then commodore of the Channel Squadron, andhoisted his broad pennant in her, found the ship so top-heavy when underhis command that he reported her to be unseaworthy on his return toSpithead with the fleet, the result of which was that she lost her poopand topgallant-forecastle; hence `Ugly' and I had now to fight under theeye of the circling seagulls, always on the wing, screeching round theold training-ship in their plaintive fashion, and diving ever and anoninto the tideway to pick up scraps that were chucked overboard by ourcomrades, more sensible than us, down below at their dinners!

The deck was quite clear, the only person visible being the captain ofthe afterguard, who was taking a snooze on a pile of canvas and oldsails that were stowed in a heap close by the main bitts; so, actingunder the chaperonage of Larrikins, who officiated as bottle-holder, `Ugly' and I stood up, facing each other with our fists doubled, readyfor action, in a nice little open space that seemed to have been leftespecially for the purpose between the heel of the bowsprit and theknight-heads. 

One of the other first-class boys had stopped up to see the fun inaddition to Larrikins, and he now offered himself as second to `Ugly, 'while Mick, of course, he being really the main cause of the quarrel, naturally came forward as mine. 

"Now, gents, " cried Larrikins, seeing my antagonist and myself were dulyprepared, "yer can bergin the puffomince as soon as yer likes!"

Before waiting even for this mandate, `Ugly' made that mad-bull rush atme which he had contemplated in the first instance at the commencementof hostilities; but having had some considerable previous experience inthe use of those weapons of attack and defence alike, with which abeneficent nature has so thoughtfully provided menfolk, from many arough and tumble fight on Common Hard with the mudlarks and other idlescamps frequenting that place, who used to be always playing pranks withfather's wherry, trying to steal anything they could lay hold of, shouldwe leave her for a minute alone, I had no difficulty in avoiding theonslaught of my opponent. 

I kept my right hand well up on guard, across my chest; and, my leftfist being extended, I caught my gentleman a pretty tidy blow under thechin that floored him as quickly as before. 

"Bedad, Tom, ye had him there!" cried Mick, dancing round me in ecstasy, while `Ugly's' second was picking him up. "Jist giv' him a onener inhis bread-basket, me jewel, an' ye'll finish him!"

This was not so easy a matter, however, as my chum supposed; Moses Reeksbeing of that bulldog nature, as his looks testified, that would notgive in until thoroughly licked. 

"Steady there, " cautioned his second, trying his best to prevent himfrom continuing his foolish mode of plunging attack; but the pig-headedchap would persist in continually rushing in on my guard, and gettingknocked down as regularly, time after time, without his having a chanceof landing a blow at me, his fists ever whirling about aimlessly, andbeing easily avoided by myself. "Keep yer bloomin' dukes out straightin front of yer, silly! 'It 'im in the heye, I tell yer! Wy, yerlettin' 'im 'ave hit hall 'is own way!"

"Blatheration!" cried Mick, my champion, quite as energetically, incounter encouragement to me. "Go for him, Tom; go straight for himagin! Faith, me jewel, you'll lave him soon so as how his blessed ownmother, bad cess to her, wouldn't know him, sure as me name now's MickDonovan!"

Urged on in this fashion on either side, we went at it hammer and tongs, `Ugly' getting more cautious from his repeated familiarity with the deckplanking, and fighting more scientifically after the first two or threerounds. 

The consequence of this was that he got in one or two nasty blows withhis sledge-hammer fists on the side of my head, which made my ears ache, besides giving me a fine black eye on the port side. 

He could not manage to land me a facer, however, straight out, try allthat he could; and presently, on my feeling particularly `riled' by abackhanded clout he succeeded in landing on my cheek, I drew out myleft, and, driving it home forwards with all my strength, let him haveit straight on the nose. 

"Faith, ye tapped his claret for him that time, mabouchal; it's stramin'out all over the dick. "

Hardly had my chum made this observation, so highly expressive of hisunconcealed delight, ere `Ugly, ' wiping away the blood from his facewith the sleeve of his jumper, and clutching hold of the lanyard roundhis neck, to the end of which his knife was attached, made a spring atme from the knee of his second, where he had sat dazed for half amoment, giving vent to a cry that was more like the howl of a wildanimal than anything else. 

I put up my hands mechanically, though I had hardly then imagined hewould have come so soon at me again; intending, however, more to guardhis attack than hit him any blow, for I really thought he had receivedquite enough punishment already. 

But he beat down my guard as easily as if my arms really had been madeof pipeclay, and then I felt a stinging sensation through one of theseand my left side, just as if I had run foul of a jelly-fish whenswimming off the `Hot Walls, ' as I have done sometimes when bathing. 

"Begorrah, the thafe's stabbed ye!" exclaimed Mick, putting his armsround me as I fell back. "Whare now is ye hoort, Tom, alannah?"

"Oh, it's nothing, " I said with a laugh, as soon as I got back mybreath, which had been knocked out of me by the rush `Ugly' made, theknife having only grazed my ribs, while it had given an ugly gash to myarm; though, probably, had I not guarded the blow, the sharp weapon withwhich my antagonist had only been supplied, like the rest of us, thatvery morning, would as likely as not have `settled my hash, ' as fatherused to say. "Pray don't make a fuss of it, Mick, or any of youfellows. It will all rub off when it's dry!"

Larrikins and the other first-class boy had meanwhile collared `Ugly'and taken the knife from him, to prevent his doing any further mischiefwith it; and, as fighting was prohibited on board, and they mightpossibly have been brought up on the quarter-deck as accomplices, shouldthe affair get wind and come to the notice of the ship's police, thetwo, who no doubt were old and tried hands at the game, thought it bestto take my advice and `keep the matter dark, ' as they said. 

"I doesn't like that yere knifin', though, " said Master Larrikins, whenMick had bound up my arm with his handkerchief, taking it off his neckfor the purpose; and we had all turned to sneak below out of observationbefore `quarters' should be sounded and the fellows come tumbling upfrom dinner, `Ugly' concealing his battered face by dragging down hiscap over his eyes, and pulling up his collar as if he had toothache, which no doubt was not very far from the truth. "Don't yer try on thatyere bloomin' game agin, you Reeks, I tell yer, my joker, or else yer'ad better git yer coffin ready afore yer comes aboard this ship. Lor'!W'y, if the `Jaunty' or `Jimmy the One' knowed it, yer'd be strung upat the yard-arm this very minnit!"

The incident, however, passed off without notice from the authorities;although the news of our encounter, with its almost tragic finale, gotabout amongst the boys, most of the well-conducted of whom gave `Ugly' awide berth in consequence, the poor beggar being shunned thenceforth byall but the ne'er-do-wells of the ship, that is, until the circumstancebecame gradually buried in the past through the pressure of moreprominent events. 

We managed, combatants and seconds alike, not forgetting the director-in-chief of the fight, Master Larrikins, to reach the sanctuary of thelower deck unseen by any of the ship's corporals, or `crushers, ' asLarrikins facetiously called them. 

Not only this; through that wily individual's artful manoeuvring andpathetic appeal to the gods of the cook's galley, we also contrived toget some dinner, which, indeed, was particularly grateful to all of usafter our exertions. 

The meal this day, being a Wednesday, consisted, for a change, of saltpork and pea-soup; `pea doo and bolliky, ' as it is styled in _SaintVincent_ slang. 

"Faith, it smills good, " exclaimed Mick, with a loud and prolonged sniffof enjoyment, on the friendly Larrikins anon placing a bowl of thesteaming compound under his nose on the mess-table. "A'most as good astay, begorrah!"

"Ga-a!" cried our caterer. "Only a Paddy wud say that!"

"Bedad, I don't say much differ, " said Mick, after quickly gulping downthe contents of his bowl with great gusto and much apparent inwardsatisfaction. "Pay-soup an' tay soup--sure, they bees as loike as twopays!" This certainly seemed a very logical deduction; but, before wecould argue the point out, or indeed laugh at Mick's Irish way ofputting it, the bugle sounded again for `divisions. '

As we all scrambled up the after-hatch, the ship's corporal, Brown, whohad helped me to sling my hammock again after I had been cut down thefirst night I was on board, a very decent man altogether, stopped`Ugly, ' who was on his way up ahead of me. 

"Hallo!" he said. "What's the matter with your face, boy?"

"I dunno, " replied my late antagonist, trying vainly to hide the effectsof my fists with the sleeve of his blue jumper. "S'pose I run aginsummat a-comin' downstairs jest now!"

The sun, though, streaming down through the open hatchway, handicappedall the yokel's attempts of concealment; and Mr Brown looked at himwith a quizzical expression on his face and a comical twinkle in his eyethat spoke a volume without words!

"It strikes me, young man, " he said, with his broad good-humoured grin, "that theer `summat' you knocked against must have been moving round youpretty smart! Bless me, if it ain't fetched you one on your booby hatchand another on the conk, and bottled up your peepers as well! What'syour name, boy?"

"Mo--ses, " drawled out `Ugly' slowly, the poor beggar having adifficulty in speaking, caused by the blow I first gave him on themouth, which accentuated his provincial pronunciation, "Re--eeks, zur. "

"Oh!" ejaculated ship's corporal Brown. "Then, Mr Moses Reeks, you'dbetter go to the sick-bay and see the doctor. "

`Ugly' backed down the hatchway to comply with this order, as we werejust then ascending from the middle deck; and, from his withdrawing hisintervening figure, I became disclosed to view. 

My arm, which had swollen up, and necessitated my putting it in a sling, at once attracted the observation of the corporal. 

"I say, youngster, " he said, arresting my footsteps in like fashion, "why are you bandaged up? What the--ah, what does this hanky-pankymean?"

"I--I--I, " I stammered, not knowing what to reply to this, as I did notlike to tell him a barefaced lie in cold blood offhand-- "I've hurt myarm, sir. "

"A-ah!" breathed out Mr Brown significantly; adding, after a pause, "You're Tom Bowling, ain't you?"

"Yes, sir, " I said; "that's my name. "

"Well, it strikes me, Thomas Bowling, " said he drily, in the chaffy sortof way he adopted sometimes when hauling any of us `over the coals' forsome offence, performing his duty ever of guardian of the peace aslightly as he could make it, "there's some sort o' circumbendibusbetween this here arm of yourn and the spoilt face of that there jokerI've jist sent to the sick-bay. Thomas Bowling, Esquire, I fancy you'dbetter foller him there, my boy. "

Of course, I obeyed this command, a ship corporal's word, whetherjocular or not, being as good as an order and regarded as law on boardthe training-ship. 

Nothing was said, though, to either of us regarding our recent fight, nor any embarrassing questions asked, when we reached the sick-bay. Trimmens, the sick-berth steward, on the contrary, never moved a muscleof his mahogany face when `Ugly' said that he had knocked his headagainst the hatchway, and I told a `banger' by volunteering thestatement that I had broken a plate on the mess-table, and one of thepieces had run into my arm. The wound in my side, which was really onlya scratch, I never mentioned to any one, not even to Mick, who thought, and to this day knows nothing to the contrary, I believe, that I hadguarded off `Ugly's' thrust, and had been only stabbed in the arm. 

Our injuries not being sufficiently serious to put either of us in thesick-list, `Ugly' and I were sent back, after being lotioned and`dressed' by Trimmens, to rejoin our division, then at their`instruction drill' on the lower deck, and engaged making what are knownto those learned in the arts of the sea as `bends and hitches. '

To explain these properly to a landsman, I would say, for the sake ofeasier comprehension, that the theory of a `bend' is based on the good-natured truism contained in the old adage, `One good turn deservesanother'; while a second proverb, `Safe bind, safe find, ' will equallyjustify the existence of the `hitch'; but if the inquirer be notsatisfied with either of these definitions or explanations, whicheverterm he may choose to apply to them, I can only advise him to followCaptain Cuttle's injunction and `overhaul his Church catechism. '

To drop joking, all of us new hands were taught our work as well assailors could teach us, which was so effectually done that what we oncelearnt we never forgot; this work being to treat ropes and rigging as ifthey were reasoning and responsible beings, and to be capable of makingfast or letting loose, whensoever it so pleased us, anything under thesun, from knotting a reef point to parbuckling a cask--a dodge by which, I believe, Admiral Rodney, or Abercromby, or some other hero, during thetimes of the wars, contrived to drag one of his ship's guns to the topof a lofty mountain guarding the entrance to Castries, the harbour ofSaint Lucia, which was by this means captured from its Frenchpossessors, and is now numbered with the rest of our West Indiancolonies. 

This, however, is a `knotty' point. 

CHAPTER SEVEN. 

I `GO ALOFT, ' LIKE MY ANCESTOR!

"Tom, " said Mick to me, on my telling him this, when we were dismissedanon from instruction drill and were going up on the upper deck duringthe `break-off, ' for a brief breath of fresh air before proceeding belowagain to our tea, "wer that theer yarn thrue, sure, ye wos afthertellin' me?"

He spoke earnestly, and I replied to him in the same tone. "It's trueenough, Mick, that one of our officers did manage to parbuckle a gun upto the top of a high rock, or, rather, mountain, which commanded theland defences of Castries, the principal town of Saint Lucia in the WestIndies! I've heard father speak about it many a time, " said I. "But, 'pon my word, Mick, I can't precisely recollect if it was the gallantRodney or Sir Ralph Abercromby; for both of 'em were busy in those partsat the time, and pretty well made their mark too! All I can say is, though, that through this dodge they took the Frenchies unawares andgave them a dressing as British sailors have always done when we've beenat loggerheads with them furrin chaps!"

Mick Donovan scratched his head, in the same solemn way father used todo, as if trying to rub in this valuable piece of historicalinformation. 

"Faith, " said he, "I can't underconstubble it at all, at all!"

There our conversation came to an abrupt close; the bugle summoning usto supper, and Mick being extremely particular, I found, never to belate at meal-times if he could possibly help it!

The next morning, after the usual routine of lashing up and stowing ourhammocks in the nettings, on the completion of our breakfast, it was theturn of the second division of the starboard watch, to which webelonged, as I have already detailed, to go to school in the big room onthe lower deck aft, where we had passed our original initiatoryexamination before signing our papers. 

The boys were given very fair play in respect of their nauticaleducation, taking each department of their instruction turn and turnabout in regular order. 

For instance, if the port watch attended school from Three Bells toSeven Bells in the forenoon--that is, in shore time, from half-past nineto half-past eleven o'clock in the morning--the starboard watch would beengaged in seamanship or gunnery instruction; while, in the afternoontheir respective avocations would be reversed, the `starbowlines' goingto their books, and the port watch occupying themselves with the otherdrills. 

This day, as I have said, we went to school after inspection and prayersby the chaplain on the upper deck, which, I should have mentioned, wasthe usual routine every morning when breakfast was finished and themess-tables and decks below swept clean and made tidy. 

I remember one of the schoolmasters impressed me very much during ageography lesson, by showing us on the globe how extensive our nationalpossessions were, and how it became us as British sailors to maintainour rights on every land and sea where the Union Jack of Old England hadever once floated. 

I declare I can recollect his very words. 

"The sun, my boys, " he said very impressively, "never sets on HerMajesty's dominions!"

When school was over, and the bugle, that ever-sounding bugle, rang outthe call for `divisions' presently, we all bustled up, of course, to theupper deck, and, whether it was from the schoolmaster's observation orwhat, I'm sure I can't say, I was struck by the wonderful lot of finefellows we had on board the training-ship: all wearing the same smartbluejacket uniform, men and boys alike, and all ready, I believe, evenus youngsters who had but just joined the service, to go anywhere and doanything for the sake of the Queen--God bless her!--aye, and to battlelikewise for the old flag and the old country that has had the commandof the seas for a thousand years--so father says!

Why, there were over a hundred and eighty officers and men, besides someseven hundred odd boys present at muster. 

Just fancy!

Yes; and though the men serve all the time of the ordinary three years'commission of the ship, the boys are ever coming and going, forty-fiveor thereabouts, all fresh ones, being entered every month on the books;while as many, probably, are drafted during the same interim to theguardship, for service with the fleet in all parts of the world!

Bear in mind, too, that the _Saint Vincent_ is only one of some six orseven regular training-ships stationed at the principal ports round thekingdom, for the especial purpose of licking boys into shape for HerMajesty's Service; and that these aspirants for naval fame and glorynumber altogether ten thousand, such being really the quota of youngboy-sailors provided for in the Admiralty estimates and added to theNavy every year. 

Thinking thus, I rather lagged behind my comrades in going up thehatchway, only just succeeding in the nick of time in getting into myproper place forward on the starboard side of the ship as befitted mystation; and where, being ahead of the line, I had a good view, whilethe inspection lasted, of the scene of my fight with `Ugly. '

The boys were all drawn up in two long double rows facing each other, the ranks stretching away from where Mick and I stood near the knight-heads, to right abaft the mainmast; the first and third divisions, whichtogether comprised the starboard watch, being on the right-hand side ofthe deck looking towards the bows, while the port watch was on the left, of equal strength and similarly stretched out--the watch stripes on theright or left arm, as the case might be, telling any chap who mightchance to lose his latitude to which side he properly belonged. 

I had already, of course, seen the imposing display which this muster ofthe boys on the upper deck invariably presented; but never before had Itaken such stock of its various details. 

However, before I could come to any conclusion in the matter, revolving, as I did, more things than I have yet spoken of in my busy brain, whichseemed `all wool-gathered' this morning, as father would have said hadhe been there and seen me star-gazing all round the compass, the boy-bugler on the bridge, who "had a purty foine chake of his own, " as Mickobserved to me on noticing his puffed-out mouth, blew a resonant blast. 

It was the `disperse. '

Hi, presto!

As if by magic, the imposing array of `sucking bluejackets' whom I hadjust been gazing upon with a sort of personal admiration from the factof my being one of their number, an admiration which was tempered by aslight feeling of awe of the discipline that controlled them, meltedaway almost noiselessly, like those Arabs who `folded their tents'according to the poem, the boys being all in their bare feet, and theirpatter along the deck and down the hatchways not making any sound abovea faint shuffling; and soon this was drowned by the eldritch screechingof our friends the seagulls circling round on the wing in their wontedmanner, and poising themselves anon in mid-air above the ship, lookingdown to see whether it was dinner-time yet aboard, and there was achance of any stray scraps being chucked over the side from the`gashing-tub, ' or waste butt in which the refuse of our meals was thrownon the lower deck. 

The new boys of both watches were told to stand by, by one of theseaman-instructors; and so, instead of racing down below with our oldercomrades, Mick and I, with the other nine who had lately joined, remained on the fore part of the deck. 

"These boys, sir, " said the instructor, touching respectfully his cap ashe advanced towards the officer of the watch, who stood on the quarter-deck, a thin grey-haired old chap, whom I subsequently learnt was thegunner, though I never had the pleasure of seeing him before, "haven'tbeen over the masthead yet, sir. "

"All right, " replied the gentleman addressed, saluting the instructor inhis turn; the politeness and courteous deference paid on board all shipsbelonging to Her Majesty's Service from one officer to another, be hisrank high or low, being one of the best lessons in manners that man orboy could have afloat or ashore, especially the latter. "Carry on!"

Permission, accordingly, being granted for the ordeal to which we wereabout to be subjected, the smart seaman-instructor came back to where wewere drawn up in single file forwards. 

"Now, my lads, " he said, "you haven't any of you passed through your seabaptism yet, I think. Ever been up aloft, eh?"

He had stopped in front of `Ugly, ' whose face yet bore traces of ourrecent combat, although the cuts on his lip and nose had healed up; and, indeed, I couldn't well boast, for one of my eyes had a singularlypicturesque greeny-yellowy look still about it. 

"Hoi?" exclaimed `Ugly, ' in his yokel fashion. "I dunno wot yer means, zur. "

"Well, I'll soon tell you, " rejoined the instructor. "I mean, have youever been over the masthead?"

"No-a, " said `Ugly, ' staring sheepishly at him; and then, as he followedhis questioner's eye, on it glancing up aloft, he added, "Doos yer meanoop there, zur?"

"Aye. "

"No-a, zur. "

"Then, you'll have to go up now, " said the instructor, in a tone thatshowed he intended to be obeyed. "Lads, attention!"

We all drew ourselves up, `Ugly' included, as rigid and woodeny as thosestrange figures that are supposed to represent the patriarchs Shem, Ham, and Japheth seen in the Noah's arks of our childhood. 

"Boys, " cried the instructor in a louder key, pointing as he spoke, "yousee the mainmast there?"

We signified assent as well as we were able to do without losing ourrigidity or speaking, which latter is strictly against rules when anofficer is giving any order, except when an answer is speciallydemanded. 

Noticing, however, that we all looked in the right direction, theseaman-instructor was satisfied with this reply; but really there was noreason why he should not be so, for if we had not seen the tall sparthat he pointed out we must all have been blind!

At all events, he was satisfied; and that is all that concerns us atpresent. 

"Now, boys, " he continued, "you've got to go over the top of that theremasthead, climbing right up the rigging on the port side, and comingdown to starboard. Let me see which of you will be first to get overthe crosstrees, and woe betide the last! Away you go, now, the lot o'ye! 'Way aloft!"

It was child's play to me; for, as I told Larrikins the first day I wason board, when he was trying to `pull my leg' with his yarns of themountainous seas he met in the Channel cruising in the _Martin_, `shinning up the rigging' was no novelty to me. 

Before you could say `Jack Robinson' I had quickly sprung into the leerigging; and, clambering up the ratlines and then outward by the futtockshrouds, I gained the top long ere half the rest had started. 

"Well done, my lad; I see you have been on board a ship before!" criedout the instructor, as I at once proceeded now to climb up to thecrosstrees and over the head of the mast. "Look alive, you other chaps!That boy there will have done the job while you are thinking about it. Stir your stumps!"

`Ugly' was the last of the lot; and, as I came down on the weather orstarboard side of the ship, the wind then blowing from the nor'ard andeastward, he was just trying to creep through `the lubber's hole' intothe top. 

"No you don't, " shouted up the instructor after him. "You must climbout by the futtock shrouds, as every proper sailor does. "

Seeing, however, that poor `Ugly' was quite in a fog, he turned to me asI stepped down from the chains and stood up in front of him, touching mycap to report myself as having accomplished my task. 

"I say, my boy, " said he, "what's your name?"

Of course I had to reply to this, and so I told him--

"Tom Bowling, sir. "

"Ha!" he exclaimed, apparently surprised. "Any relation of that chap inthe song who `went aloft and did his duty'?"

I grinned. 

"Yes, sir, I believe so, " I said. "Father says as how our family isdescended from him. "

"I can quite believe it, " observed the instructor kindly, with apleasant smile on his face. "At all events, a sailor's blood runs inyour veins, my lad; and, as you're such a good climber and know your wayup the ratlines, just go up now and show that lubber of a greenhorn howto get up the futtock shrouds without tumbling, and so over themasthead. "

Accordingly, I raced aloft the second time and soon fetched up to`Ugly, ' who, in a mortal funk, was trying to step out from the lowerrigging on to the futtock shrouds, which, I may explain for the benefitof those who have not been to sea, stretch out laterally from the mast, and not in towards it, like the ordinary standing rigging below. 

In spite of his difficulty, however, the surly brute now accepted myhelp with a very ill grace; muttering under his breath to himself somevery unfriendly wishes in my respect, as, with some difficulty, I luggedhim up into the top, almost by the scruff of his neck. 

The rest of the journey up and down was easy enough; and `Ugly, 'rendered bold by having crossed his goal, the crosstrees, disdaining anyfurther help from me, now started, after he had arrived in the top, again on the return voyage to climb down the shrouds by himself. 

But hardly had he got his foot over the side of the top than his couragefailed him; and I, looking up, on account of feeling the rigging shake, for I had gone down in advance from his telling me he `didn't want nohelp from sich a cove as me, ' saw that he was trembling like an aspenleaf, while his face was as pale as death. 

"Hold on, " I cried, "I'll be up with you in half a minute, and lend youa hand!"

I don't know whether he heard me or not as I scrambled up hastilytowards him; but the next instant, losing his grip of the rope he washanging on to somehow or other, he fell back on top of me, uttering awild yell that was almost a scream, and which could have been heardashore at Gosport!

CHAPTER EIGHT. 

"THE SWEETS OF FRIENDSHIP. "

"How did you manage it, my boy?" panted out the instructor, out ofbreath by his rapid climb up the rigging to my aid, as I held ondesperately to the shrouds, against which I pressed the body of myunconscious shipmate with my own, to prevent him from falling. "Lord!My lad, I thought you were both gone! Thank God, you saved him!"

But I could not tell him then, or after, how I contrived to catch `Ugly'when he let go his hold; and to this very day, though it is prettynearly six years or more agone, and many things have happened since evenstranger, too, I put down the spontaneous act that prompted me tostretch out my hand in the nick of time and grip him by his waistbeltbefore it was too late, to the interposition of Providence--anintervention, indeed, not only on his behalf, but on my own, assubsequent events proved, though I will speak of this when the propertime comes. 

The instructor, even in his hurry aloft to our assistance, had managedto snatch up on the way a coil of half-inch; and with this he nowproceeded, breathing heavily the while from his exertions, to secure`Ugly' temporarily to the ratlines until a whip could be rigged forsending down the still insensible fellow to the deck below. 

This was a great relief to me, for it was as much as I could do tosupport his body, although, as I've said, I pressed him against therigging, the chap weighing over ten stone at least, I should think, ashe was a thickset yokel and inclined to be corpulent. 

It all happened in a moment, though I seem to take so long telling aboutit; for, almost before the instructor could take a double turn with hishalf-inch round `Ugly's' body and the rigging, half-a-dozen seamen, whohad been hailed by the officer of the watch, the grey-haired gunner, hadfooted it up the ratlines and were in the top fixing a whip andpurchase, to which one of the hammocks had been attached. 

In this impromptu cradle `Ugly' was let down very carefully and taken tothe sick-bay, where, as I was afterwards told, Mr Trimmens the sick-berth steward being my informant, it required the application of thegalvanic battery to bring him to, the fright he had undergone, andconsequent shock to his system, having been so great!

"You saved his life, though, my lad, let me tell you, " said theinstructor to me, when we had followed the rescued boy down, and wereagain on the safe footing of the deck. "Why, Tom Bowling, that chapought to be your friend for life after this. "

I could not help shrugging my shoulders, with a grin `on the left sideof my mouth, ' as sailors say; for, of course, I could not very wellexplain matters anent our recent fight. 

The instructor looked at me inquiringly; and, seeing he expected somesort of a reply from me, I said, "He'll have to change very much, sir. He and I haven't been very friendly up to now, sir. "

"Ah!" rejoined the instructor, "that don't count, my boy. The dearestfriend I have in the world at the present time was once my bitterestenemy. He and I fell out about some trifle or other on joining the sameship and never spoke a single word to each other throughout the wholecommission, though we were up the Straits at the time, and saw somequeer rigs there, I can tell you. We've often laughed over it togethersince, and thought what fools we were. "

"I don't think, sir, " said I, "that Moses Reeks and I will ever befriends, so far as I can see. "

"Well, time will tell, " observed my good-natured adviser, who was a manlike father, I saw, one always anxious to make the best of everything. "None of us ever know what will happen in this life, especially withsailor folk; and though you may think it difficult to `make a silk purseout of a sow's ear, ' for I can see, my lad, with half an eye that thatunfortunate yokel is of a different stamp to you, still I've knownstranger things occur. I wouldn't mind betting, if I ever did such athing, that one day you and he will be the fastest chums. "

"Perhaps, sir, " I answered, in a very doubting manner; and I couldn'thelp adding, as I turned to go below to my dinner, if there should beany left for me, the other fellows having pretty well done by this time, "Some day, as father says, pigs may fly, sir!"

The instructor laughed. 

"Your father, Tom Bowling, " said he, giving me a friendly pat on theshoulder as I went down the after-hatchway, "must be a knowing hand; andI think, my lad, you take after him. "

It being `pea doo and bolliky' day, my fast friend Mick, who, from hishighly developed instincts in the grub line, had been elected cook ofour mess on the lower deck, had saved me a good basin of soup and hunchof bread, with which I managed to assuage the cravings of my appetite, this having been accentuated not only by my long wait but by my exercisealoft. 

"Begorrah, Tom, " said he, as he watched me tucking into the stuff withgreat complacency, while the rest of the fellows were cleaning up themess-table and generally making things snug, "it's as good as aitin'onesilf fur to say how ye git outside that pay-soup. An ould play-acting chap I onst sayd a-swallerin' knoives an' sich loike onnaturalstuff, worn't a patch on ye, me hearty!"

I had, however, to make short work of my meal, for the `assembly' justthen sounded; and, after our usual parade again on deck, according tothe routine, a part of our division went ashore to a large field betweenBlockhouse Fort and Haslar on the Gosport side of the water, belongingto the _Saint Vincent_, and which is used for drilling the boys inmarching and small-arm instruction. 

Some of the remainder of us were put to signalling on the upper deck, carrying on highly interesting dialogues with small flags that werewaved to and fro between the bows and stern of the ship; but the majorpart of the division--I, much to my delight, being one of the number--practised all the afternoon at boat-pulling. In this my experience withfather's wherry during the last three or four years stood me in goodstead; though I had some little difficulty at first in mastering theusual man-o'-war stroke with the long ash oars in the heavy launch whichwe pulled, the boat being double-banked. 

The next day was the most exciting I had passed since I had been onboard the ship, now over a week. 

To begin with, it was `pay-day, ' the whole ship's company marching up tothe paymaster in turn at the temporary office he had rigged up _alfresco_, as Mick's `Oitalian' friends would say, on the upper deck, andreceiving each his weekly pay; the boys being allowed, those of thefirst-class a shilling, and those of the second sixpence, for pocket-money, the balance being saved up to their account or else forwarded totheir parents. 

Much amusement was caused amongst us as we received the respective coinsto which we were entitled, each holding out his cap for them; for asailor, you know, puts everything in his cap. Pocketing our coin as wewent below, Mick created the greatest fun of all as he spit on his andspun it in the air. "Hooray!" he cried out, against the regulations, though, fortunately for himself, not too loud, as he skated down thehatchway. "Begorrah, it's the foorst money Oi iver arnt in me loif!Faith, Tom mabouchal, we'll spind it togither an' hev a rig'lerjollification ashore!"

The bugle sounded `cooks to their messes' as Mick was saying this; andso off he hurried to the galley on the fore part of the middle deck whenwe had got down the hatchway, I following after him. 

On passing the entry-port, however, my old friend the master-at-armshailed me. 

"Hi, Tom Bowling!" he called out, beckoning me into the office; "I hopeyou haven't been getting into any row?"

"Not that I know of, sir, " said I, flabbergasted by his question. "Why, sir?"

"Because the captain left word he wants to speak to you, " he replied. "You must go up again on the main-deck to his quarters aft. "

Thoroughly frightened at this, I proceeded as he had directed me; and, on reaching the door of the captain's cabin, the marine sentry standingoutside passed on my name and I was ushered in. 

Cap in hand and in a state of much trepidation, I went along the gangwaywith him; and `bringing up' opposite an open door, I rapped at this withmy heart in my mouth. 

"Hallo!" cried a voice within. "Who's there?"

"T-t-t, " I stammered-- "T-T'm Bowling, sir. "

"Oh!" exclaimed the same voice, in a softer and more kindly tone than atfirst, when, I confess, it sounded rather gruff and peremptory. "Comein, Tom Bowling. "

With this, I went into what seemed to my eye, expecting, as I did, something very different on board ship, one of the grandest apartments Ihad ever seen; with sofas and pictures, and big looking-glasses, besidesa piano at the end, just like a drawing-room. Why, the Queen herselfcouldn't have had a finer place to live in!

The captain, who, of course, was the owner of the voice that hadpreviously spoken, I saw was a nice, pleasant-faced, good-lookingofficer, looking every inch a sailor, and a smart one too!

He was sitting in a comfortable easy-chair that was fitted with gimbals, like the compass card in a binnacle, or some other appliance whichpermitted the occupant to shift round as he pleased without moving theseat; as my commanding officer did now, in order to face me. 

"Don't be afraid, my lad, " he said kindly, seeing, no doubt, how nervousI looked. "I've only sent for you to let you know that I have been toldof your exceedingly courageous conduct just now in saving your shipmatefrom a terrible death. I'm glad to see that you are bearing out by yourbehaviour the strong recommendation Captain Mordaunt, who is an oldfriend of mine, sent me when you came to join the service. "

I declare you could have knocked me down with a feather on his sayingthis, the revulsion of feeling being so great; for I had expectedsomething totally different, so I hardly knew what to say. 

"Th-a-ank you, sir, " I at last managed to get out. "I--I--I am verymuch obliged to you, sir. "

"No obligation at all, my lad, " he said, smiling. "I am only giving youyour due, for I think you have really behaved in a very plucky manner, and deserve all that I have said, and more. I must tell you, though, Ihave heard something else also about you, Tom Bowling, which, perhaps, Imight have been inclined to speak about, for I don't like any fightingor ill-feeling between the boys under my command here; but, after whathas occurred, I shall not take any notice of what I might have heard toyour detriment. Besides, I believe you were not particularly in fault, all things considered. "

Fancy! He must have been told of the fight between `Ugly' and me. 

My face, no doubt, expressed the thoughts that passed through my mind;and, as I could see from a mirror opposite me, I appeared, as fatherused to say, "like a cat looking nine ways for Sunday!"

The captain, though, evidently wished to set me at my ease. 

"Never mind, my boy, " he said reassuringly. "We'll let bygones bebygones; and, as you have so nobly condoned the offence of fighting withyour shipmate by subsequently saving his life, I feel more inclined toreward than punish you. Have you been allowed ashore yet to see yourparents since you joined?"

"No, sir, " I replied. "I didn't have my uniform rig last Sunday, sir. "

"Well, then, my boy, you may go and see them this afternoon if you like, when you've finished your dinner. I will give you leave till EightBells. "

So saying, he scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to me. 

This was a pass, permitting me to be absent from the ship until the timespecified on it. 

Noticing, as I thanked him for his kindness, that I did not appearperfectly satisfied, he glanced at me scrutinisingly. His eye was likea gimlet, and seemed to penetrate my inmost thoughts; for, I declare, heguessed the feeling that was uppermost in my mind. 

"Would you like, my lad, " he said, smiling again, "to take a chum withyou ashore?"

"Why, sir, " I exclaimed, "that was the very thing I was thinking of!"

"Ha!" said he, "I fancied that was what was on your mind. Who is yourchum?"

"Mick Donovan, sir, " I replied; "he's an Irish lad who joined the shipthe same time as me. "

"All right; Mick Donovan shall go with you, " said he. "Hand me backyour pass. "

This I did; whereupon he bracketed Mick's name with mine and returned methe paper. 

"You may go now, " he said kindly, seeing the rush of joy that must havebeen reflected on my face, filling, as it did, my heart, though Ihesitated to leave without his permission, albeit anxious to communicatethe good news to Mick. "Stop, Tom, here's half-a-crown for you and yourchum to enjoy yourselves with. "

He put the money into my hand as he spoke, extracting it from his pocketfor the purpose; and, I recollect, it was a nice new bright half-crownpiece, which, though it was `melted' very soon, will never pass out ofmy remembrance as quickly as it did from my possession!

Of course I thanked him before leaving; and, in going below, I halted atthe police office, to tell the master-at-arms the result of my interviewwith our chief, whereat he appeared much satisfied, though he cautionedme to continue to be a good boy and not outstay my leave. 

Making my way from thence below, it didn't take me long to fetch upalongside Mick, who almost exploded with delight on my informing him wewere to go ashore together. He pitched the piece of `gammy duff' he wascarving on his plate, which, by the way, was as hard as a brickbat, withthe raisins or `gammies' which it contained barely at signal distanceapart, right up above his head to the deck beam, where it caught on toone of the hooks and remained a fixture. 

"Bedad, Tom, ye're an anjul if ivver ther wor one, " he cried, caperingabout as if he were mad. "We'll hev a splindid toime of it entoirely. Faith, Oi'll go and git me hair cut, to look like a jintlemin, afore Isays yer sisther an' yer fayther and moother!"

"I think I'll do the same, Mick, " said I. "They haven't seen me in mybluejacket rig yet, and I want to look as smart as I can too!"

Accordingly, the two of us had recourse to the ship's barber, whocropped us both so close that it would have puzzled anybody to havecaught hold of what hair was left on the heads of either, aye evenbetween his thumb and forefinger. 

As a boat was leaving the ship early in the afternoon, we went in her;when, being landed at Point, we soon found our way to Bonfire Corner, I, of course, acting as the navigator. 

Dear me, no one ever saw such a homecoming in their life before as thatof mine that day!

Jenny, who was dusting a mat at the door, rushed frantically into myarms, mat and all, my little sister hugging me as if we had really beenparted for years, instead of only for the short spell of time that hadelapsed since our separation; and my mother, who was not sodemonstrative, was quite as glad, I know, to see me; while as forfather, who was having a spell-off in the backyard with his pipe, hebeamed all over at the sight of me in my uniform. 

"Lor', Tom!" he ejaculated, on my taking him unawares, with his headleaning back and the long churchwarden he was smoking dropping out ofhis mouth, for he had just started, with his eyes closed, for a `lay offthe land, ' as he styled taking a snooze. "Ye're the very h'image ofwhat I wer' when I wer' your age--though not quite so good-looking I'ma-thinking!"

He said this in joke, for he and I were in the habit when in the wherrytogether of carrying on in that way and chaffing each other; but mother, who had followed me up, with Jenny behind her and Mick Donovan keepingclose company in her wake, took poor father up with a round turn!

"What do you know what you were like at his age?" she cried. "Judgingby your present figurehead, you couldn't have been much to boast of!"

"Couldn't I?" rejoined father. "I tell you what, Sarah, there wer' alot more gals 'sides you as wos a-runnin' arter me when I was ayoungster and first jined the sarvice!" Hearing my mother's namementioned, old `Ally Sloper' at once struck up a screech, hoppingthrough from the shop to join us. 

"Say-rah, Say-rah!" he screamed, ruffling up the lemon crest on the topof his head, and spreading out the feathers round his neck that made himlook as if he wore high collars. "I'll wring your neck!"

I thought Mick Donovan would have died of laughing on hearing thecockatoo speak so funnily, his mirth being so contagious that we allfollowed suit; and, what with the screeching and screaming of the otherbirds, which seemed to take `Ally Sloper's' cry for a signal and chimedin, you never heard such a row in your life. 

"Bedad, Oi'm kilt entoirely!" exclaimed Mick, when he had well-nighlaughed himself black in the face. "Oi nivver heerd such a baste in meloife fur talkin', to bay sure!"

That made us all begin the concert over again; and I really think wekept on laughing and then stopping, only to break out again, untilmother spread the table for tea, just to "shut our mouths, " as she said. 

Both she and father were really pleased to see Mick, whom they hadwelcomed as my chum in the first instance, but presently began to likefor his own sake after his being but a very short time in theirpresence--he was such a jolly chap all round!

My sister, however, seemed a bit shy with him, as indeed Mick appearedto be with her, the two hardly exchanging a word; though I noticed thatwhen Jack, the thrush, commenced calling out in his soft way, "Jenny!Jenny!" Mick flushed up like a boiled lobster. 

"Faith, " he exclaimed, "that's a foine burd, an' a purty burd too; an', begorrah, he spakes the purtiest name I ivver heerd tell on in meloife. "

He looked at Jenny as he said this; when, she too coloured up. 

I couldn't tell you all that occurred that happy day, for the momentsflew by like winking; and bye-and-bye we had to set sail again for ourship, laden with all sorts of good things to help out our diet on board, especially an enormous pot of jam, which mother said would last us fortea till we were able to come ashore again for another supply. 

Father came with us down to Hardway, offering to put us on board in hiswherry; and, though it was a longer voyage thence back to the ship thanfrom Point, the tide being fortunately in our favour, we reached the_Saint Vincent_ in good time, going up the accommodation ladder on theport side, which, as you know, is devoted to the use of the lower deckportion of the crew, just as Eight Bells struck. 

"Ha, my lads, " cried the `Jaunty, ' who stood by the entry-port, "you'vejust saved your bacon!"

The other fellows were just coming down from skylarking; and, goingbelow with the lot, we found time before turning in--Mick havingdeclared that he was "hungry enuf to ate an illiphant"--to sample thestock of grub mother had so thoughtfully provided us with. 

The sight of the big jam-pot, however, presently attracted a crowd ofsympathisers around us, whose affability and kindly attentions, nay, even respectful demeanour, was something wonderful. 

Mick and I never knew till then what dear friends we had aboard; any boywith whom we might have exchanged a chance word appearing as delightedto see us again as if we had risen from the dead. 

Amongst these, Larrikins was prominent. 

"Lor', Tom Bowling, " he whispered to me, as he sidled up near, "yerknows I tuk a fancy to yer when I see'd yer first. "

"So you did, my joker, " said I, of course seeing through his `littlegame, ' as well as that of `Ginger, ' the other first-class boy who hadbeen told off to attend to us novices, and had, it may be remembered, acted as `Ugly's' second. "You cut me down when I was in my hammock thefirst night I was aboard. That was a strong proof of your friendshiptowards me, eh, Larrikins?"

"Ah, Tom, that were only a little joke, don-cher-no, " he replied, with agrin and a wink of the most expressive character, "Lor', yer don't bearno mallerce, I knows!"

What could I say?

He was not half a bad fellow either; and so, having experienced many alittle kindness from him as a new hand, in spite of his strongpropensity for practical-joking at my expense, which I do not believe hecould have possibly resisted under any circumstances, I passed the wordto Mick to make him free of the jam-pot. 

So, too, with the rest of those that hung round us, sailors and sailor-boys generally being generous alike by nature and inclination; and theend of it was, that the supply which mother thought would have lastedMick and me till we saw her again, vanished the same night!

CHAPTER NINE. 

I BECOME A "FIRST-CLASS BOY. "

Our life aboard after this passed very evenly, though not uneventfully;for there was hardly a day that something did not occur as interestingas it was novel to our previous experience. 

Talk of a sailor's life being dull! Why, it's full of incident, full ofinterest, full of adventure; and even on board a harbour ship, like the_Saint Vincent_, I tell you, there is sport to be had afloat as well asashore!

We had a rat-hunt once, some three or four weeks after I joined theship. 

The captain's dog, a fine cock-eared fox-terrier named `Gyp, ' with themost wonderful eyes, and a nose that worked with excitement as quicklyas his short-cropped tail, which was docked to half an inch and was everon the wag, got into the habit of coming forward on the forecastlewhenever he was let out of his master's cabin, in the most unaccountablemanner. 

Now `Gyp, ' you must know, was a rather particular dog in his way, keeping to his own station when below; while, should he be taken up onthe quarter-deck by the captain, or accompany any of the other officersthere, he would never, as a rule, advance farther towards the fore partof the ship than the main-hatchway. 

All of a sudden, however, master `Gyp' takes it into his head to makefree of the forecastle, and associate with such of the lower deck menwho might chance to be there. 

This, of course, was derogatory to his dignity as a captain's dog; but, although remonstrated with by his master's valet, who had charge of himwhen the captain did not take him ashore--aye, and even whipped for thusstraying forwards--`Gyp' would persist in his unseemly predilection forlow life, utterly regardless of his proper rank as an officer, with acollar and badge. This article was of gold lace, and became him well, contrasting favourably with his black-and-tan head and soft white coat, which latter was guiltless of spot or blemish. 

The fact was, I had better acknowledge it at once so as to preserve thepoor animal's character, which was, and is, so far as I know up to thepresent, as spotless as his coat, never having had a slur cast upon it, save in this one respect, that `Gyp, ' as the master-at-arms said, in hisfunny way, "smelt a mice. "

Not only that, `Gyp' smelt rats; and, what is more, he managed to nabone very cleverly as the rodent was leisurely hopping up the hatchway inthe most free and easy manner from below, with a piece of cheese in itsmouth which the beggar had appropriated from the steward's pantry, orfrom the mess of some Johnny below!

This happened in the afternoon, just after inspection on the upper deckand when the divisions were dispersing to their respective drills, for Iwas going below with some of the other chaps at the time to man thepumps on the orlop deck, the second time I had been put to this jobsince I had come on board, and I can't say I liked it!

Now, whether `Gyp' carried the rat he had captured cosily to thecaptain's quarters, or through some one taking the tale aft, I'm sure Ican't say; but, while the working party of us boys told off to clear thebilge were pumping away for dear life, and looking out for oldJellybelly, who was superintending our task, to sing out `spell ho!' togive us breathing time, down comes a lot of the officers after theirlunch, with the captain at the head of them, accompanied by Master`Gyp, ' who, somehow or other, didn't need anybody to show him the way, though he hadn't been below in the ship there to my knowledge before, his nose being as good as a compass, and pointing out where he thoughthis services might be required. 

"I hear, Tarbolt, " said the captain, addressing old Jellybelly by hisproper name, "you have rats aboard here?"

"Aye, aye, sir, " replied the quarter-master, drawing himself up sharpfrom the act of touching up with his cane one of the boys a little wayfrom me, whom he fancied wasn't putting sufficient elbow grease into hiswork. "I believe, sir, as how the ship reg'lerly swarms with 'em. Theywore working away, sir, last night at some of the b'ys' hammicks; andone of 'em yelled out that they was nibblin' their toes!"

"Oh!" cried the captain, "we must put a stop to that. My dog here is agood ratter, and I think he'll be able to polish off a few for you. Where do you think, Tarbolt, the brutes hang out?"

"Away forrard, sir, under some o' that spare gear thet's stowed there, sir; and likewise down in the bilge amongst the ballast and dunnage. "

"Very good; shove your lantern, Tarbolt, over here, " said the captain, edging forwards as he spoke, with `Gyp' and the rest of the officers a-following him. "Boys, you can stand off for a bit from your pumping andcome and see the fun. "

We didn't need any further invitation, being only too glad to let go ofthe beastly crank-handles; not to speak of the interest we took in theanticipated enjoyable sport. 

"Hi, `Gyp, ' rats!" shouted the captain, when we all came up to a pile ofold casks and sails in the fore peak. "Go for 'em, good dog!"

The wardroom steward and the captain's valet had come down in the rearof the officers, each of them provided with a lantern; and so, what withthe lights we already had with us, the place was sufficientlyilluminated for all to see the whole proceedings, which, needless tosay, we witnessed with the utmost delight, Mick, who was alongside ofme, staring open-mouthed, his face one broad grin from ear to ear. 

"Begorrah!" he whispered to me. "Sure, it bates Bannagher, an's a'mostas good as what Oi've heerd tell of Donnybrook Fair, in the ould toimes, from me fayther!"

All we could see of `Gyp' for some little time was a portion of hisstern quarters, with his little butt-end of a tail wagging away at high-pressure speed, just like the escapement of a clock from which thependulum has been temporarily taken, so that it has for the moment nocheck on its action. 

Then, all at once, with a low growl, and every individual hair on hiswhite coat standing erect, his whole body the while quivering withexcitement, `Gyp' plunged forwards and disappeared into darkness, onlyto reappear an instant later with an enormous rat, which he had grippedin the small of the back, the vicious beast trying to worm itself roundso as to tackle his nose. 

`Gyp, ' however, knew a trick worth two of that, and, as he emerged intothe open again, chucked the rat up aloft in the air, almost to the deckbeams, and then, pouncing on it as the brute fell back under hisexpectant jaws, the terrier severed its head from its body with onesnap!

Another and another, and yet another, he served in like fashion, ferreting in amongst the dunnage, and then coming out again with a freshvictim each time; until, presently, finding their retreat `too warm' forthem, the rats sallied out in a crowd, skating over the deck andclimbing up the bulkheads to get out of the way of their relentlessenemy. The lot of us then coming to the aid of `Gyp, ' the captain andall catching up anything handy to have a shy at them, the family ofrodents that had been having such a gay old time below for so longwithout interference, was soon exterminated; after which the dog and hismaster, with the other officers, returned to the main-deck, while weresumed our work at the pumps all the more heartily from the bit of playwe had had, old Jellybelly never once grumbling again till we had done. 

We had a good rise out of the old quarter-master the very same evening, though, which was rather ill-natured on our part. 

He was on duty at the gangway, when one of the new chaps, who, likeLarrikins, had a great bent for practical skylarking, went to him with asmug face, as innocent as you please. 

"I say, sir, " said he, in a tone of the deepest sympathy, "don't youfeel werry tired, sir, a-standing theer so long?"

"Aye, my son, " replies old Jellybelly, thinking to himself, no doubt, that the chap showed wonderful good feeling for a boy; he regarding themall as a rule, not without reason probably, as imps of mischief. "It israther tiring sometimes. I feels it in my bones and all down my legs. "

"Then, sir, " rejoined the young demon, who only wanted to draw him outand laugh at him, "why doesn't yer sit down on the rail, sir?"

Of course, this would have been almost a penal offence for the quarter-master to have done, he being on duty at an appointed station; and theremark he made as his tormentor made off with a laugh, which was joinedin by all the adjacent boys, was a caution. 

Mick, not long after this, had Mr Brown, the ship's corporal, nicelytoo. 

He crammed his bag and a lot of other things into his blanket, which herolled up so as to represent a sort of lay figure, stowing this into hishammock at turning-in time, just before the `out lights' sounded. 

Keeping as grave as a judge, Mick then went up to the corporal. 

"If y' playse, sor, " said he, "some gossoon or t'other, sor, has bin an'gone an' got into me hammick, sor, bad cess to him!"

"Oh, has he, Paddy, " replied Mr Brown, switching his cane, and thendrawing it as he gripped it with his right hand carefully through hisleft, as if feeling whether it had the right sort of edge on it or no. "I'll soon make him shift his billet, my boy. "

We, of course, were all in the joke, and watched Mr Brown with greatglee as he stole stealthily up to Mick's hammock and let fly a shower ofblows on the supposed intruder's body, accompanying the caning with somepertinent remarks of a very forcible nature anent the offender's want ofmanners and unneighbourliness towards a brother shipmate; whereupon weall burst into a regular guffaw, and Mick sought refuge in flight on theexposure of his little plot before Mr Brown could pay him out. 

The corporal, though, took it in very good part, and did not bear mychum any subsequent ill-will for thus taking him in; albeit, he was waryenough to be on his guard against Mick hoaxing him a second time. 

Jokes like these came as little interludes, so to speak, to `ease thewheels' of our duties, which, however, were to me, at all events, moreof a pleasure than so many tasks; that is, after I had gone through theinitiatory instructions and drills, and was able to hold my own with thesmartest of my shipmates. 

I cannot say, though, that I cared much for the schooling, seven monthsof which every second-class boy on board the _Saint Vincent_ has toundergo before he can gain the first rank. 

Equally as certainly, however, I must allow that the teaching I gained, watch and watch about, in that big schoolroom astern on the lower deckturned out of considerable assistance to me, not only in my subsequentexperience afloat in the navy, especially when serving abroad, butashore too; for I there learnt the art of learning things, which is thegreat secret of education to man or boy, though we youngsters do notrealise this when we have the chance of getting hold of it. 

But it was the seamanship instruction that I went in for with thegreatest zest; and, from knotting and splicing up to compass, and helm, and signalling, I don't think I fell far short of what Captain Mordauntsaid when he persuaded father to let me go to sea and join the training-ship--that I was a born sailor and a regular `chip of the old block. '

In connection with this, I may state, that of all the practical lessonsI learnt in sailoring on board the _Saint Vincent_, the going aloft forsail-drill used to please me best. 

Every morning at eight o'clock we used to go up the rigging and practiseloosing and furling the sails, crossing the royal-yards, and making allthings snug before coming down on deck to our usual divisionalinstruction. 

On Mondays the whole forenoon was devoted to these evolutions, the sailsbeing set one after the other, topsails, topgallants, royals, and evenstu'nsails sometimes, besides the courses and headsails below; until, often, the whole ship was piled with canvas as if she were fetching downChannel on a cruise, her spars quivering with the strain frequently, when we had the wind abeam from the southward and east'ard, and everyrope as taut as a bar of iron!

We used to work our way from the lower yards to the dignity of the upperby rotation more than through any special smartness and activity; and Iknow I was as pleased as Punch when it came to my turn to be an `upper-yard boy. '

I was never so happy as when aloft; and many a time up there of amorning have I gazed out to seaward, looking over Southsea beach and theboats clustered in the fairway, that seemed but little dots from theheight where I was, to the open stretch of water beyond Spithead andSaint Helens, that seemed to draw my heart to it like a magnet, makingme long to leave my present stay at home surroundings and sail away andaway on the boundless deep. 

This desire of mine was gratified in part after I had been serving fornine months as a second-class boy, and passed satisfactorily through allmy drills and instructions; when Mick and I got promoted. 

Strangely enough, my chum the Irish lad proved himself, landsman thoughhe had been before and never having even smelt the sea prior to hiscoming to Portsmouth, quite as expert as myself after a short stayaboard the training-ship; though I had been associated with ships andseafaring folk from the time I drew my first breath, and indeed, likeall the Bowlings, as I told you at the beginning of my yarn, was bornwith the taste for `the briny, ' the feeling being inherent to my blood. 

It strikes me, though, that my sister Jenny had something to do withthis. 

Mick heard her say the first day when I first took him home with me tovisit father and mother at Bonfire Corner, that she loved sailors, andwondered how any young fellow could possibly care for anything else, when he had a chance of going afloat and serving his Queen and country, and fighting the battles of Old England. 

The remark was a chance one; but, though Mick must have heard Jenny saya good many other things, for he was often at our house afterwards, being generally in the habit of accompanying me home when I had leave togo, he never forgot those words and somehow or other seemed to strivehis best to reach Jenny's ideal. 

So, you see, smart seaman though I fancied myself to be even at thatearly age, I had to look out lest I should be supplanted by my own chum;for no sooner did I get the start of him in one thing than he wouldfetch alongside of me and be working ahead before I well knew where Iwas, the `owdacious young beggar, ' as father dubbed him, becomingactually a `royal-yard boy' the following week to myself, while both ofus, as I have said, were made first-class boys together. 

Unfortunately, this was during the winter months; and, as the training-brig _Martin_, which is attached to the _Saint Vincent_ as a sea-goingtender in order to cruise about in the Channel to give the boyspractical experience of their profession--like a frolicsome chickhanging round a broody old hen that won't leave her nest--does not goout of harbour till the spring, Mick and I were unable for some time totake advantage of the grand privilege of our rise and really go to sea. 

We thought the blissful period would never come. 

But `it's a long lane that knows no turning'; and, winter ebbing awayinto the flood of spring anon, we, with some ninety and nine otheryoungsters of the same standing, set sail one fine April morning fromPortsmouth Harbour, the _Martin_ slipping her buoy abreast of BlockhouseFort, and standing out into the Solent under easy canvas, with a fairwind from the nor'-east. 

A hundred boys are always taken at a time for a month's cruise in thebrig, the lot being accompanied by some of the smartest seamen belongingto the complement of the mother training-ship, so that they have everyopportunity of picking up now the nautical knowledge necessary to makethem worth their salt, in reference both to seamanship and gunnery. 

We had a pretty fair knock-about time in the Channel, running down toPlymouth and back, having a `sojer's wind, ' one that was fair both ways, out and home again; and, though, from this fact, we necessarily made aneasy passage of it, some of the boys were woefully seasick, many of themnever having been at sea before. 

Notably among these was Mick. 

"Bedad!" moaned he, leaning over the side with his dark face turned topale green that seemed a faint reflection of the water below, into whichhe looked apparently with the deepest interest as he sacrificed hisdearly loved dinner to Neptune, paying the sea-god his dues, "Oi fale, Tom me darlint, as if Oi'd brought up iverythink, faith, since furst Oijined the ship, an' me boots, begorrah, same in the back of me hid!Wurrah, wurrah, why did Oi ivver come to say? Och, Tom mabouchal, killme at onst, and be done with it!"

I could not help laughing at him, he presented such a contrast to thebuoyant lad of my ordinary acquaintance; though, of course, I tried tosympathise with my woe-begone chum. 

But ere long something occurred which made him, and the others in a likepredicament, forget their seasickness in a hurry, all of us having to beas spry as we could. 

The _Martin_ took the ground!

I'll tell you how this happened. 

We had run up Channel, as I have told you, with a fair wind from thestart; but, on our reaching the westernmost end of the Isle of Wight, this turned against us, so that after passing through the Needles we hadto beat up the Solent in the teeth of a stiff sou'-easter. 

This, of course, gave us plenty of exercise in tacking; and the constantgoing aloft, with the brig rolling and a choppy sea under her, hadoverset the equilibrium of poor Mick's stomach. 

We had tacked and `reached' in this way for some time, making shortboards between the Hampshire coast and the Island opposite; when, ingoing about off the Brambles, through one of the uncertain currentswhich infest Southampton Water taking her on the slant as we shiveredour headsails to come up to the wind, the brig missed stays and struckon the edge of the shoal. 

CHAPTER TEN. 

"UNDER FIRE!"

"Look alive, my lads!" shouted out our tall commander, as we stumbledabout the deck of the brig, the shock as her keel touched groundknocking us off our pins and making the poor seasick chaps who wereholding their heads over the side pull them in pretty promptly. "Watch, furl sails! 'Way aloft!"

The sheets and halliards were let go in a twinkling before we left thedeck and the topsails dropped on the caps, as well as the jib downhaulmanned and the spanker brailed up, so as to prevent our being forcedfarther upon the shoal; and, while we were shinning up the rigging, theclewlines and buntlines were hauled by the watch below, which got in allthe slack of the sails preparatory to our passing the gaskets when wegot aloft, thus enabling us to furl all the canvas, and make everythingsnug in less time than I take to tell of it. 

In the meanwhile our commander made himself busy in other ways, thecutter being lowered and a party of seamen and boys sent in her with akedge to drop astern and try to warp off; the port bower anchor beingdropped at the same time, and a spring set on the cable, which wasbuoyed so that we could slip it in a moment in the event of her suddenlyfloating. 

A `distant signal' was also hoisted at the main, consisting of a squareflag on top with a ball below, which meant that we were aground andwanted assistance, to let the men on watch at the Hurst Castle signal-station know what was up with us; and, in addition, our smart commandingofficer put on a party of boys at the pumps, to see whether the brigmight not have strained her timbers and sprung a leak, through workingabout on the nasty sand bottom of the Brambles. 

This latter precaution, however, proved a useless one; for the gang ofeager lads working away with a will at the crank-handles of the pumps, soon cleared the little amount of water that was in the bilge, and theshaft sucked dry. 

"Ther' ain't a drop in her, " reported Mr Tarbolt, the quarter-master, `old Jellybelly, ' as we called him amongst ourselves. "I don't think, sir, as how she's made a h'inch since we passed the Needles and lastcleared ship. "

"Very good, quarter-master, " said the commander; "you can stop pumping. "

The chaps who had gone off in the cutter had been equally spry withtheir job, bending on a stout hemp hawser through the ring of the kedgeanchor, which they dropped some half a cable's length from the brig, bringing back the other end aboard, where it was put round the capstanon the forecastle. 

This was at once manned, there being no want of volunteers, every one ofus wanting to have a turn at the capstan bars, even before Mr Gadgett, the gunner, who was on duty forward, gave the word. 

But it was a case of `yo heave' and `paul' in vain, the hemp cablecoming home as taut as possible, and then surging off the capstanwithout moving the poor little _Martin_ a hair's-breadth from her sandybed. 

"We must get out the stream anchor, Mr Gadgett, " sang out thecommander. "Look alive there and rig out the davits, and send somehands into the cutter to stow the anchor properly when we lower itdown!"

This was done, the heavy stream anchor, which was always kept ready onthe forecastle in case of any such emergency, being eased down by meansof its shank painter and the fish tackle until it rested comfortablyacross the sternsheets of the boat; while another stout hawseraccompanying it, was coiled round the whole interior of the boat on topof the thwarts. 

The cutter then pulled off to about the same distance at which the kedgehad been dropped, though more on the quarter of the brig than dead aft;and, the end of the second hawser being brought aboard like the first, all hands set to work with a cheery song, as we had no drum and fifeband with us in the brig--for, though not strictly according to navaldiscipline, the commander permitted the licence so as to make thefellows move round all the smarter. 

"Yo--ho, my lads!" bawled out old Jellybelly, quite in his element, Ibelieve, as he liked to hear his own voice. "Round she comes! Heaveand paul with a yo--heave--ho!"

"By jingo, she's moving!" Mr Gadgett quivered out, more excited than Ihad ever seen the grey-haired gunner before. "Another turn or two, mylads, and she'll be afloat!"

His excitement communicated itself to the commander aft, who was lookingover the stern and anxiously watching the water, to see if our rudder, which was kept amidships, made any ripple on the surface; though, wideawake, our officer was keeping a keen eye, too, on the manilla hawserattached to the stream anchor, which was in such a ticklish state oftension from the strain that it was singing out like a fiddle-string. 

"Hurrah!" he cried a moment after. "She _is_ moving, Mr Gadgett. Stand by there, furrud, to veer off the cable of the port bower!"

Tramp, tramp, went the fellows round the capstan; turn by turn, in camethe slack of the warp; and then in another five minutes or so, with aharsh grating sound as her keel slid off a rocky bit of the shoal onwhich she had rested, the gallant little _Martin_ was afloat again!

Almost at the same instant as the dancing motion of her hull told usthat the brig had been restored to her native element, the commander, wishing to get away as soon as he could from the dangerous neighbourhoodof the Brambles, gave an order to the boatswain's mate standing nearhim, who instantly put his whistle to his lips and blew a shrill callwhose import we all well knew. 

"Watch, make sail!" then shouted the commander, rubbing his hands withmuch satisfaction. "Topmen, aloft and loose the topsails! Let go yourtopsail halliards! Man the head sheets!"

While these directions were being carried out, the port bower wasweighed; when the jib being hoisted and the topsails dropped and sheetedhome, the brig paid off on the starboard tack, picking up the kedge andstream anchor as soon as we fetched over them in rounding-to. 

The cutter, which had remained alongside ready for further use ifrequired, was then hoisted up to the davits; and the _Martin_, spreadingher wings again properly, made off towards Cowes just as one of theGovernment tugs, which had been despatched to our assistance from thedockyard on the receipt of a telegraphic message from Hurst Castletelling of our mishap, came round the corner of Stokes Bay, puffing awayat a fine rate, and throwing up a cloud of black smoke that spoilt thebeauty of the landscape, and shut out everything to leeward from view. 

"Begorrah!" said Mick, from whom the fine fuss and fright and flurry hadbanished all traces of his previous illness, making him as right asninepence again, "they're jist in toime to be too late, sure!"

Our commander exchanged signals with the people on the tug, however, telling them that their services were not required, though thanking themfor the help they would have rendered us; and the wind, which had beenshifting about to all parts of the compass while we had been ashore onthe sand ledge, now veering to the south'ard and west'ard, we bore awaybefore it with squared yards up the Solent towards Spithead, where weanchored for the night, almost in the fairway, abreast of SouthseaCastle. 

Next morning we came into harbour, when a dockyard diver was sent downto see if the brig had sustained any damage from her pranks of theprevious day; but, all being found staunch and sound below, only thecopper on her keel having received a little extra polish, we wereordered to go out again into the Channel and continue our cruise. 

The most noteworthy feature of this, excepting, of course, the settingand reefing and taking in sail on board a moving vessel, instead ofpractising all these merely in dumb-show as had been our wont in astationary ship like the _Saint Vincent_, was the exercise we had withthe old-fashioned little muzzle-loading truck guns, which were mountedon wooden carriages of the sort only seen in the old _Victory_ nowadays, with which the _Martin_ was provided. 

It was great fun. 

The boys in turn detailed to act as crews of the guns used to benumbered off in regular fashion, according to the custom of the service, just as if they were grown men and working on board a ship going intoaction. 

Number 1, who was the captain of the gun, stood in the rear; Number 2, on the right of the former, but clear of the recoil, as if to teach onethat prominent and distinguished positions have their drawbacks as wellas their advantages; Number 3 stood close up to the ship's side, by thebreeching of the gun on the left; and Number 4 occupied a similar poston the right, while Numbers 5 and 6 stood in the rear of 3 and 4, and soon. 

Through the energetic instructions of Mr Gadgett, who was a mostpainstaking officer, and spared no trouble to teach us our dutiesproperly, we had learnt when ashore on our drill-ground at Haslar tomaster all the necessary manipulation of our `little barkers, ' as thegunner used to call them, learning how to cast them loose from theirlashings, run them back for loading, and prepare them for firing, all insimilar dumb-show fashion to our sail-drill experiences in the old ship;and now, when we were able to load with real powder and shot, and makeMr Gadgett's `barkers' bark in earnest, the interest of our gunnerydrill was increased tenfold. 

It was splendid work; and from the first order, `Cast loose!' to thelast, `Fire!' it was exciting to the last degree, all of us sponging, loading, and running out the little guns in the highest of spirits, asif we were fighting the Battle of Trafalgar over again, and throwingshot and shell into any number of French and Spanish three-deckersalongside!

We had hard work sometimes to check ourselves from uttering a wild cheerwhen the order was given to pull the trigger and the gun went off with agrand `Bang!' sending a cloud of white smoke inboard from its muzzle asits fiery iron messenger leaped forwards and splashed into the sea, either ahead or abeam as the case might be, throwing up a tall column ofwater on its first plunge that was like a sort of fountain, while itskipped onward, playing `ducks and drakes' on the top of the waves, until it sank out of sight in the distance, its energy exhausted. 

We often used to rig out a target, made up out of an old rum puncheon, fixed on a raft of spars, which we fired at as at a mark, making verygood practice, too, after a bit. 

Mick soon became one of our best shots, Mr Gadgett complimenting him onhaving the sharpest eye on board the brig, my chum often, when acting asNumber 1, who you must know invariably sights the gun, succeeding insmashing our improvised target all to pieces. 

"How is it, Donovan, " asked the gunner on one of these occasions, "youhave such a steady aim? Why, boy, you haven't been at it very long. Your eye is like a hawk, by jingo!"

Mick scratched his head in father's way, puzzled to explain his keennessof vision. 

"Faith, sor, " he said at length, "it moost 'a bin tryin' to say if Icould say any thin' good turn up afore I jined the sarvice, sure; whinme fayther wor a blissid Oitalian organ-grinder an' none of us hadnothin' to ate, bedad!"

"By jingo!" exclaimed Mr Gadgett, smiling for once, for I neverpreviously saw the slightest change of muscle on his thin, weather-beaten, grey-whiskered face, "you'll do!"

Before we came back again from this cruise, we had a bout of bad weatherwhile knocking about in the Channel, which brought back to my mind theyarn Larrikins told the first evening I passed on board the _SaintVincent_, in order to distract my attention while he was rigging up myhammock so that it would come down by the run--of seas that were`mountings 'igh, ' and winds that blew the `'air off 'is 'ead!'

I took at the time, it may be recollected, Master Larrikins' tale with avery good pinch of the proverbial salt, believing he only intended to`pull my leg'; but when on the present occasion the brig began to labourheavily and the green seas, rolling over from the open sea beyondUshant, the wind having come on to blow a regular stiff sou'-wester, topped our bulwarks and made a clean sweep of the deck, I thoughtpossibly the old joker Larrikins, who had left the training-ship longere this and was serving as an ordinary seaman on a foreign station, might not have been `stretching' to such an extent as I had at the timeimagined. 

The little brig, however, was a staunch sea boat, having braved muchworse weather than we now experienced; and, being well handled by ourcommander, who was a sailor every inch of him, we ran before the galeround the easternmost end of the Isle of Wight and snugly brought upunder the lee of Saint Helens, where we dropped both our anchors, remaining in this sheltered roadstead until the weather broke, when wereturned to Portsmouth. 

So far, everything had gone well with me since I entered on board the_Saint Vincent_, for I had never got into any trouble beyond a slightscrape or two; but tow the Fates, as if to condone the previous goodfortune with which they had favoured me, all at once did me a very badturn, getting me into sad disgrace. 

Serious as the matter was, no doubt, in the eyes of the authorities, itwas not, however, such a very terrible crime in itself, though it got meinto the bad books of the captain, who had been so friendly disposedtowards me that he often used to let me take his dog `Gyp' for a walkwhen I went ashore. 

The fact was, to confess my sin outright, I committed a breach of one ofthe strictest regulations of the training service. 

I was caught smoking. 

But, I had better tell you all about it from the first to the last, andthen, you'll be able to judge for yourself of the heinousness of myoffence. 

CHAPTER ELEVEN. 

I GET INTO DISGRACE. 

After that first cruise of mine in the little _Martin_, I was at homeone Saturday afternoon, having had permission from the captain--beingwhat they call `a local boy, ' my parents residing in Portsmouth--toremain ashore till Sunday evening at sunset. It was now summer-time, and I was sitting in our back garden, which was more extensive thanmight have been expected from the surroundings of Bonfire Corner, thehouse, as I have said, being an old-fashioned one and father havingbought the freehold for a mere song in the days when property in Portseadid not fetch such a high price as at present. The pink and whiteblossoms of the apple-trees, of which we had a tidy number round thegarden, had dropped off long ere now and the fruit was beginning toform; but there were plenty of roses still out, and all sorts of old-fashioned flowers, filling the air with fragrance. 

I was enjoying myself to rights under the shade of an ancient mulberry-tree, which must have been planted in the time of Queen Elizabeth Ishould think, judging by its gnarled trunk and huge twisted branches. 

Some of these hung rather low, and Jenny had brought out Jack our thrushand suspended his cage along with those of our piping bullfinch and someof the canaries, just above a rustic table, having an old armchair thathad seen its better days, in front of it, which was father's favouriteseat when at home and the weather was not too bad to go out of doors. 

Here was his pipe and tobacco-jar, just as he left them in the morning, it being his habit to take a whiff there after breakfast prior toshouldering his oars, which he always brought back to the cottage of anight for safety's sake, and starting off to his wherry for the day. 

I felt rather lonesome, for Mick had not been able to get leave to comeashore with me, and Jenny was too busy helping mother house-cleaning tospare much time for a chat after the first greetings had passed on myarriving at the house; so, looking at father's pipe and tobacco-jar, thethought came into my head--probably suggested by that wily old Serpent, who, the parson says, is always on the watch to put evil thoughts intoempty minds--"Why shouldn't I learn to smoke?"

I don't think I would have carried this thought into action had it notbeen for `Ally Sloper, ' our cockatoo, who just then came hopping downthe garden-path from the scullery, where he had been having a rarecarrying-on with the cat, the rum bird as soon as he caught sight of meflying up on the table and catching hold of the end of father'sfavourite churchwarden with his claw. 

"Say-rah!" he shouted out in the very tones of father's voice, so that Icould almost fancy he were there sitting alongside of me. "Blest if Idon't have a pipe!"

That settled the matter. 

The next moment I had taken the pipe from `Ally Sloper's' reluctantclaw; and, filling it carefully, poking down the tobacco with the end ofmy finger just as father used to do, I struck a match and startedsmoking. 

I can't say I absolutely liked it at first, the strong narcotic, bittertaste of the tobacco, combined with the smell, making me feel rathergiddy; while a gulp of smoke which went the wrong way caused me tocough. 

But, I stuck at it all the same, feeling that now at last I was on thehighroad to being a man, just like those able-bodied seamen belonging toour ship who used to enjoy `blowing their cloud, ' as they called it, ofan evening on board the _Saint Vincent_ when work was done for the day. 

My complacency, too, was heightened by Jenny coming out presently, andthe admiration she expressed at my dignified attitude under themulberry-tree, leaning back in father's armchair, and smoking his veryown churchwarden. 

"Good gracious me, Tom!" she exclaimed; Jack the thrush calling out"Jenny! Jenny! Jenny!" at sight of her, as he always did. "Why, you're just like daddy!"

This made me feel proud, I can tell you; though old `Ally Sloper' didn'tappear to like my performance, for I was amusing myself by puffing thesmoke in his face, making him put up his lemon crest and spread out hiscollar-like feathers, screaming for mother like mad. 

I had `crossed the Rubicon, ' however; and, ever after this, when at homeof an afternoon, sometimes with Mick, who, of course, imitated me, sometimes without him on those occasions when he did not get permissionto go ashore, I used to have a whiff at father's pipe on the sly--without his knowledge though, you bet!

By this means, I soon became a regular smoker; and, content no longerwith an occasional draw at father's churchwarden, I bought a fine briar-root pipe for myself out of my pocket-money, which was increased by mybecoming a first-class boy now to a shilling a week. 

This pipe I carried about with me, in company with an old brass tobacco-box I found in the mud one day at Point, stowed carefully away with allmy other portable gear in my cap, according to the custom of theservice. 

I got so bold at last, that even on board the training-ship I would takea stray whiff of a while, when I got into some snug corner on deck whereI thought I would be unobserved; though my chum Mick, who didn't takekindly to the habit like myself, often cautioned me about the risk I ranin being caught. 

"Faith, Tom, me bhoy, " he would say to me, "Oi can't say howivver ye cango fur to do it, sure, a gossoon loike yersilf who's got a carrackterfur to loose; aye, an' fur sich a dirthy, nasty thing as thit, a-spillin' the tasthe ov good ghrub, so thit ye can't tell whither ye'reaitin' spuds or pay doo. Ef it wor a chap loike that `Ugly' now, thesulky baste ez wouldn't hev a koind wurrd fur ye, loike a Christian, since ye saved his rascally loife last year, begorrah, Oi could say thesinse ov it; but, fur a chap loike yersilf, Tom, fur to do it, withivverythin' to loose, Oi'm ashamed on ye!"

Mick's remonstrances, however, were all in vain; for, as motherfrequently accused father of being, I was `obstinate like all theBowlings, ' and once I had set my mind on a thing I'm sorry to saynothing would turn me from it. 

The first time I was caught thus smoking on board against the rules, Iwas let off with only a caution; Mr Brown, the ship's corporal, who hadalways continued my friend, not bringing my offence to the notice of theauthorities. 

"Don't let it occur again, though, Tom Bowling, " said he to me, with apinch of the ear, on seeing me once having a whiff behind the windlassbitts; "for, let me tell you, if you're nabbed by me or any one else atit again, as I must inform the master-at-arms, though I know he won'tlet it go further now, you'll be brought up on the quarter-deck andreceive punishment. "

The ship's corporal's advice, however, went through one deaf ear and outof the other, like my chum's remonstrance; and one fine day I was`brought up all standing' in the very act of committing the sameoffence. 

Unfortunately for me, my captor on this occasion was a new corporal whohad just been promoted to the police force of the ship, a young seamanwhose good conduct had earned him the post, and who wished, of course, to show himself especially smart. 

Unthinking of my approaching doom, I was smoking away one eveningbetween the lights, never dreaming for a moment that any one was near ornoticing me, when all at once a hand gripped the back of my neck andslewed my head round. 

"Ha, my joker, " cried Nemesis, in the shape of this young corporal, whoI saw was surrounded by a small crowd of my grinning shipmates, "I'vecaught you this time!"

He had, with a vengeance; for not only had he seized me `flagrantedelicto, ' as the captain said to me subsequently, he being a Latinscholar, the meaning of which was, I suppose, that I had the deliciousfragrance of the 'baccy about me, but Smithers, the corporal, wrenchedthe pipe that was the cause of all the mischief from my hand, as Ihastily removed it from my mouth and attempted to conceal it. 

He reported me in due course to `Jimmy the One, ' our first lieutenant, who in due course put me in the black list; and I was brought up thenext day on the quarter-deck before the captain, when we all musteredfor `divisions' on the upper deck. 

The commanding officer spoke to me kindly, saying he was sorry to see mein such a position; but, all the same, the offence being one which hesaid he could not possibly excuse, as he was determined to stop thepernicious habit of smoking, which, if indulged in by young boys, wouldruin their constitutions for life, he sentenced me to have six strokes, the usual penalty. 

Accordingly, `the horse' kept for the purpose, a sort of rough and roundwooden structure with four posts for legs, similar to those saddle-blocks seen in harness shops, was rigged, and one of the gunner's matesgave me the allotted number of administrations of the cane that I hadearned. 

The boys on board the _Saint Vincent_ in their slang called thisstroking business `stroniky'; and they have a rude rhyme anent it, whichembodies likewise what they catalogue as the hardships of the service--

 "Pea doo and bolliky, Hard work and stroniky, Who wouldn't join the Navy!"

I bore my punishment unflinchingly, for, really I knew I deserved it;but, although the gunner's mate did not spare his arm and the cuts hegave me with his cane stung sharply, sharper than the pain I feltphysically was the consciousness that I had lost my good character!

My leave, too, was stopped, so that I did not get home for a month; notthat I cared about this much, for, to tell the truth, I hardly liked toface father and Jenny till the recollection of my punishment had becomesomewhat deadened by time and the chaff of my messmates. 

They did not attach the disgrace that I did to my experience of`stroniky. '

On the contrary, many anecdotes were told anent it after turning in thatevening, the time when we indulged in yarning amongst ourselves after`lights out' was sounded, and all was darkness on the lower deck. 

One story told was that of a young Scotchman, who, with thecharacteristic thoughtfulness of his race, while blubbering, and yellingout `Mudder--Mudder--Mudder--Mudder!' throughout the operation, yetcalculated accurately the duration of his ordeal, shouting in the mostmatter-of-fact voice when given the last stroke, `That's sax!'

If not so particular as this Scotch lad in respect of numbering thestrokes I received, their effect was much more lasting in my case; for, adopting Mick's advice rather late in the day, I threw overboard theremaining stock of tobacco and pipes I had stowed in my `ditty box'below and abjured smoking so long as I remained in the training-ship, not resuming the habit until some years later when I was grown up andwas on active service abroad. 

My good character, too, returned to me after a time; and I may say, without boasting, I never lost it again while I remained on board the_Saint Vincent_, keeping steady and trying to do my duty through goodreport and ill until I left the ship. 

A couple of months later on, also, I became also restored to thecaptain's favour in rather a funny fashion. 

I was out in the _Martin_ during her last cruise for the year, it havinggot to be late in the autumn, and approaching the time for her to bedismantled and lay up for the winter. 

We had run down to Plymouth as usual, and were on our way back upChannel, beating against strong headwinds, when the weather got thick, as on our former cruise, and it came on to blow pretty stiff, the seagetting up and the brig having such a bad time of it that it took fourof us at the wheel, besides old Jellybelly the quarter-master, to keepher on her course. 

As luck would have it, `Gyp' the captain's dog had come with us for thetrip, his master being away on leave, and the commander of the _Martin_, who had volunteered to take charge of him during the captain's absence, thinking it best to keep him under his own eye. 

`Gyp' was very partial to me, as might be imagined from the fact of myhaving been so long in the habit of taking him ashore with me; and, consequently, during our cruise he attached himself with that strongbias for which his breed is proverbial to my humble self, preferring, when allowed the opportunity, to share my quarters even to enjoying theluxuries of the wardroom of the brig aft. 

His keen eye ever watched my movements when on deck and a word or lookfrom me was sufficient to set his stumpy tail wagging as if it wouldnever stop; while he would lick my bare feet in a most affectionatemanner should I ever pass near him and give him the chance, showing mehis `bad leg, ' if the slightest hint to that effect were given, byholding up one of his hind limbs and stretching it out in a mostextraordinary manner, the captain's valet having taught him this trickwhen he was a puppy and `Gyp' never having forgotten it though he hadarrived at maturer years. 

Nor, likewise, had he forgotten the art of balancing a biscuit on hisnose and not dropping it or offering in any way to masticate the same, however much his feelings might be inclined thereto, without thepermissive order, `Now you may have it, ' being uttered. 

`Gyp, ' I am afraid, was not a born sailor like myself and family. 

No ancestral fox-terrier of his race could possibly, I fancy, have `gonealoft' like the original head of our house; for, though he liked beingat sea well enough in fine weather, he got in the dumps when it came onto blow, his apology for a tail becoming so limp that what there was ofit drooped and lost its wag, so, that being left in the lurch throughhis rudder not answering the helm, he stumbled about the deck like anyyoung Johnny Raw just come afloat. 

Rolling and labouring, heeling over gunwales under sometimes, the_Martin_ managed to reach Spithead in the teeth of a stormy south-easter, which was sending the surf over Southsea Castle as the bigrollers coming in from the offing broke against the pile-protectedrampart below; and, we were just going to anchor in our usual berthunder the lee of the Spit, `Gyp' standing as well as he could with hisrickety sea-legs by the taffrail. 

He was watching me coming down from aloft, where I had gone with some ofthe other boys of the starboard watch to furl the mizzen-topsail, waiting, poor fellow, to greet me with a sniff of welcome; when, in theexcitement of my near approach, he wagged his tail somewhat incautiouslyand, thereby losing his footing, the affectionate animal fell overboard. 

CHAPTER TWELVE. 

"DRAFTED. "

Shouting out without thinking as loud as I could, "Man overboard!" Iplunged into the tideway after him; and, before `Gyp' knew where he wasor had time to shake the water out of his eyes and ears after risingfrom his unexpected plunge, breasting the choppy seas with his quick-working paws and paddling all round in a circle in his flurry, I hadstruck out after him, gripping him by the collar in half a dozenstrokes. 

Poor old chap, he whined and licked my face as I came alongside him, hiswistful eyes saying as plainly as dog could speak, "Thank God, Tom, you've come to help me, " or something to that effect. 

I was a good swimmer, having won the long-distance prize in our summersports off Haslar Creek; but, I now found the task of battling with thebig billows brought in by the south-easter, which were all the rougherfrom the cross tide setting against them, none too easy, wind and sea-going one way and the tide another. 

I could hardly make a stroke towards the beach, which I aimed for atfirst, the undercurrent pulling me back and sweeping me out seaward;while, the rough water, smacking against my face, bothered me andpalsied my every effort. 

They had let go the life-buoy, of course, on board the brig when I sangout before jumping off from the taffrail; but the buoy was moredifficult to reach than the shore, the wind catching it up and tossingit from wave crest to wave crest till it was cast up on top of one ofthe piles in front of the Castle far ahead. 

Treading water to regain my breath after a futile struggle of someminutes' duration, and holding poor `Gyp's' head well up so that heshould not be drowned by the spent seas that broke against us, Isquinted round to see what they were doing on board the _Martin_ in theway of trying to pick us up. 

A boat, I saw, was being lowered to leeward; but, the brig was such along way off now that I was afraid they wouldn't be in time to save us. 

I must look for assistance in another direction. 

In an instant, an old yarn of father's came back to my mind, one whereinhe used to tell of having once been run down by a steamer when outtrawling and having had to pass the night within the Spit Buoy. 

Why, I must be close on it now!

Yes, that was the sound of the bell hung from within the cage-likeframework surrounding the buoy, which is moored on the edge of the shoalskirting the fairway leading into Portsmouth Harbour. 

The broken water was rocking it to and fro; and, with every lurch thebuoy made, this bell gave out a doleful knell as if ringing away thepassing soul of some dead sailor gone to his last account. 

Perchance it was tolling for `Gyp' and me!

This thought flashed through me for a second; but the next second Idismissed it as a craven fear, my courage returning to me. 

I set my teeth, determined to fight it out to the end, when, if need be, I should die bravely. 

"Hurrah, `Gyp, ' whilst there's life there's hope!" I shouted, as muchto encourage the poor dog as myself, turning on my side and cuddling himwell up on my chest with my right arm to keep his head out of the water, while I struck out with all my strength with my left towards the buoy, now within a stone's throw, the tide gradually sweeping us near it inspite of the wind and sea. "There's no reason why the Spit Buoyshouldn't rescue us, the same as it did father!"

I believe `Gyp' understood what I said, for I declare I felt his littlestump tail wag against my arm, and he licked my cheek that was nearest, being otherwise too exhausted to give expression to his emotion by barkor whine. 

We did it too. 

After a stiff swim, though but such a short distance, I clutched hold ofa becket attached to the side of the buoy; and then, drawing myself upout of the water, I landed `Gyp' inside our refuge, climbing in afterhim myself. 

The lifeboat from the _Martin_, which was manned by four stout seamen, the commander himself coming in her as coxswain, meanwhile was makingfor us, the course of the cutter being directed by signals from thebrig, where the signalman on duty had probably kept his glass on me fromthe moment I jumped overboard and rose to the surface; and, presently, after a long pull and a hard one too, the boat came up to the buoy andtook us off. 

`By the Lord Harry!' as father used to exclaim sometimes when he wasexcited, you should have only heard the cheer that greeted us when thecutter got back to the brig, which had now dropped her anchor; the boysand older hands also, who were just on their way down from aloft afterfurling the sails, manning the rigging, and giving out a wild and hearty`Hooray' that might have been heard in the dockyard. 

The commander complimented me on the quarter-deck, saying that my actionwas a plucky one to jump overboard as I did, whether to save man or dog;and then ordering the steward to fetch me a stiff glass of hot brandy-and-water, he told me to go below and turn in to my hammock. 

`Gyp, ' however, would not leave me; and, as he insisted on joiningcompany with me in my hammock, I made him go shares with the brandy-and-water as well, though I can't say that he took his portion with as muchsatisfaction. 

His master, on coming to hear of the occurrence when he returned fromleave, was, I need hardly say, delighted that `Gyp' had been saved froma watery grave. 

He extolled, indeed, my really unpremeditated action in much higherterms than it actually deserved; for, really, I did it, as I have saidbefore, without thinking. 

However, be that as it may, the captain, commending me on my goodconduct generally since I had been attached to the training-ship underhis command, passed over in the most honourable way that unfortunatesmoking episode of mine, and promised to `keep his eye on me. '

This, I may add, he did in a much more satisfactory manner than thatsmart chap, ship's corporal Smithers; but, of this, you will learn anon. 

My days in the _Saint Vincent_, you must know, were now drawing to aclose. 

Nine months of second-class boy instruction and four months as a first-class boy had pretty well taken me through the ordinary routine of thetraining-ship; the last two months of my stay on board being mainlydevoted to a _resume_ of the various studies constituting seamanshipwhich I had already gone through, as well as a grand rehearsal of gunpractice and rifle drill and of the sword exercise. 

In this latter all the boys took the keenest delight, cutting andslashing at one another with a go and gusto worthy of all admiration. 

We pointed, guarded, and parried, with a nimbleness and correctness thatexcited the praise of our instructor; but when we got to what was called`general practice, ' and learnt cuts `One' and `Two, ' with an extra`Point, ' before our teacher sang out `Guard!' our enthusiasm knew nobounds, and all of us would fancy ourselves to be bluejackets in action, boarding a pirate or leading a storming-party and killing hecatombs ofenemies on the war-path, our weapons mowing them down with every sweep!

Sometimes our sword-play got us into scrapes, when two boys matchedagainst each other by the instructor allowed their zeal to overcometheir discretion; for, occasionally, they would lose their tempers whenover the single-sticks and give one another such spiteful blows that theinstructor would have to interfere and separate them by force of arms. 

In the majority of cases, however, the scratches we received were morethe result of accident than of malice intent; and the littleembroilments that happened when sword-play degenerated into horseplaywere not, as a rule, worth mentioning. 

On one occasion, though, my chum Mick nearly had his nose carved off inan encounter with a comrade, though luckily his opponent did not succeedin spoiling Mick's beauty. 

This would have been a pity; for, really, he was a very good-lookingchap, and I am sure my sister Jenny, though she wouldn't confess it, would have been sorry if anything had occurred to mar his comely face. 

It happened thus. When skylarking together on the upper deck oneevening, Mick and another fellow caught up a couple of cutlasses thathad been left inadvertently lying about the deck, and they commencedpointing and cutting and slashing at one another with the keen-edgedweapons, just as if they had been mere basket-hilted single-sticks, arap from which would have done no damage beyond a bruise. 

They were going it in fine style, when all at once Mick's foot slipped;and, missing his guard as his opponent made a vicious cut `one' at him, he received this on his chest, the cutlass cutting through his jumperand flannel and making a slight wound across his breastbone. 

Had his head not been thrown backwards as he slipped, poor Mick wouldhave had the most striking feature of his merry countenance sliced offas dexterously as if it had been a carrot!

The last seven weeks of my experiences of the old ship, which I hadbegun to look upon as much my home as the little cottage at BonfireCorner, were devoted to practice with the big guns that are used inmodern ships of war; and these, I may add, are so unlike the old twenty-four and thirty-two and sixty-four pounders that had been used in ourearly training, that any drill with them would have failed to have beenof much assistance to us in getting the cross-cannon badge on oursleeve. 

So, for these seven weeks, all of us first-class boys who were near theend of our term had to go to the _Excellent_ every day to go through acourse of gunnery; and were sent out to sea in sections in the _Blazer_or _Handy_, or some other gunboat attached to the gunnery school, so asto gain some sort of preliminary insight into the ways of the bigbreech-loading guns used in the armour-clads of to-day, as well as beingmade acquainted with their lesser satellites quick-firing and machine-guns. 

We did not leave our old ship altogether yet, though; for we used totake our dinners with us when we went away from her of a morning, returning back to the _Saint Vincent_ of a night to sleep, when we wouldretail all of our experiences to our comrades who had remained behind. 

At last the day came, a day I shall remember all my life, when Mick andI, for we both went away together even as we had joined on the same day, left the _Saint Vincent_ for good and all. 

One forenoon, just before `cooks to their messes' sounded, and prior toour dispersing after the usual assembly for `divisions' on the upperdeck, the captain ordered Mick and myself, with some half a dozen otherfirst-class boys belonging to the starboard watch and a like number fromthe port, to step out of the ranks; when, telling us we were drafted tothe guardship for service with the fleet, he addressed a few kindlywords of advice to us as to our future conduct and then dismissed us toour dinner, telling us we were to pack up our gear and leave the shipearly in the afternoon. 

He sent for me soon after I had disposed of the `two spuds and a Jonah, 'which composed the meal of the day, and on my going to his cabin hespoke to me very nicely, saying that I might write to him should I everneed help in getting on in the service, and that he would always, as hehad previously promised, `keep an eye on me'!

"Faith, " said Mick, on my telling him this, "it'll be moighty onplisintfur ye, Tom, me bhoy; thet gimblet oye ov his sames to go roight thro'an' thro' me, begorrah, if he ivver onst looks at me sure!"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN. 

I GO TO SEA. 

I did not mind Mick's chaff, though. The captain had been a good friendto me while I had been on board, and I parted with him with as muchregret as I felt when I said `good-bye' to `Gyp. '

Our meal that day was what we called aboard ship a `stamp and go, ' allof us who were drafted being too excited to think much of eating--all ofus, that is, excepting Mick!

He, as I have mentioned more than once previously, was a chap who wasparticularly partial to his grub, this being probably owing to thecircumstance that he had experienced hard fare in his earlier daysbefore he joined the _Saint Vincent_; but I can answer for this, that heendeavoured to the best of his ability, after that period, to make upfor any shortcomings he had suffered from before!

"Begorrah, Tom, " he answered me very philosophically, when I told him tohurry up, "ther's no knowin' whin, sure, ayther on us'll git anothergood square male; an', faith, the bo'sun towld me onst no will-app'intedshep ivver goes to say widout havin' her proper regulation stores an'purvisions aboord!"

This was after I had my interview with the captain, of course; and Ionly tell it to show what sort of a fellow my chum was. 

When we had packed our bags and come up on the middle deck to leave theship in one of the cutters, which was to land us at the King's Stairs inthe dockyard, the master-at-arms, who stood by the entry-port with MrBrown the ship's corporal, wished us both a cordial farewell. 

"Now, keep your hair on straight, Tom Bowling, " said the former to me, giving me a good grip of his fist, for he was a very hearty sort of man. "I have had my eye on you while you have been aboard here; and I quitebelieve you'll turn out the right sort and work your way up to yourwarrant, if you only keep straight, long before I am laid on the shelf, my boy!"

"Faith, Tom, " whispered Mick to me in an aside that was quite loudenough for the `Jaunty' to catch his remark, "ivverybody, sure, 'skapin' ther' oye on ye; an' ef all the jokers go on loike thet, ye'll behavin' what ye're moother called t'other day, bedad, a' 'tack ov `oye-strikes, ' if ye don't look out sharp!"

"Ah, my h'Italian friend!" said the master-at-arms, who overheard him, with a broad grin on his face, which was reflected on that of Mr Brown;"so you're going to leave us too, eh! Well, as some writing chap sayssomewhere or t'other in some book I've read, we could have better spareda better boy than you, Paddy. You've been a good lad too, in spite ofyour larks; and I hope you'll get on well in the service, like your chumTom Bowling here. Stick to him, and he'll keep you straight. "

So saying, he shook hands with Mick the same as he had done with me, MrBrown following suit in an equally hearty fashion; and shouldering ourbags, we all went down the accommodation ladder and took our seats inthe cutter. 

Just as we were shoving off, Mick spied old Jellybelly on duty at thegangway, and he could not help giving him a parting shot. 

"Good luck to ye, Mr Tarbolt, an' more power to yer elber, sor, " hecried out with much effusion. "Be jabers, Oi'll kape me oye out fur tosay ef Oi can pick up a roight-down comfable arm-cheer fur ye to take asate whin ye gits toired, sure, a-standin' whin ye're on the watch!"

There was a subdued titter from all the other fellows, both them in theboat and the rest who were out on the booms and standing by the entry-port, and old Jellybelly shook his fist in a threatening manner at Mick;but the smile on his face showed that he took the old joke in good part. 

The last I saw of the old ship as we rowed away up the harbour was a rowof grinning faces looking in our direction, and the lines being tricedup fore and aft with the hammock-cloths and clothes of the boys hung outto dry, Tuesday, the day we left, being `washing-day' with us on board. 

I had experienced a happy time altogether on board her; and, when I cometo look back now, the wonder to me, I'm sure, is that every boy who canpossibly get permission from his people does not join the service, considering all the advantages he gets on donning the bluejacket rig. 

Just consider. 

Instead of living higgledy-piggledy in some close room with half a dozenothers, as many poor boys have to do, and little or nothing to eat andthat only at haphazard, while in the majority of cases his clothing willbe none of the best, being more holey than pious; the same boy onentering the _Saint Vincent_ finds himself at once well fed, wellclothed, and with clean and roomy quarters to breathe in!

There is the discipline, to be sure, and that's where the shoe pincheswith the free Arab of the slums; but, in addition to the discipline, itshould be recollected there is also the instruction in various thingsthat nine boys out of ten look upon rather as pleasurable games than somany tasks. 

Besides this, they have real games in their play-hours aboard and in therecreation-ground at Haslar; and, besides, are allowed ashore once aweek at least, to see their friends and relatives, if these live in theneighbourhood, having pocket-money given them to enjoy themselves with--more than they can say they ever had in their life on land. 

Then there are the `sports' which the _Saint Vincent_ boys have everyyear at midsummer, before the breaking-up for their holidays, whenswimming races, boat races, egg-and-spoon races, and all sorts ofjollities are all the go. 

But, there I am again, hauling my jawing tackle aboard according to theold Bowling family propensity, anent which mother used always to ratefather; so, I must belay!

Pulling steadily away from the old ship on the stream which was runningup the harbour, making this appear one vast lake up to Fareham Creekunder the base of the Portsdown hills, a lake whereon floated long linesof old hulks of the past, interspersed with many a specimen of the newermodels of the present ships of the Navy, the cutter at last landed us atthe foot of the King's Stairs; when, unshipping our bags and shoulderingthem again, we crossed the dockyard in single file, under charge of apetty officer, making for the guardship to which we had been drafted, which was lying alongside the North Wall, not far from the _Excellent_. 

Our tramp was a most fatiguing one over the rough pigs of iron ballastarranged like cobble-stones, which some chap must have had put down inorder to benefit his bootmaker, the pilgrimage of folk anxious to seethe yard being rather trying on shoe-leather. 

We felt it all the more from having been accustomed to go in our barefeet on board the training-ship, and boots in themselves being irksome, without the hard road we had to travel adding to the penance. 

Ascending the ladder-way that led up from the jetty to the deck of theold _Asia_, the guardship, we were soon allotted our billets; andquickly settled down to the routine of the ship, which, of course, wasvery different to that of the _Saint Vincent_. 

However, we did not very long remain here; for, it being now getting onwell in the month of July, and several new ships having been ordered tobe commissioned for the Naval Manoeuvres, Mick and I, good luck stillattending us and keeping us always in company, were told off to join asmart cruiser attached to one of the squadrons, in which we presentlysailed for Bantry Bay. 

Here my chum found himself once more in his native land, and under a skyas blue as that of Italy, to which country he had originally claimed tobelong, in spite of the strong `brogue' that readily betrayed hiskinship to the inhabitants when we went ashore at Glengariff. 

Mick's complaint now was that he could not find any one rejoicing in hisname; for every one he and I met, strolling along from Castletown toWaterfall, the landing-place at the foot of Hungry Mountain, half roundthe bay, was either a Sullivan or an O'Brien--not a single Donovan beingto be met with for love or money. 

"Begorrah, I can't make it out at all, at all!" said my chum to me, after making inquiries at the various little shebeens on our way andchatting almost with every one of the groups of country people wepassed, who all seemed mightily pleased at the sight of us bluejackets, most of them offering us hospitality in the shape of cups of milk at thecorner of nearly every country lane, where some pretty colleen wouldstand, clad in her picturesque red cape and with stockingless feet, wishful to give thirsty folk a drink. "Me fayther s'id, faith, as howthe Donovans wor kings ov Cark at one toime, Tom!"

"Why, " I rejoined, giving him a twister, "you told the `Jaunty' when youcame aboard the _Saint Vincent_ that time to join, that your father wasan `Oitalian!'"

"Stow thet, Tom, " said he with a grin, digging me in the ribs, much tothe amusement of one of the Irish girls who was near us, at whom Mickwinked. "Sure, thet wor ownly me joke. Th'room pogue, ma colleenogue?"

The girl near, to whom he addressed the latter part of his speech, whichsounded like Greek to me, blushed and laughed, turning away shyly. 

"Hullo!" I exclaimed. "What does that mean, Mick?"

"Faith, it manes `Give me a kiss, me purty gurl, ' Tom, " he answered, bursting into a roar of laughter. "It's a quishton ye'll foind moightyconvanient to axe some-toimes whin ye're in these parts, mabouchal; an'Oi'd advise ye to larn the languish ez soon ez ye can. "

We remained at Bantry, coaling and preparing for action, for about aweek, at the end of which time, `war' being declared between the rivalfleets engaged in the Manoeuvres, we filed out of the bay in singlecolumn line ahead and started off for the fray; the fleet I was withhaving some exciting episodes in the chops of the Channel during thetime the mimic campaign lasted, in chasing and capturing the ships ofthe `enemy, ' our cruiser being a very fast vessel and easily able tooverhaul most of their craft hand over hand. 

It was good fun too--almost like real fighting; and we got so eager atthe game, that, on one occasion when we put into Plymouth Sound andfound one of the ships belonging to the other side there, our fellowsnearly had a row with the men belonging to her. 

This shows how very thoroughly we entered into the sport. 

It was the end of August when we came back from the Manoeuvres; and bythe time we had paid off the cruiser, which, with the other shipsspecially commissioned for the purpose, was relegated to the reservebasin until she should be wanted to relieve some other vessel abroad, more than another month had elapsed before our rejoining the guardship. 

But no sooner had we done this than we had to make another move. 

The Training Squadron was under refit for its winter cruise, and anumber of boys being required to fill up the complements of the shipscomposing it, one fine morning, just when Mick and myself began to feelat home again on board the old _Asia_, we were paraded on deck with anumber of others and `told off' to join the _Active_. 

She was the commodore's ship of the squadron, and the very one we hadlonged to be appointed to, her commander being a smart seaman well knownin the service, and a friend of father's old friend Captain Mordaunt. 

The latter, as luck would have it, had come to see us the previousSunday, when I happened to be home and had promised me to put in a goodword for me in the event of my being appointed to the ship. 

By a strange coincidence, Mick and I had been that very day talking ofthis while we were engaged cleaning some rusty rifles on the main-deck, which job one of the petty officers had put us at, from his seeing mychum and me star-gazing about, with nothing to do. 

"Be jabers!" said Mick, sighting his rifle and pretending to take aim atthe swab as he went off after imposing this extra task on us, though hewaited until the officious gentleman's back was turned, as may be takenfor granted, "Oi wud loike to spot thet chap roight in the bull's-eye, bad cess to him! Och, but wait till we're aboord the _Active_, Tom, an', sure, we'll hev no more of straight-backed jokers loike him to dalewith!"

"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, Mick, " said I. "We're not appointed to her yet. "

"Blatheration!" exclaimed my chum, smacking the butt of his rifle on thedeck and making the petty officer who was on the other side of thehatchway jump round in a jiffy, looking marline-spikes in our direction. "Ye jist say, now, if we don't join her! Sure, I dramed ov her lastnoight, alannah. Oi'd dropped off into a swate shlape afther thet chapmade sich a row toomblin' out ov his hammick thet wor next moine, bein'three sheets an' more, faith, in the woind whin he come off from shore;an' I dramed ez how, Tom, we two wor aboord the _Active_, which Oi worlookin' over ounly yisterday whin Oi come by Pitch-House Jetty, whereshe's lyin' preparin' for say. Yis, we wor aboord her roight enuf; an'Oi heerd the bo'sun poipe to `make sail, ' an' the order guv 'way aloft, lay out on the yards an' loose tops'ls. Thin Oi thinks ez how Oi'mashore, ez will ez aboord; an' Oi says the _Active_ a-sailin' out o'harbour, ez nate ez ye plaize wid all her upper sails an' flyin' jib, an' fore-topmast stays'l set!"

"I don't think you're likely to see that, Mick, " said I, laughing. "Itmay do well enough in a dream; but I've heard father say that no shiphas ever worked out of harbour under sail alone for the last forty yearsor more!"

"Begorrah, just ye wait an' say, " rejoined he. "Oi hed a paice ovshamrock, which I tuk out ov the fairy ring, sure, at Glasnevin, underme hid last noight whin Oi wor shlapin', an' me drame's bound fur tocome thrue!"

Strangely enough, so it turned out, too. 

A week after we joined her, all things being ready and her preparationfor sea being complete, the _Active_ cast off the hawsers mooring her tothe bollards on the jetty; and then, disdaining the assistance of any ofthe harbour tugs, the commodore sent the men aloft to make sail, andtook her out to Spithead under her canvas alone, conning the shiphimself from his station aft. 

I may say I assisted at the operation, being one of the hands who wentaloft to set the mizzen-royal; and, I may add, that father told me whenI came home on the termination of our cruise, at the end of the ensuingspring, our exploit was the talk of the town for months afterwards!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN. 

"IN THE BAY OF BISCAY, O!"

"Tom, " said Mick to me, when we came down from the yards, by which timethe ship was abreast of Southsea Pier on her way out in the fairway, "Oi'm afther settin' oop, faith, fur a conjirer, now me drame's coomroight!"

"You're more than a conjurer, Mick, " I replied to this, laughing. "You're a prophet!"

"Begorrah!" he rejoined with his usual grin, "it ain't mooch profitOi'll git oot ov it, me darlint, or yersilf ayther, fur thet matther--aboot ez mooch, faith, ez Pat O'Connor got whin he shaved his pig!"

The squadron remained but a couple of days at anchor at Spithead;proceeding thence to Portland, whence, the _Calypso_ and _Ruby_, shipsbelonging to the eastern division, having joined us, we all set sail incompany for our cruise, bound for the West Indies. 

Passing down Channel, through those `chops' which our late cruiser hadso watchfully guarded during the Manoeuvres, we gave Ushant a wide berthand entered the celebrated Bay of Biscay; the subject of a song aspopular with us sailors as that of which my great-great-great-ancestor, Tom Bowling of pious and historic memory, was the hero. 

Now, at last, I could say that I really was at sea!

A good many of my shipmates had no necessity, however, to do this; forthey _felt_ it--especially crossing the Bay!

The weather was dirty, as it usually is in this region. 

This occurs through the influence of the Gulf Stream, which, after beingwooed by the incurving and more hospitable coast of France, suddenlyfinds itself violently repulsed by the projecting Spanish peninsula;when, naturally angry, the current, like some folk who, on their notbeing able to vent their spleen on the people who may offend them, `passit on' to the nearest, tries to `make it warm' for such unfortunatemariners as may cross its turbid bosom!

It is always rough there, and the winds as uncertain as a lady's smile;and, I may say that on this occasion both Boreas and Neptune seemed tohave arranged to render our passage over this special broken-waterdomain of theirs as disagreeable as possible. 

We were well handled, our commanding officer being, as I have alreadysaid, one of the smartest sailors in the service; but, notwithstandingthis, the _Active_ had very bad weather of it, while those of ourconsorts whom we could see in the distance appeared to experience worse. 

The ship plunged and rolled to such an extent that it was almostimpossible to go up and down the hatchways carrying anything; for a chapwanted more hands than he possessed to hold on with, let alone dunnage!

We boys had, as might be expected, most of the dirty work to do; and itwas our task, when dinner was finished below, to help clear up themesses, and take the `gashing-tubs, ' in which the refuse of all ourmeals was thrown, up above to the upper deck and pitch the contents overthe side, it being impossible for us to open any of the ports on thelower deck, from the heavy rolling seas that came toppling inboard everynow and again. 

The job was not a nice one, nor an easy one either; and the second daywe were knocking about in the Bay an accident happened while we were atit that nearly settled the hash of one of us, making him more fit to gointo the `gashing-tub' himself than to handle it!

Four of us were trying to hoist our burden up the slippery ladder, whichwas rendered all the more slippery by the water washing down in acataract every time a roller came over the forecastle and filled thewaist of the corvette; not to speak of the rolling of the ship from portto starboard, and from starboard to port, varied by an occasional liftup in mid-air atop of some huge billow, and a dive down the next momentinto the hollow of the waves, as if we were going down to Davy Jones'slocker. 

Mick, who was the leading member of our quartet, on the top step of theladder, was holding on like grim death to the side-rope with one hand, and stretching out the other towards Finlayson, a new boy whom we hadnot seen before till we joined the _Active_, he having been drafted fromthe _Boscawen_ at Portland; and who, in turn, had hold of the tub andwas clutching Mick's hand to steady himself. 

"Pull away, ye divvle!" cried Mick. "One more stip, begorrah, an' we'llbe landid on the dick!"

"Shove up, you fellers below there!" shouted Finlayson, in response tothis, to myself and another boy who had come forwards from the afterpart of the mess-deck to our assistance, but whose face I had not seen, from the fact of my back being turned to him. "Shove up, carn't you!This chap atop here an' me is bearin' all the weight on it!"

"That's all very well, " I growled, for the tub was slipping back on me, though I was holding it with both hands and shoving my knees into thesteps of the ladder to keep myself steady. "Pull away, you beggar, yourself! Aye, and you too, Mick, aloft there! I shall tumble back if youdon't take the weight of the tub off me!"

"Begorrah, Tom, me hearty, ye shan't git kilt wid that there gashing-tub!" cried Mick, squinting down the hatchway and seeing my predicament. "Pull away, ye young divvle--it's you, ye new boy, I'm afther manin'--pull away wid a will! Tom, why, sure, don't ye make thet chap alongsideye put his shoulder to it properly? He ain't workin' at all, at all, bad cess to him, who ivver he is, fur I can't say him at all, at all!"

"Whoi, I be a-shuvvin' and a-shuvvin' all the time, " rejoined a voicewhose accents were strangely familiar to me. "You pull yerself, maister, and stop hollerin' at Oi!"

I turned; and there, much to my astonishment, at the foot of the ladderwas `Ugly, ' of whose being on board the same ship I was ignorant up tothat moment, he being in the starboard watch and I in the port, and thenecessities of the service not having brought us together before, thoughhow I'd never seen him even casually at Portsmouth or at Portland Ican't account for. 

Unfortunately, the curiosity that made me turn round brought about themishap to which I have alluded, nearly making Tom Bowling, junior, yourpresent informant, lose the number of his mess. 

`Ugly, ' as much surprised as myself at our strange meeting, started backon seeing me. 

He had really, in spite of all that Mick said, been doing his part toassist me; and now, from his loosing his hold of the tub, which he hadbeen trying to shove upwards on the one side the same as I did on theother, while the other two fellows above us pulled, the beastly thingcame sliding back a step on me; and, as I was not holding on toanything, and the ship lurched at the moment, making Mick and Finlaysonboth let go at the same time, I tumbled incontinently backwards on tothe lower deck, with the gashing-tub on top of me!

My good providence, however, still watched over me; for, as I fell, abig wave, coming splosh right over the side into the waist, poured downbodily through the hatchway, floating away the tub and flooding thelower deck. 

This probably saved my life, as had the heavy tub fallen really on topof me I should have been squashed into a jelly. 

"Faith, I belaive ye've ez many loives ez a cat, " cried Mick, makinglittle, in proper sailor fashion, of my peril; and then, dropping hisvoice so that the others shouldn't hear him, he added, "Whisht, Tom--faith it's thet nasty baste `Ugly' thet done it; an', sure, he's done ita-purpos!"

"No, Mick, I don't believe that, " I whispered, in my turn, pickingmyself up with the aid of my suspicious chum, who proceeded to help mein clearing away the remains of the garbage from the tub which had beenemptied into my jumper. "The fellow started back at sight of me, and Idon't think he meant to leave go of the gashing-tub as he did. "

"Begorrah!" cried Mick indignantly, "why didn't he stop and say so loikea man, insted ov snakin' away loike a cur?"

I cast my eyes about me and saw, truly enough, that `Ugly' haddisappeared. 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN. 

COMEDY TO TRAGEDY. 

"Hullo, my lads! This won't do, this won't do!" shouted out a pettyofficer just then, as he came tacking about the deck and trying to makea straight course for the hatchway. "There'd be a fine row if NumberOne came along here and saw that theer mess on the deck!"

"Faith, we couldn't hilp it, row or no row, " said Mick, whose temper wasa little bit heated from the recollection of `Ugly's' conduct, and thefright he really had experienced on my account in spite of his trying totreat it as a joke. "Sure, sor, the toob toombled down atop ov thispoor bhoy here, an' a'most made gammy duff ov him!"

"Well, well, p'raps y'll have better luck next time, " replied the manjokingly; and, turning to me, he said in a kindly way, "A miss is asgood as a mile, my lad; but, accident or no accident, you'll have toclear up that mess there, or there'll be ructions aboard, I can tellyou!"

"All roight, sor, " said Mick, as he clutched hold of a swab which we hadbrought with us, in case of such an emergency. "Oi'll make it roight, sure, in a brace ov shakes, sor. "

I, too, bore a hand with another swab, as did Finlayson; and we soonmade the place all shipshape again, another wave, which washed down thehatchway when we had finished, putting a polish on our work. 

Nothing further was seen of `Ugly, ' however, either by Mick or myself, the ill-tempered brute evidently keeping out of our way; and it was nottill late in the afternoon that I saw him again aft, when both watcheswere called to treble-reef the topsails, and we boys belonging to theship had to go aloft to take in the mizzen. 

We had not weathered Finisterre yet, though we had been bucketing aboutin the Bay now for over three days; the wind, which had been blowing instrong squalls from the north'ard and west'ard, suddenly backing to thesouth-east and coming on to blow harder than ever. 

The sea got up also in a corresponding degree, its huge billows, as theyrolled onward propelled by the gale, rearing themselves up in mid-airtill they seemed sometimes to be level with the top of our mainmast, surpassing in height even those which my old friend Larrikins haddescribed as `mountings 'igh. '

I had seen already in my trips in the _Martin_ up and down Channel whatI fancied at the time to be rough weather; but, never in my lifepreviously had I ever seen such a scene of grandeur as the oceanpresented that stormy afternoon!

Far and wide, it seethed and boiled like a huge cauldron, its surfacecovered with foam as white as snow, which the dark setting of inkyclouds along the horizon brought out in whiter relief. 

Above, masses of ragged wrack scudded aimlessly across the sky, whoseleaden hue was cheerless and grim, save where, in the west, the sun wentdown suddenly in a wrath of crimson majesty, the darkness of nightdescending on the scene as if a curtain of _crepe_, had been let downthe moment after he vanished beneath the waste of angry waters, unlightened by a single ray of his customary after-glow. 

Apparently the tempest-loving demons of the deep were only waiting forthe shades of night in order to carry on their revels with the greater`go' at our expense; for no sooner had the evening closed in than thegale increased in force, and the sea waxed even angrier, so that by FourBells in the first watch, that is at ten o'clock, in landsman'sparlance, the ship had to lie-to under storm staysails--pitching andplunging bows under, and taking in some of the huge rollers occasionallyover her forecastle, that swept down into the waist to such an extentthat it was as much as the scuppers could do to get rid of the water asshe rolled. 

Fortunately, we did not get any of this below, the hatches having beenbattened down early in the afternoon, subsequently to our mishap withthe `gashing-tub'; but, although this saved us some wet, it was far frompleasant on our mess-deck, the steam from the wet clothes of the fellowsbelonging to the watch just relieved, and the smell of the bilge fromthe place being shut up, making it resemble towards morning somethinglike what I have read of an African slaver's hold being in the middlelatitudes. 

When day broke, I found, on turning out of my hammock, our ship riding alittle easier, the rolling having abated considerably; and, on going ondeck shortly afterwards, though there was no order as usual to `lash upand stow, ' the weather being too rough for that, the reason for thischange for the better, so far as the uneasy motion was concerned, becameapparent enough. 

The commodore had ordered a storm jib to be set, as well as the after-trysail, which was about the size of a good old-fashioned pocket-handkerchief; and, instead of laying-to as we had been when I turned inclose on midnight, the ship was now running before the south-easter andmaking good progress, too, out of the neighbourhood of the treacherousBay. 

By breakfast-time we were making so much better weather of it that wewere able to open the hatches, and the windsails were rigged up to letdown some fresh air below, which enabled us to have a better meal thanwe expected; so our hot cocoa and bread possessed an additional relish, not only from this circumstance, but also from the fact of our nothaving enjoyed anything hot since the previous day at dinner, the galleyfires having been swamped out just before tea-time, thus forcing us toturn in supperless. 

Later on, as the gale slackened, we set our topsails close-reefed, andmore `fore-and-aft' sail; and, when the sun had got above our foreyard, the commodore ordered the topgallant-masts to be sent up, these havingbeen housed when it came on to blow heavily. Our topgallants wereconsequently set above our close-reefed topsails, which some of theyoung seamen on board appeared to think a most extraordinary proceeding;but one of the quarter-masters, who was an old hand, said he had oftenseen it done when sailing "under old Fitzroy on the Pacific station, "when their ship would be bowling along under this sail before a stiffnor'-easter, in the run down from Vancouver to Callao, past theinhospitable Californian coast. 

At noon that day, the navigating officer, who took the sun on the poop, surrounded by a lot of the young midshipmen we had on board forinstruction during the training cruise, like us boys on the lower deckeach in our respective billet, gave out that we were in latitude 44degrees 10 minutes north, and longitude 10 degrees 15 minutes west, thusshowing that we were well to the westward of the ill-omened CapeFinisterre and now safely out of the Bay of Biscay!

The navigator also told our commanding officer, in the usual stereotypednautical formula, that it was twelve o'clock. 

"All right, " replied the commodore. "Make it so!"

Accordingly, the sentry on the forecastle struck Eight Bells, and themen were piped down to dinner; the boatswain's mates sounding theirshrill calls through the ship as the echo of the last stroke of theclapper on the side of the ship's bell ceased to reverberate in thenoisy air, which was filled with the creaking of the blocks aloft andthe hum of the wind, the sea breaking against our counter alongside in asullen fashion as if old Neptune were disappointed at letting us slipout of his clutches!

At One Bell, half-an-hour later, when the grog was served out to themen--we boys, of course, having none of this, nor wanting it either--arather amusing incident occurred. 

Some of the chaps on board, though passed for ordinary seamen, were`green hands'; and the older sailors that leavened the company, used tocrack jokes on these and `pull their legs' pretty considerably, untilthe green ones got too knowing to be taken in. 

One fellow we had with us in the starboard watch, however, seemed to beso naturally `raw' that nothing served to `salt' him; and he was thebutt not only of his own mess, but of the whole ship's company. 

On this occasion Harris, a leading seaman, took a fine rise out of him. 

"Say, Joblins, " he called out, as he was going to light his pipe to havea smoke forwards, we boys having set out the spittoons for the men alongthe `'tween decks, ' "got your grog all right, old ship?"

"Oh ay, " answered the other. "I'se droonk un. "

"But I means yer second 'lowance. "

"Hay?" said Mr Johnny Raw, his eyes beginning to visibly brighten. "What fur be that?"

"Yer second 'lowance, " repeated the joker Harris. "All the noo handscan git it if they axes fur it. "

"Now, yer bean't a-joking?"

"No, " declared Harris unblushingly, winking to the others around. "Joking--why should I, man?"

The greenhorn grew quite excited at the prospect of another tot of grogafter his pipe. 

"Say, shipmate, " said he, rising from the bench at the mess-table wherehe had been sitting having a whiff, "tell us wot I shall do fur to getun?"

"Take hold on that `spud-net' there, " said Harris, pointing to the netin which the potatoes had been boiled for the mess, the other fellowsnear turning their backs so that Joblins couldn't see them laugh as heproceeded to carry out the joker's suggestion. "Ah, ye've got it allright, then? Now, Joblins, ye can take that to the upper deck, wherethey're now sarvin' out the grog for the port watch, and tell the`Jaunty' that yer come fur yer second 'lowance. "

Would you believe it?

Well, whether you do so or not, all I have to say is that the innocentyokel actually went up on deck with the potato-net in his hand, holdingit out in front of him as he took his station beside those standinground the grog-tub. 

"Hullo!" exclaimed the ship's steward, who acts as master of theceremonies in this daily allowance of drink to the ship's company, assisted by one of the corporals, and sometimes even by the master-at-arms himself, the purveyor of the grog recognising him as havingpreviously received his quota. "What do you want here? You've had your'lowance already!"

Joblins, however, was reluctant to give up the chance of getting anadditional supply without a struggle for it, so, he would not acceptthis rebuff. 

"They sez below, sir, " explained he, still holding out the spud-netstraight in front of him, "as how I wer to tell yer, sir, as I wur a noohand, an' yer would give I a second 'lowance. "

"Oh, you're a new hand are you?"

"Ay, " replied Joblins, in a very satisfied tone, thinking the matter wasnow satisfactorily settled. "That I be, sir. "

"I thought so, " said the ship's steward drily. "What are you going toput the grog in if I gave it to you?"

Joblins did not reply in words, but held out the net. 

"Well, " exclaimed the steward, with a grin on his face that wasreflected in that of every one standing by, "I've heard of green handsand greenhorns before; but of all the raw johnnies I ever saw on boardship you take the cake!"

Strange to say, such was his denseness, that even then, the yokel couldnot see the point of the joke and the steward had to order him away. 

"Now, clear out of this, " he cried, getting a bit angry when his laughwas out. "Don't you see, you fool, if you can see anything at all, thatthe rum would run out of the net like water out of a sieve? Be off withyou!"

Then at last the poor chap recognised the fact that Harris had been`taking him in, ' and darted down the ladder with the obvious intentionof `taking it out' of his tormentor; but the shout of merriment withwhich he was received when he got forward amongst the men again, stoppedhis saying anything, and the watch being just then called, his anger hadtime to evaporate before he had any further chance of calling histormentor to account. 

The weather continuing on the mend, the commodore gave orders to theofficer of the watch, soon after dinner, to shape a course for Madeira, that being the appointed rendezvous of the squadron in the event oftheir parting company at any time in this first part of our cruise; forwe had seen nothing of any of them since the beginning of the gale, thelittle _Ruby_ being the last we had sighted shortly before our beingforced to lie-to. 

During the afternoon, however, the horizon clearing to the nor'ard and agleam of sunshine lighting up the sea, a distant sail was seen hull downon our lee quarter. 

"Signalman, " hailed the officer of the watch, "what do you make her outto be?"

"Can't say yet, sir, " replied the man, with the glass screwed to hiseye, squinting to leeward. "She's too fur off, sir. "

After a short pause the officer repeated his question. 

"Make her out yet, Jones?"

"No, sir, " replied the signalman; "but she's rising now, sir, an' Ithinks she's closing us. "

"Ay. "

Another short interval elapsed; and then, being down in the waist, rightunder the break of the poop, the quarter-master having set me to workflemishing down the slack ends of some of the sheets that he did notthink were tidily arranged, I heard the signalman mumble someexclamation or other which he could not get out properly from hisexcitement. 

"What is it, you say?" said the officer of the watch, who had gone tothe binnacle to look at the compass and did not quite catch what the mansaid. "Speak distinctly, my man. I can't hear you!"

"It's the _Ruby_, sir!" shouted out the signalman, in a voice that couldbe heard, I believe, at the distance by which our consort was separatedfrom us, making the officer of the watch, Lieutenant Robinson, jump offthe deck, he having come up quite close in the meantime. "I knows herby the clew on her tops'l. "

"All right, my man, " blurted out the lieutenant, who was a crusty, ill-tempered, sour sort of chap, one always speaking to the men as if he hada bad liver and who couldn't look a chap square in the eye if he stoodup before him, having underhung brows and a nasty way of looking fromunder them. "You needn't roar at me like a grampus, Jones. I've agreat mind to put you in the list for disrespectful conduct to yoursuperior officer! What did you say?"

"The _Ruby_, sir, " repeated the signalman, as tenderly now as a suckingdove. "It's the gallant little _Ruby_ sure enough, sir. "

The irate lieutenant did not appear, though, to share the enthusiasm ofJones; and I afterwards heard that he had some grudge against the `boss'of the _Ruby_, as indeed he had against most people with whom he came incontact; and I don't think many were sorry when he left the servicesubsequently to our cruise, starting in some line of civil life wherehis uncivil demeanour has probably gained him as many friends as he gotafloat!

"I don't want any of your opinions, my man, " said he; "and, if you talkof gallantry, I don't think she has stuck to us as she might have donein the gale. Probably, though, she couldn't help this; for she's awretched tub and has the misfortune of having a nincompoop for acommander besides!"

Luckily for the sour-tempered chap, whom I had time to reckon up since Ihad been on board the corvette, the commodore did not hear what he said, or he would most probably, officer of the watch though he might be, havegiven him a `dressing down' before us all. 

The fact of our having sighted the _Ruby_ had already been communicatedby one of the midshipmen to our chief, who was down in his cabin havinga rest, never having left the deck either day or night, I believe, sincethe gale overtook us; and, as soon as we got within signalling distance, he ordered the yeoman at the signal halliards to make our number. 

Although the weather was becoming finer, as I have said, the wind wasstill gusty and chopping about between the east and nor'-east quadrants;and, hardly had our pennant been run up to the mizzen truck than the`fly' of the flag got foul of the halliards. 

"Hi, boy!" cried Lieutenant Robinson, wishing to be very smart, now thecommodore was on deck. "'Way aloft there and free that flag!"

I thought he spoke to me, and jumped towards the weather shrouds to obeythe order, but as I got into the rigging I saw `Ugly' was before me. 

He was in the chains and on his way up to the top before the lieutenantspoke, and naturally he had first addressed him. 

`Ugly, ' however, was so sluggish in his movements through the corvetterolling a bit and the ratlines being none too steady, that LieutenantRobinson grew impatient. 

"Here, you boy!" he roared at me even louder than Jones had spoken tohim shortly before. "See if you can't teach that lubber how to climbaloft and free a flag when he is told, without taking a month of Sundaysover the job!"

Almost before he had spoken I had sprung into the rigging after `Ugly';and by the time the lieutenant's last word was uttered I was more thanhalf-way up to the top, overhauling `Ugly' at the crosstrees. 

From thence, he and I proceeded upward, he on one side of the mast, I onthe other, and neither speaking a word as we shinned up the `Jacob'sladder. '

So we climbed up to the cap of the topgallant-mast in company; but, asfar apart as the poles, though so close together. 

Then, each of us set about in his own fashion, without minding theother, to disentangle the fly of the pennant, which had been whipped bythe wind round the halliards till it had formed itself into half a dozengranny's knots. 

We were holding on to the royal lift and brace, both of us, each withone hand while with the other we tried to unloose the closely knottedbunting, our faces almost touching each other, and still without eversaying a word; when, all at once, through some one having neglected hisduty when the topgallant-mast was sent aloft after the gale, the ends ofthe lift and brace slipped off the jack, to which they had been onlyloosely secured, leaving `Ugly' and I suspended in the air partly by thesignal halliards and partly by the flag, which latter parted with aripping sound that I hear now in my ears as I speak of it. Aye, and asI always shall hear it, I believe!

I heard also at the time, confused cries and orders from below, singingout I know not what. 

My companion's face was close to mine as we swung from the feeble cordand more fragile stuff that interposed between us and eternity; a fallto the deck beneath or into the sea meaning death in one way or theother, either by drowning or by a more cruel fate. 

I could see into his very soul, I think, at that awful moment, and heinto mine!

It all occurred in an instant, recollect!

But in that instant `Ugly' had time to break the silence that hadexisted between us since our fight on the forecastle of the _SaintVincent_ and my rescue of him aboard the same ship later on. 

He spoke to me, at last, now. 

"To-am Bowlin', " whispered he hoarsely, "two chaps can't hang on yerefur long. I'll give oop fur 'ee, me lad. Here goes!"

CHAPTER SIXTEEN. 

"HIS LAST MUSTER!"

On that, the noble fellow, who thus unselfishly sacrificed his life formine, fell with a whiz through the air that seemed to send the wind upinto my face, down to the deck below. 

Cannoning against the rigging on the port side, he was caught up in thebelly of the mizzen-top sail, which slightly stopped the impetus of hisdescent, but, the concussion broke his spine, and when I, pale, trembling, and almost as lifeless as he, coming down from aloft, Ihardly know how, reached his side, the doctor, who was bending over himand applying stimulants, said he had only a few moments longer to live. 

The chaplain, too, was there, having been hastily summoned from hisduties of instructing the young middies in the wardroom; as also was thecommodore, with a graver face on him than I had ever seen before. 

I don't know whether he heard my step, or the cry I ejaculated when thedoctor spoke of his approaching end. 

Whatever it was, something made my dying shipmate open his eyes justthen, his glance wandering round the circle of those near. 

"What is it, my poor lad?" asked the chaplain kindly, stooping down, soas to hear better any request he might make. "Is there anything youwould like done or said for you?"

He was thinking, good man, no doubt, of offering up a prayer. 

But the mind of Moses Reeks--to call him by his right name, and drop thesomewhat opprobrious sobriquet by which I have hitherto styled the poorfellow, and by which, indeed, he was always known on board--was stillbent on things terrestrial; though, possibly, his motive might have beenas high and had as divine a source as anything the chaplain might haveintended to say!

His eyes lighted on me and their wandering ceased. 

"Coom here, lad, " he whispered very faintly, so very faintly that hislips seemed to give out no sound at all. "Coom here!"

I heard, though, and went to his side, listening earnestly, for I couldnot speak. 

He did not notice this, however, making up, with his slowly ebbingsenses, what he wished himself to say. 

"To-am Bowlin', " he faltered out in lisping accents with his failingbreath, "ye've done Oi a toorn wanst, lad, an' I wer an oongrateful curto 'ee, thet Oi wer, ez Oi didn't warnt fur to be a-beholden to yer; butyou a' me, To-am, be naow quits, lad!"

As he thus spoke, a smile irradiated his rough-hewn features, makingthem look positively beautiful; and, with the last word he uttered, hisspirit fled, with a sigh that was stifled in its birth. 

The commodore uncovered his head in the presence of Death--the superiorofficer of even one flying the broad pennant and the personalrepresentative of her Majesty wherever the broad red cross of SaintGeorge, borne on that oblong flag, may float. 

At that moment the ship's bugler forwards sounded the `assembly. '

"Peace to his spirit, poor boy, " said our chief solemnly. "He's gone tohis last muster!"

It was Two Bells in the first dog-watch before the _Ruby_ closed with ussufficiently to speak with us; when she reported that she had partedwith the other ships of the squadron even before she had lost sight ofus at the commencement of the gale, not seeing anything of them since. 

Her commander also informed the commodore that they had lost two menoverboard while reefing topsails in a squall, the sea running so highthat it was impossible to lower a boat to save them. 

We, in our turn, told of poor `Ugly's' heroic end: and, as it wasapproaching sunset, his body was sewn up in his hammock, with a shotfastened to the feet, and committed to the deep. 

All hands were present while the chaplain read the funeral service onthe quarter-deck: and, as the grating on which the poor fellow's remainsrested, covered for the moment with the Union Jack, was canted throughthe port and its lifeless burden went below with a splash, to its lastresting-place until the sea shall give up its dead, the waning sundipped below the horizon. 

We then squared yards and bore away straight for Madeira, with the_Ruby_ keeping company on our lee beam; the wind having sobered down nowto a good ten-knot breeze, and the weather all that one could wish, getting warmer with every hour of south latitude that we made. 

Everybody was jolly that evening as we bowled along before the spankingbreeze, fresh sail being set every watch, until the corvette waspresently clothed in canvas from truck to keelson, the commodore wishingto take every advantage of the fair wind we had; but, though all therest, sailor-like, were laughing and joking on the mess-deck forwards, Icould not so soon forget the poor chap who had gone, his noble self-sacrifice being ever in my mind. 

It was strange that reserved, unforgiving, and yet not unforgetfultemperament of his!

I saw now, when too late, that he had not been quite oblivious of myhaving saved him that time on board the _Saint Vincent_ when he sonearly tumbled from aloft. He had not been ungrateful, as Mick and Ithought him, evidently. 

On the contrary, the obligation he believed himself to be under to mehad so weighed upon him that he was too proud to speak until he hadcleared it off, so, he apparently fancied, to be able to treat with meon level terms. 

Mick Donovan had not been on deck when the tragic occurrence happened;but he was almost as much impressed as myself when I told him of ourshipmate's last words. 

"Begorrah, Tom, " cried he, wiping his eye with the sleeve of his jumper, "Oi wudn't 'a belaved it, sure, if ye hadn't towld me, mabouchal, widyer own potato trap! Faith, the poor chap samed quoite a t'other sort. Sure, Tom, me darlint, as he's bin an' gone an' saved the noomber ov yermess, be the powers, Oi'll spake to Father O'Flannagan whin I git backto Porchmouth an' ax him fur to say a mass, sure, fur the poor beggar, so that his sowl may rest in paice. May the saints protict him!"

Three days afterwards, without any further adventure, we anchored inFunchal Roads. 

Here the squadron remained a week, the other ships having joined us whenwithin a day's sail of Madeira; and, as we were going to make such acomparatively long stay, the men were granted leave to go ashore, watchand watch in turn. 

Just before we left, the commodore gave a grand picnic to all theofficers at the Grande Curral, when I had the luck of accompanying theparty that went from our ship, a piece of good fortune shared by Mick, my chum. 

This Curral, a name which means, I'm told, in the Spanish language a`sheepfold, ' is an immense valley, completely surrounded by hills, thatlies a few miles to the north-west of Funchal, the capital of theisland. 

The hills encircling the natural plateau of the Curral are literallyperpendicular, being in no part less than a thousand feet high; whileround a part of the cliffs there is a narrow road leading to the `gardenhouses' of the rich folk having business premises in the town, and anumber of plantations, which is cut out of the solid rock and is aboutten or twelve feet high. 

As the picnic party went along over this road, the view presented to oureyes on looking down below was that of an unfathomable abyss, filled upby a mass of clouds and vapours, all rolling about in constant motion, and tumbling the one on top of another. 

Mick and I were each aboard a mule and enjoyed ourselves to rights, racing against one another all the way; though we took precious goodcare to keep in the rear of our officers, amongst whom was LieutenantRobinson, whose liver must have been particularly out of sorts thatmorning, for he was in a grumpier and more fault-finding mood thanusual. 

He did catch sight of us once as we were turning a sharp point in theroad round a projection of a cliff; but, through the fortunatecircumstance of the mule which the lieutenant was riding happening tobolt at the moment, the joker had too much to do in taking care of hisown valuable carcass to have much time to growl at us. 

The lieutenant, though, did not forget the incident: for, on Mickchancing to trip over one of his legs as he sat on the grass whilehanding him a plate of salad, the pleasant gentleman called him as manynames as some of the watermen at Point are in the habit of using whenthey are put out of temper by being cheated of a fare. 

"Bedad, Tom, " whispered Mick to me, when he got out of range of thelieutenant's grapeshot, and we were having a feed ourselves in a quietcorner, "Oi wush thet blissid ould baist he wor roidin' hed run away widhim, sure, over the cliff an' made an ind ov the spalpeen! Faith, itisn't mesilf thet wud cry me oyes out, or wear mournin' fur him!"

On leaving Madeira, which we did with much regret, the people being veryhospitable and most good-naturedly disposed towards all sailors, especially to British bluejackets, we fetched a compass for Teneriffe, where we arrived some three or four days afterwards; the commodoreoccupying the additional time in exercising the ships under his command, and matching them one against another. 

In sailing on a wind the _Active_, I'm glad to say, beat all the rest ofthe squadron; though, in running before the wind, the little _Ruby_weathered on us and the _Volage_, our sister ship, ran us pretty close. 

When nearing Teneriffe and close in to the African coast, we saw asplendid tight in the sea, between a big black whale on the one side, and a `thrasher' or fox-shark on the other, aided by a swordfish, withwhich latter he had just apparently struck up an alliance offensive anddefensive for the time. 

The thrasher, which has a back as elastic as an india-rubber ball, wouldjump clean out of the water and give the whale a whack in the ribs thatmust have taken all the elasticity out of him; and then, on the poorleviathan of the deep fluking his tail to dive so as to escape from hisaerial antagonist, his chum the swordfish would tickle up the whale frombelow by sending a yard or two of his long saw-like snout into histenderest part. 

Presently, as we luffed up to see the end of the fun, the sea in thevicinity of the fray became tinged with blood, the colour of carmine, showing that somebody at all events was having a bad time of it. 

"By the powers, it bates Bannagher, " cried Mick, who was watching thefight alongside of me on the upper deck, springing up on to the hammocknettings in his excitement to see the finish, unthinking of the breachof discipline he was committing. "Go it, ye cripples. Sure, Tom, thelittle wun'll win--what d'ye call him?"

"He's a thrasher, " I replied, jumping up, too, on the top of thenettings. "A sort of shark, I think. Father has one stuffed at home, stowed away somewhere, that looks like that chap. If so, he's a fox-shark. "

"A fox-shark, begorrah!" repeated Mick, with a grin. "Faith, Tom, he'sgoin' fur thet ould whale theer ez if he wor not ownly a fox, sure, buta pack of hounds as will, alannah!"

"Hi, there, you boys, " roared out a voice at this juncture, which we hadlittle difficulty in recognising as belonging to Lieutenant Robinson, who was again officer of the watch this afternoon, his turn of dutyhaving once more come round. "Get off that netting at once and gobelow, both of you. Master-at-arms, take those boys' names down and putthem in the report, and bring them up on the deck after `divisions' to-morrow!"

The `Jaunty, ' who was standing below the break of the poop, looked up atthe scowling lieutenant, saluting him. 

"Very good, sir, " said he, with another touch of his hat, in recognitionof the authority of the speaker. "I will see to it, sir. "

But, a `Deus ex machina, ' or `God from the bathing-machine, ' as our oldcaptain of the _Saint Vincent_ would have said in his Latin lingo, justthen intervened on our behalf. 

Mick Donovan and I were sneaking down the main hatch, like a pair ofwhipped dogs with their tails between their legs--though I must say wewere more chagrined at losing the best part of the fight going on in thewater, which was rapidly approaching a climax, than dismayed at havingincurred the displeasure of the lieutenant--when, if you please, weheard somebody shout out something behind us, and the master-at-arms, who had followed in our wake, called out to us to stop. 

"Belay there, you boys, " he shouted down the hatchway. "Ye're to returnon deck!"

In obedience to this order, we ascended the ladder-way again, retracingour steps at an even slower pace than we had gone down at; for we bothexpected, the same thought having flashed across our minds when the`Jaunty' hailed us, that Lieutenant Robinson had, on more matureconsideration, fancied he had let us off too lightly for the heinousoffence we had committed, and had ordered us to be brought back to giveus `four dozen' apiece at least, there and then!

The result, however, was very different to our sad anticipations; forwhen we reached the deck the old commodore was standing by the pooprail, close to the ladder on the port side leading down from thence intothe waist of the ship. 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. 

A STUDY IN BLACK AND WHITE. 

"Lieutenant Robinson, " said he to our persecutor, who looked ill at easeas he stood before him, the sextant which he had snatched up in a hurryto calculate the angle of distance of the whale and its antagonists nowhanging listlessly in his hand, "be good enough, sir, to tell those boysthat they may remain on the upper deck and look over the side, but thatthey must not stand on the hammock nettings. I like discipline to bepreserved on board the ship I may have the honour to command, but Inever allow any unnecessary severity being shown to the men or boys ofthe ship's company!"

Much against his will, the lieutenant, thus rebuked on the quarter-deckin the presence not only of his own brother-officers, but in that of allof us on the deck below as well, had now to `eat humble pie' and give usthe commodore's message; and, though Mick and I could not repress a grinon his bowing to us with mock politeness, we could see from the look inhis underhung eyes that he intended to pay us out bye-and-bye when hehad the chance for having been obliged to beg our pardon, as he had todo almost then. 

Unhappily, though, the permission for us to look over the side againcame too late; for the thrasher and the swordfish had been too much forthe poor whale, whose huge lifeless body was now floating away toleeward, half a cable's length astern of the ship, surrounded by an eddyof bloody water, while its assailants had both disappeared. 

"Begorrah, " cried Mick, much disgusted at this, "sure, we're jist intoime to be too late!"

In our passage from Madeira to the Canary Islands we steered south bywest, in order to avoid the Salvages. 

These are a number of rocky islets, named the `Great Piton, ' the `LittlePiton, ' and `Ilha Grande, ' lying in latitude 30 degrees 8 minutes north, and longitude 15 degrees 55 minutes west. The largest island is coveredwith bushes, amongst which thousands of sea-fowl make their nests; and, from the fact of its not being seen until a ship be close in to it, whenthese very birds tell of its propinquity, by darkening the air almost asthey rise, it is a great danger to mariners. 

A little farther to the eastward is Lanzarote, which is verymountainous, possessing a volcano of its own, where a violent eruptiontook place not very long ago, when a stream of lava from two hundred tothree hundred yards broad spread out into the sea like a river, thefloating pumice-stone being picked up by passing vessels miles away. 

For this piece of information I am indebted to the navigating officer, who happened to be telling one of the young midshipmen all about theplace as I was attending to a job the boatswain had set me to aft. 

I also heard him tell the same young gentleman a queer yarn about aburied treasure which is supposed to be concealed near a little cove onthe southern extremity of the island, called `Janubio. ' The story goesthat, in the beginning of the century--I think the navigator said it wasin the year 1804, but I am not quite certain--the crew of a SouthAmerican Spanish treasure ship, bound to Cadiz from Lima with produceand which had besides over two millions of dollars in chests aboard, mutinied, and murdered their captain and officers; the rascals thenmaking off in the long boat with this treasure towards an island, which, from the description given, must have been either Lanzarote or one ofthe Salvages. 

On this island, whichever it was, the dollars were carried ashore andburied above high-water mark in a snug little bay to the south; themutineers, according to the prevailing superstition of such gentry, burying the body of their murdered captain on top of the treasure, sothat his ghost might prevent any unprivileged intruders from meddlingwith their cache. 

The navigator said, just as I was going down below after finishing myjob, that this tale was told to an English sailor by one of thesurviving mutineers; and he added that the Admiralty were so muchimpressed by its appearance of truth that Admiral Hercules Robinson, thegrandfather, I believe, of our present High Commissioner at the Cape ofGood Hope, was actually sent out to make a search for the treasure whenin command of HMS _Prometheus_, in 1813. 

We coaled at Teneriffe, putting into the harbour of Santa Cruz for thispurpose; and Mick and I were much struck by the fact of the black ladieswho carried the baskets of coal on their heads along the jetty from theshore to the ship, doing the job, too, in first-rate style and as goodas any gang of wharfingers at home, all of them wearing the mostexpansive crinolines, which, with their thin dresses and blackstockings, of nature's own provision, had a very comical effect!

"Faith!" exclaimed Mick, after watching these dusky belles with muchinterest for some time, the lot of them chattering and laughing away, showing their teeth, which a dentist would have given something topossess for his showcase, "Oi'd loike Father O'Flannagan jist for to saythim quare craychurs, Tom, me hearty, if ownly to say him toorn oop thewhoites ov his oyes. Bedad, he'd be afther sprinklin' 'em wid howlywather an' exorcisin' on 'em, ez if he'd sayn the divvle, sure!"

Jones the signalman, who was standing near when Mick said this, laughed. 

"Your old priest would have his work cut out for him in more ways thanthat, " said he, with a very significant wink to one of the other hands, "if he'd only go to Grand Canary instead of Teneriffe!"

The name he mentioned at once made Mick cock his ear. 

"Grand Canary, " repeated my chum after the signalman, with a puzzledlook on his face. "Ain't thet the place, Tom, whare thim yaller burdsyer sisther Jenny has, sure, at home comes from? She s'id they worcanaries, Oi'd take me davy!"

"Of course, they are, Mick, " said I, in reply to this. "Why, mothermust have a hundred of them in the shop at this very minute, besidesthose little ones she brought up herself which Jenny used to act asnurse to!"

"Och, sure, Oi rimimber thim will enuff, " answered Mick, with amelancholy look on his face, as if his mind had turned back from SantaCruz to Bonfire Corner all of a sudden and to our little house there. "An' thet little chap ov a canary thet had a crist on the top ov hishid, loike a crown, sure, thet yer sisther Jenny used fur to make somuch ov--the little darlint!"

Whether this term of endearment of his was meant by Mick to apply toJenny or the bird, I can't say; but I could see clearly enough in whatdirection his thoughts were concentrated. 

"Begorrah, Tom, " he said after a pause, during which his eyes wereapparently fixed on the celebrated `Peak' for which Teneriffe is betterknown in the present day than on account of its canaries; for it is overfour hundred years since these little songsters were first discovered bythe Spaniards and imported into Europe, so that any novelty that mighthave been attached to them has long since disappeared, "Oi'll git someov the purty craychurs fur yer sisther if we're 'lowed ashore afore welave. "

"I don't think you will be able to do that, " said the signalman, who hadremained alongside of us looking at the darkeys passing to and fro onthe jetty below, from which a gangway of planks led through one of themidship ports to the coal-bunkers. "We're not likely to stop here afterwe've coaled ship. "

Mr Jones was mistaken, however; for we remained at Santa Cruz somefour-and-twenty hours longer, so that Mick and I had the opportunity oflanding with the wardroom steward the next morning, when he went to buysome fresh milk and other things for the officers' mess. 

We then, during a short walk we had in the vicinity of the town, sawnumbers of canaries flitting about amid the trees, just like you seesparrows at home; and it seemed very strange, to me especially, accustomed as I was to mother's bird-shop and its live stock, that thelittle things should be uncaged and roaming about there free, at theirown will and pleasure!

The birds, though, did not have anything like the bright plumage ofthose bred in captivity at home; and I would have backed, so far astheir looks went, a splendid little chap Jenny had called `Tubby, 'against the lot of them; while `Corry, ' another canary of a morereflective character and retiring disposition than the first, could haveafforded a dust of the golden hue of his feathers to make hisTeneriffean cousins more presentable without being much less yellowhimself--their hue, so far as Mick and I noticed, being more of a dingywhite than chrome. 

As to bringing any of them to England, however, that we found animpossibility; for there were so many young midshipmen and otheryoungsters aboard the various ships of the squadron, that if all of themhad been free to take birds into their cabins, the ships would have beenso many floating aviaries!

So, to prevent this, the commodore had issued strict orders that no petsof any description were to be taken on board by any one. 

"I s'pose, though, my corns don't count, " observed the wardroom steward, as we were stepping into the boat on our return to the ship and one ofhis assistants trod on his foot. "I've a favourite one on my starboardtoe, Smith, as might be called a pet o' mine; and, by jingo, you lubber, you just then made marmalade of it. You wait till we get aboard andI'll put you on short rations! See if I don't!"

Later on in the afternoon the squadron sailed for Barbados, starting offout of Santa Cruz harbour before a spanking ten-knot breeze in line ofsingle column ahead, the old _Active_ leading and showing her heels toour less speedy consorts. 

This was early in the month of December, the weather being beautiful andbalmy, as it continued all the time we were bowling across the Atlanticon our way to our goal, the West Indies; and, as we enjoyed the warmthof the southern latitudes through which our good ship ploughed her way, Mick and I could not help contrasting our surroundings with those of thepoor folk at home shivering in all the dreariness of an English mid-winter, when, if it isn't freezing or snowing or hailing, it is bound tobe raining--a cold, raw, nasty sort of rain--and damp and foggy anddirty, at all events, such being the pleasurable conditions of ourdelightful climate usually at that time of year!

With us, now, things were very different!

A blue sky above, unflecked by a single cloud, was reflected in a seathat was yet more blue, its hue turning to azure as we approachedfarther west in the tropics; until, on reaching the confines of theCaribbean Sea, the colour of the water verged into that of the purestultramarine. 

Day after day the scene was ever the same--blue sky above, blue seabelow; while a bright sun shone down, ever lighting up both sky and seawith a sort of opal glow and lending warmth to the buoyant, exhilarating, champagne air. 

Under these circumstances, washing decks every morning used to be apositive pleasure to everybody on board, as we careered about in ourbare feet with our trousers rolled up above the knee, when the coldwater, instead of being `moighty onpleasint, ' as Mick would have said, was gratifying in the extreme. 

Such of the officers, too, who had not been on duty keeping the middlewatch, used to turn out in their oldest pyjamas, accompanied by most ofthe midshipmen, when we were at this task and have a regular sluice downon the forecastle; some of them catching hold of the hose and playing iton each other in turn, skylarking and making no end of fun. 

Our drills, of course, went on all the time in the usual clockworkfashion observed on board ship, `quarters' and `divisions' and all therest; all of the men and boys belonging to the ship's company beingpolished up quite as smartly as the brasswork and drilled to the higheststate of efficiency. 

It was not all work, though, on board the _Active_; for our commodore, taut disciplinarian as he was and as anxious to lick us all into shapeas he was to make the ships of his squadron manoeuvre handily, exercising them at all hours both of day and night to this end, did notforget the old adage that a bow should not always be bent. 

No, he always allowed us plenty of time for relaxation and enjoyment, besides permitting us to fish overboard, which some commanders would nothave allowed. 

This was rare sport, I can tell you, the bonetta, a fish common to thetropics and eating uncommonly well when fried, biting freely at a pieceof white bunting or any other attractive object attached to a hook, asdid the many-hued dolphin, and many a hearty supper did we have on thelower deck through the kindly aid of these beneficent denizens of thedeep. 

One of the foretopmen who hailed from Newfoundland was an expert withthe harpoon, spearing with that weapon as many dolphins as he liked;these beggars being in the habit of plying to and fro under thecorvette's cutwater as she sailed onward, delighting apparently inshowing us the dexterity with which they could wheel about and leapathwart the ship's course as they pleased, keeping up with her or goingahead according to their bent. 

We saw lots of flying-fish also; and they, when we had the chance ofcatching the few that came aboard, were even better fare for hungrysailor-boys of an evening than the dolphins and bonetta. 

These latter used to hunt the poor flying-fish like a pack of houndsafter some prey on land, the fish leaping out of the sea and makingshort flights by the aid of the membraneous fins they have, which theyextended like wings, flying for some twenty yards or so till exhaustioncompelled their return to their native element--a characteristic featurethat has gained the `flying-fish' its name. 

Unfortunately for the poor beggars, however, they have an enemy aloft aswell as one below; and, when they leave the water to escape the bonetta, they fall into the clutches of the sea-hawks that hover over the surfaceon the watch for them; and so, thus situated `between two stools, ' as itwere, `their lot, ' like that of the `Bobby' in the song, being `not ahappy one!'

Amid such varied changes of life and scene, our three weeks' voyage fromTeneriffe to Barbados passed quickly and pleasantly enough, all handsbeing surprised one fine morning when we cast anchor in Carlisle Bay, the harbour of `Little England, ' as the Barbadians proudly style theirhappy island, which is of the same size and shape nearly as the Isle ofWight and is the gem of the Antilles!

Here we had a rare time of it for a week, it being Christmastide, andthe inhabitants, who are English to the backbone, black, mongrel, andcopper-coloured, as well as white, keeping up that festival with likeenthusiasm to what we do at home. 

As at Madeira, the ship's company were allowed leave to go on shore, watch and watch in turn: so, belonging as we both did to the starboarddivision, Mick and I were amongst those who had the first go-off. 

I recollect, as if it were but yesterday, our landing alongside thejetty on the carenage, right in front of one of Da Costa's bigwarehouses, whose green jalousies relieved the effect of the staringwhite building under the hot West Indian sun; the glare of which, castback by the rippling translucent water that laved the stone jetty, through which one could see the little fishes gliding about as clearlyas in the Brighton Aquarium, almost blinded us with its intensity. 

There were a lot of negro women hanging round the wharf in front of DaCosta's place, all of whom had big baskets, either balanced on theirheads or put down on the ground by their side, which were filled withhuge melons and pine-apples and bananas, besides many other tropicalfruits the names of which are unknown to me. 

Of course, we made for these at once; and there was a lot of chafferingand bargaining between our fellows and the negresses, who were alllaughing and showing their white teeth, trying their best to wheedle the`man-o'-war buckras' to buy their luscious wares at double the price, probably, such would fetch in open market from regular customers inBridgetown. 

Presently, we all got skylarking and pitching the fruit about; when abig mulatto, who was along with one of the fruit-sellers--her husbandmost likely and doing nothing just as likely, like most of his colour, for the household of which he was the head, save to collect the moneyhis better half in every respect earned--seemed very much aggrieved atsome damage Mick did to a bunch of ripe bananas, claiming a `bit' orfourpence as compensation. 

Mick, who, you must know, had grown a strapping fellow by now, took thetawny-complexioned gentleman's demand very good-humouredly. 

"All roight, ould Patchwork, " he called out, with a laugh. "Thare's ashellin' fur ye, which is more, bedad, than yer howl sthock-in-thrade isworth! Changee fur changee, black dog fur whoite moonkey, sure, as myould fayther used fur to say!"

Whatever mollifying effect the sight of the silver coin might haveproduced on the mulatto's mind was entirely swamped by Mick'sunfortunate quotation from his paternal archives. 

"Say, you sailor buckra, who dat you call one black dog, hi!" said he, coming up to my chum in a threatening manner, brandishing his arms andworking his head about like a teetotum in a fit. "I'se no niggah slabe, you white trash! I'se free 'Badian born, an' 'low no man make joke obme!"

Mick roused up in a minute. 

"Faith, ye oogly yaller-faced raskil, " he cried, putting up his fists inthe scientific way we had learnt from long practice on board with thegloves under our gymnasium instructor, "Oi'll knock ye into the middleof nixt Soonday wake, ef ye don't kape a civil toongue in yer hid an'put yer owld dhrumsticks behint ye!"

Instead of acting on Mick's advice, however, the mulatto, screaming withrage, and his whole face distorted with passion, made a wild rush athim, trying to butt him in the stomach. 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. 

"REEF TOPSAILS!"

"A ring! A ring! Form a ring, all you Actives!" shouted out Mr Jonesthe signalman, who had come ashore with us, wishing to see the battlebetween our representative and the darkey conducted in regular shipshapefashion, in accordance with the rules observed in polite pugilisticcircles at home. "Form a ring, my lads, and let 'em fight it out fair. If any of them blooming niggers tries to h'interfere, boys, you jestfetch 'em a crack on the shins with yer dancing pumps; it's no goodtrying to hit 'em on their nobs, as they're made of the same stuff ofthe cocoa-nuts, and you might hit at 'em till doomsday without evertheir feelin' on it, jist the same as if ye were hammerin' at thewatertight bulkhead forrud!"

No sooner said than done. 

With the help of the other bluejackets who had come ashore with us inthe second cutter, the ring which the signalman suggested was at onceformed, our chaps artfully manoeuvring so as to shut out all the blackand coloured gentry who instantly flocked to the scene of action, thenews of the fight having got abroad in some mysterious way or other. 

Before this had been done, however, Mick Donovan received and repulsedthe mulatto's first onslaught in a highly satisfactory manner for ourside. 

Lifting his left knee suddenly as the infuriated beggar rushed in uponhim in catapult fashion, with his body doubled and his head bent low, Mick at the same time, with all the force of his good right arm, struckdownwards at the darkey's exposed ear, which was about the size of asmall plate, catching him thus between his knee and fist like a piece ofiron a blacksmith might be at work on at the forge beaten flat betweenhammer and anvil. 

Result--down dropped the mulatto as if he were a felled ox!

"Hooray!" yelled out all the Actives; while there was a groan and a rushfrom the surrounding compatriots of Mick's opponent to pick up theirchampion. "Give the bloomin' nigger fits, me boy! You've pretty nearlydone for him already. "

But, the mulatto was not by any means settled yet. 

Encouraged by his sympathising backers, of whom we allowed some five orsix to enter the ring, wishing to play fair and not to have it all toourselves, the mulatto shook himself as if he had just come out of thewater; and, standing up in a proper manner now, he faced Mick, whosmilingly beckoned him to come on. 

"Hit 'im in de eyeball, Bim!" cried one of the dark ladies, who indeedwas the cause of the fray, as generally is the case, I have been told, when menfolk fall out. "Yah, yah! Mash um face fo' um, de imperentman-o'-war buckra!"

"Go it, Mick!" cried we. "Land him one in his bloomin' bread-basket!"

A very pretty bit of sparring now ensued, the two being well matched;for, though the mulatto was the taller and had the longer reach of arm, Mick had a better guard, holding his right well out across his chest, and dodging in his left every now and then, keeping moving about on hispins as lightly as an opera-dancer. 

Once `Mr Bim' got in a roundabout blow that landed on Mick's leftcheek, which drew blood, and sent him all of a stagger into the cornerwhere the signalman and I stood officiating as bottle-holders. 

This raised a wild yell of excited enthusiasm from all the assembleddarkeys, both ladies and gentlemen alike. 

"Golly, dat fetch um, Bim!" they shouted. "Gib um goss, Bim! 'Badiantoo brabe; um beat all de buckra sailor trash in de whole world, youbet!"

"Stow that, you ugly black devil!" interposed one of our men, fetchingthe mulatto's partisan a crack on the shins with the cutter's boathook, which he held in his hand, he being bowman and left in charge of theboat. "You just keep out o' the ring if ye know what's good for you!"

"By gosh!" cried the poor nigger, hopping about on one leg and rubbinghis shin, writhing with pain at being thus assaulted on his tenderestpoint; grabbing up some missile or other from the roadway, whither heretreated, "I'se crack yo' tam skull wid um rockstone, fo' suah!"

Mick did not `come up smiling' as he advanced to meet his foe after theknock-down blow he had received; but, from the look on his face, withhis lips tight set and his eyes fixed on the mulatto, I could see he`meant business. '

He did. 

Parrying another wild whirl of `Mr Bim's' arms, which he swung outright and left, Mick dropped his; and with a step forward he grasped themulatto round the waist, when, going down on one knee, he sent himflying over his shoulder completely outside the ring. 

Fortunately for the poor beggar, his head went plump into one of thebaskets of fruit, squashing its contents together into the semblance ofjam, which probably saved the mulatto's life; for, had he fallenheadlong on the stone jetty, his cranium would most likely haveresembled the bananas and ripe melons in the black lady's basket that hehad spoilt, and his neck, as likely as not, broken. As it was, `MrBim' had enough of it, coming up quite dazed when he recovered hissenses; then retiring from the combat without a single further word, either of apology or of defiance. 

His compatriots bore no malice to Mick or ourselves, as might have beenexpected from their champion having got the worst of it. 

On the contrary, they raised a cheer when we turned to leave the sceneof action, accompanying us into the town, and dancing round us in theiramusing way, and making quite a triumphal procession of our progress upRoebuck Street. 

"Golly, Sambo!" one of them shouted out to another of their number, whoevidently was the local poet of the party. "You makee singsong ob delilly buckra sailor!"

Thereupon, the poet, who was clearly a man of vivid imagination andspontaneous genius, at once struck up a doggerel rhyme; all of themtaking up the chorus as they marched along on either side of us:--

 "Man ob war buckra, man ob war buckra, Jus' come ashore, jus' come ashore, Jus' come ashore!

 "'Badian gen'leman, 'Badian gen'leman, He make um roar, he make um roar, He make um roar!

 "Man ob war buckra an' 'Badian gen'leman, Dey hab a shindy, dey hab a shindy, Dey hab a shindy!

 "'Badian gen'leman, he mash um mout'; Man ob war buckra, um bash um snout; Golly, yah, yah, Um bash um snout!"

"Begorrah!" exclaimed Mick, none the worse for the fray, beyond a slightcut on his port cheek, which had been caused by the scrape of themulatto's long nails and not by his fist, as he burst into a roar oflaughter on the darkeys bringing out this impromptu musical account ofthe recent fight--in which all hands joined, making most of the passers-by we met on our route to one of the hotels recommended by Mr Jones, who had been to Bridgetown before, look round to see what was thematter--"it bates Bannagher an' Donnybrook Fair all rowled into one, sure!"

It need hardly be said after this, that, on our presently reaching thefavourite hostelry of our guide, the signalman, we stood treat to allthe darkeys; and then, having had enough of their somewhat too markedattentions, we parted company, with the most friendly feelings on bothsides. 

The people altogether received us very kindly, all sorts of festivitiesbeing held in our honour, officers and men alike having balls anddinners and picnics and cricket-matches all got up especially for theirpleasure; so that our fortnight's stay at Barbados was one long holidayfrom the first day to the last, for, if we did not happen to be ashore, parties of ladies and gentlemen used to come off to see the ship and beentertained in their turn. 

We sailed from our anchorage, near the lighthouse at Needham Point tothe north-east of the bay, somewhere in the second week of January, making first for Tobago, which lies more to the southward of theWindward Islands. After this we visited Trinidad and most of the othercolonies, calling also at the French possessions of Guadaloupe andMartinique, before returning for a final look in at Barbados on our wayhome again to England. 

After leaving Carlisle Bay for the second time, the squadron made forBermuda, the commodore hoping to pick up the light westerly winds whichare to be met with at this season of the year hereabouts; but, when tothe south of the thirtieth parallel, we encountered a terrific gale fromthe north-west, which was as child's play in comparison to the one weexperienced in the Bay of Biscay. 

Up to then we had experienced very fair weather, being able to carry allour upper sail and stun'sails as well; but, all at once, without anywarning, save that the heavens suddenly darkened overhead, obscuring thesun, and the barometer began to fall, as I heard the navigating officersay to the commodore, whom he passed on his way on deck from thewardroom below, a storm broke over us!

The next moment, the whistles of the boatswain's mates were ringingthrough the ship, with the customary hoarse hail down the hatchways--

"Watch, shorten sail!"

Then, as we tumbled up to our stations, it became a case of let go andclew up. 

"Topmen, aloft!" sang out the commodore from the break of the poop, insharp, piercing accents that rose above the whistle of the wind throughthe rigging and the dull roar of the sea, which had assumed now a leadenappearance, instead of the bright blue which it boasted the momentbefore, while its surface began to work into short choppy waves thattossed their crests like horses champing the bit. "Take in theto'gallants and royals!"

Up we all raced aloft; but no sooner had these sails been furled and wereached the deck than the commodore was at us again. 

"Watch, reef tops'ls!" he shouted even louder than before. "Awayaloft--take in one reef!"

Mick and I scrambled up, almost out of breath, into the mizzen-top;which we hardly reached before we heard the commodore give the nextorder necessary to enable us to take in the reef--

"Weather tops'l braces, round in! Lower the tops'ls!"

Next followed our own especial order--

"Trice up and lay out!"

In obedience to this, we made our way out on the foot-ropes, Micksecuring the weather earring, when we began knotting the points andreefing in earnest; after which, the topsail halliards were manned belowand the yards run up again. 

The wind now shifted from the northward to the north-east, coming on toblow pretty hard; so the courses were clewed up and furled and the jibhauled down, the ship presently running under her close-reefed topsailsand fore-topmast staysail. 

By Six Bells, however, the storm had increased to such an extent, that, after trying what treble-reefing would do, we had to take in ourtopsails altogether, laying-to under storm staysails and easy steam, theengine-fires had been lit and the screw lowered on the first break ofthe storm, so as to keep the ship-head to wind and provide for anyeventuality that might come. 

The sea at this time was a terrible sight, the big billows racing madlypast us and jostling each other, tossing their spray and spent waterright over the main-yard; while, anon, the corvette would be liftedbodily up on top of what seemed a high mountain, from whence we viewedthe wide stretch of broken waves extending as far as the eye couldreach; anon, plunging us down into a deep dark watery abyss, as if shewere going to founder!

We rolled so, that preventer stays were rigged to make sure of our mastsand the guns were secured with double lashings round the breech; whilelifelines were rove fore and aft to assist us in keeping our footingalong the deck. 

So far, we had been all alone; the other ships of the squadron havingparted company early in the afternoon, each making shift as best shecould for herself. 

Not a sail was in sight anywhere on the horizon. 

But, presently, careering onwards before the heavy storm clouds ahead, out of which she emerged all in a moment like some spirit of the deep, alarge full-rigged ship appeared, bearing down upon us at the rate oftwenty knots an hour, I should think, judging by the way she rapidlyrose out of the water. It looked as if she were going to run us down. 

"Sail ahead!" roared out the lookout-man forwards, his voice borne backinboard by the wind and seeming all the louder in consequence. "She'sa-coming down end on to us, sir!"

The commodore aft, however, had seen our peril, even before the lookout-man spoke; and almost at the same instant that his words of warningreached our ears--the while the hands on deck stared with horror at thesurging ship, nearing us now closer and closer as we looked at her--thegallant, ready-witted sailor had taken effective measures to avoid theimminent danger threatening us. 

CHAPTER NINETEEN. 

"SAIL HO!"

"Stand by, the watch forrud!" he sang out, in a voice of thunder, putting his hands to his mouth so as to form a speaking-trumpet, as heleant against the poop rail, and pitching his key so high that his ordertriumphed over the noise of both wind and sea. "Man the jib halliards!Hoist away!"

In the meantime the engine-room bell had been rung and rapid directionsgiven to go astern full speed, our screw being down and steam got uplong since, as I have already mentioned, so as to be prepared for asimilar emergency. 

"Hard up with the helm!" now shouted the commodore, who seemed to havetaken the management of the ship for the moment entirely in his ownhands; and then, looking forwards, he roared again to us on theforecastle, "Haul taut your jib sheet!"

The sail served its turn, with the backing of the screw, to make thecorvette's head pay off as we wore ship; but the strength of the nor'-east gale was such, that hardly had we made the sheet fast, ere the jibblew clean away from its lacing, with the sound of a gun going off, while a big wave came over our weather side at the same time, and nearlywashed every man-jack off the forecastle, beside flooding the waist, thesea rushing down in a torrent below through the after-hatchway which hadnot been battened down as yet. 

It was a ticklish operation wearing with such a wind and sea on, andmight have been attended with even worse peril than happened; for, ifcaught in the trough of some wave, broadside on, we might have capsized, instead of merely taking a hundred tons of water or so on board, whichwe could have very well dispensed with. 

However, it was our only chance of getting out of the way of theapproaching vessel--at least so our old commodore deemed, and he oughtto have been, and was too, the best judge. 

And the ship!

None of us for a second or two thought of looking for her, the men allrushing to their stations, and the port watch having been called ondeck, as well as us chaps belonging to the starboard division, who werealready there, in case of our broaching-to and our masts going by theboard--which everybody believed, I think, barring the commodore, wouldhave occurred. 

Now, therefore, on our succeeding in paying off so handsomely withoutany serious mishap, the _Active_ scudding and running before the windlike a racehorse under her bare poles, so to speak, the scraps of stormstaysails we carried being not worth taking into account, the eyes ofevery one were turned at once to windward to see what had become of thestranger vessel. 

She had completely disappeared!

Whether she had luffed up too suddenly on seeing the danger of acollision between us, or had gone down all standing as she careeredonward, no one will ever know; for, though lookouts were sent aloft andthe horizon scanned in every direction, not a single trace of her was tobe seen anywhere in sight, albeit the billowy surface of the tempest-tossed sea was so white with foam that any dark object would at oncehave been distinguished on its tumid bosom. 

Not a trace was to be seen of the fine ship, which a moment ago wasriding the waters like a thing of life, even if impelled to run beforethe fury of the gale--either astern of us, or ahead; or on our starboardbeam, as she should have been by rights if matters had turned outdifferently; nor yet to port. 

No, not a trace of her anywhere!

All of us seemed, really, to feel as if we had lost somebody orsomething; and when, presently, the watch was piped down, we all wentbelow with saddened hearts. 

"Oi wondther now, " said Mick, when we were having our supper at ourmessing-place aft on the lower deck a little later on, "if thet theervissil wor a raal ship, Tom, or a banshee?"

A man at the mess-table next ours heard his remark and burst outlaughing. 

"I've heard tell o' the Flying Dutchman being seen in stormy weatherwhen going round the Cape, " he said, speaking across the table in ourdirection; "but I can't say as how I ever heard before of a bansheeadrift on the wide Atlantic Ocean!"

"Bedad, Oi say no rayson agin it, " replied Mick, standing up for thesuperstitions of his country like a man. "Faith, a banshee can go onywhare he loikes. "

"Ay?" said the other interrogatively. "What is a banshee, my lad?"

"Begorrah, " answered Mick, crossing himself, "thet's more'n ony oneknows, may the saints presairve us fur mintionin' on 'em! They'll besperrits, Oi thinks, if Oi don't misremimber, ez can take ony shape theyplaizes!"

"Oh, spirits?" exclaimed the other man chaffingly, thinking he was goingto pull Mick's leg a bit. "What sort o' spirits, my lad--is it rum, orgin, or whisky, now, you mean?"

Mick did not reflect a bit, but came out pat with his answer. 

"Faith!" said he drily, setting the table in a roar as he winked fromone to the other of the mess opposite, though this wink of his washardly necessary, the habits and character of his questioner being verywell known throughout the ship, "it's a rum tasthe ye'd foind thimsperrits, Oi'm afther thinkin', Misther Sharp! Bedad, yer gin wud be ezhot ez ginger; an' it's preshus little toime ye'd hev fur tournin' downthe whisky, ez ye did, faith, the t'other day, whin ye wor brought up'fore Noomber One on the quarther-deck, sure, fur goin' to shlape on thewatch! Begorrah, if ye don't look out sharp, Misther Sharp, ye'll hevthe divvle whiskin' ye off wid his tail, sure, fur thet same whiskyye're talkin' of!"

"Well, well, my joker, " said Sharp good-humouredly, joining in the laughof the rest of the chaps, though it was against himself; "I'm sorry Ihurt your feelings about that Irish banshee of yours!"

This turned the merriment of the mess towards Mick again; but he came upto the scratch as `smilingly' as he did in his fight with the mulatto atBarbados. 

"Bedad, " said he unflinchingly, "the banshees, sure, the saintspresairve the good people from harmin' us! Can take virry good care ovthimselves; but, faith, if ye'd ivver sane wun, ye'd spake morerispictfully ov thim, sure!"

"Tell us, " inquired Joblins, the `green hand, ' you may recollect, whowent on deck to fetch his second lot of grog with a spud-net and who, though he had been made a bit sharper since then by the chaff and jokesof his messmates, was still not by any means bright, "did yer ever seeone o' them ghostesses?"

"Hev Oi ivver sane wun?" repeated Mick, in a tone of intense scorn. "Begorrah, Oi hev sane hoondreds!"

"Lor'!" exclaimed the simpleton, evidently impressed by this boldassertion of my chum, "tell us, mate, wot they's like. "

This was enough for Mick. 

"Ye won't be froightened, sure, " he began, in a very solemn tone, themore to impress the anxious listener, "if Oi'm afther tillin' ye thewhole thruth, now?"

"Frightened! No, " replied Joblins defiantly, but looking nervous allthe same. "I ain't so soon frightened as that, Mick!"

"All roight, me joker, " said Mick. "Oi ownly thort ez how Oi'd not takeye onywheres, ye know; but, faith, ez Oi say ye're so brave a chap, Oi'll now carry on an' till ye all about a raal banshee Oi saw t'othernoight. "

Joblins moved uneasily on his seat. 

"What!" he cried. "Yer doan't mean aboard this yere ship?"

"Ay, faith, " said Mick coolly; "it wor aboord this virry ship, begorrah!"

"Lor'!" stammered out `greeny, ' whose face we could see was quite palefrom the light of the ship's lantern near, it having got dark now on thelower deck through the closing in of the evening early, we being stillin tropical latitudes. "I thort them things only came on land. "

"That's where you're wrong, Joblins, " put in Harris, his old tormentor, backing up Mick most effectively in his attempt at taking a rise out ofthe yokel. "Spirits aboard ship is pertic'lerly partial to water, asevery one knows!"

Passing by this ironical allusion of Harris to the current belief of allhands anent the watering of the men's grog by the steward, which wasreceived with much favour by those standing round, Mick went on asgravely as a judge. 

"Yis, sor, it wor aboord this viry ship thet Oi sayd me last spirrit, sure, " said he. "Lit me say--it moost hev bin a wake, ay, or mebbet'wor longer agone than thet. Oi wor a-coomin' oop the forepake aftherdark, jist ez it mebbe now. Ye knows the forepake, Joblins?"

"Ye-e-es, " stuttered out `greeny, ' his jaw dropping with fright, and hismouth open as big as a teacup. "I--I--I knows the forepeak, mate. "

"Will, thin, " continued Mick, "ez Oi came out on dick oop the fore-hatchway, be the powers, I says, sure, a tirrible big black thing roightforeninst me, wid its long arrums stritched oot on ayther soide; an'whin Oi looked oop fur to say if the onairthly craychur hed ony hid onhim--"

"Lor'!" cried Joblins, interrupting him at this thrilling point, allagog with excitement; "what did you see, mate?"

"Faith, " replied my chum, with a grin, "the poor craychur hed no hid atall, at all, sure! Begorrah, all he hed, sure, wor a spud-net, same asye titched yer sicond 'lowance ov grog t'other day wid, Misther Joblins;an' this wor stuck atop ov wun ov the min's oilskins thet he'd hoong ootfur to dhry in the fore rigging. Thet wor the spirrit I sayd. "

The roar of the boatswain's mate calling `all hands' to make sail, atthis juncture drowned the general laugh that went round the mess at poorJoblins' expense; and, exchanging the warm atmosphere of the lower deckfor the boisterous weather above, we were soon engaged in the morearduous task of pulling ropes than other people's legs!

We had run some distance scudding before the gale; and, as thenavigating officer thought that we were now pretty well beyond the riskof experiencing any further ill effects from the stormy nor'-easter, thecommodore made up his mind to utilise it and proceed on our voyage home. 

So setting our topsails double-reefed again and bracing round the yardson a bowline, we shaped a course for the Azores or Western Islands; andgetting into calmer latitudes ere morning, were able to make all plainsail again. 

On the second day after this we had an awful thunderstorm, in which thelightning flashed from all points of the compass, and heaven's artillerypealed as if the sky was bursting asunder. 

This was followed by a deluge of rain, which washed our decks cleanerthan they had been since we left our home port, though the firstlieutenant was pretty sharp about seeing them scrubbed and washed downdaily. 

The same afternoon, when it had cleared up again, the sun coming out andthe waves calming down, our lookout-man aloft in the foretop sightedsomething in the distance. 

"Sail ho!" he cried, "on our lee bow. "

Every eye was cocked as we peered over the bulwarks, and every earstrained to catch what followed. 

"Where away?" hailed the commodore, who was walking up and down aft, taking a constitutional after his lunch, I suppose. "What do you makeit out to be?"

"A boat adrift, sir, I think, " replied the lookout-man, stopping to haveanother good look at the object. "It's well away on our lee bow, sir, and we're passing it abeam now. "

"Very good, my man, " said the commodore; and, turning to the officer ofthe watch, he added, "Square the yards, Mr Osborne, and we'll run downand see what it is. "

This order was soon carried out; when, with our sticks braced round tothe brisk breeze, which had shifted to the westward since the thunder-storm, we were soon bowling down before it, our sails bellied out totheir utmost in the direction indicated by the lookout-man in theforetop, who was now aided by the eyes of half a dozen midshipmen ormore, all eagerly scanning the horizon ahead with all sorts oftelescopes and binoculars. 

"Lookout-man!" hailed the commodore after a bit, "how does the boat bearnow?"

"Dead on the weather bow, sir, " returned the man the next instant. "We're about a couple o' mile off her, sir. "

The commodore then addressed the quarter-master aft. 

"Luff up!" he cried--"half a point will do; and, Mr Osborne, take apull at your lee braces. That will do--steady!"

The ship having good way upon her, we soon overhauled the drifting boat, which we could make out presently quite clearly from the deck. 

Nearer and nearer we approached it, until we could look down right intoit and see a number of figures, all of whom, however, were motionless. 

"Begorrah!" cried Mick, who stood near me in the fore-chains, ready witha rope to chuck down into the little craft as we surged alongside it, asindeed were several others also, like prepared, forwards; "they've binhavin' a divvle ov a row, or foightin', or somethin', sure; fur Tom, look thare, me bhoy--can't ye say some soords or a pair of cutlashes orsomethin' like 'em oonder the afther-thwart theer?"

CHAPTER TWENTY. 

"JOCKO. "

"I believe I do, Mick, " I said, squinting down as eagerly as himselfinto the boat, near to which the ship was gradually sidling up, her wayhaving been checked by her being brought up to the wind and the maintop-sail backed. "They are very quiet, poor chaps. I wonder if they areall dead?"

The same thought seemed to have occurred to the old commodore; for, as Isaid this, in pursuance of some order he must have given to thateffect--for nobody does a thing on board a man-o'-war without theprevious command of his superior officer--the boatswain hailed thelittle craft. 

"Boat ahoy!" he shouted, with his lungs of brass and voice of a bull. "Ahoy! Ahoy-oy!"

No answer came, nor was there any movement amongst the boat's occupants, who were lying pell-mell along the thwarts and on the bottom boards inher sternsheets. 

"Poor fellows, they must be all dead!" exclaimed the commodore, almostin my own words. "Mr Osborne, get a boat ready to send off andoverhaul her!"

The officer of the watch, however, had already made preparations to thisend, the first cutter's crew having been piped and the men standingready by the davits to lower her into the water, with the gripes castoff and the falls cleared. 

"All ready there, coxsun, eh?" he cried; and then, without waiting forany answer, he sang out, "Lower away!"

Down glided the cutter into the water as the hands inboard eased off thefalls; and, her crew having dropped their oars, the next minute she waspulling out towards the boat, which was now only some twenty yards or sooff the ship, abreast of our mizzen-chains. 

Of course, we could see from the ship all that went on as the cuttersheered up to the derelict craft. The bowman was standing up with hisboathook ready to hook on when he got near enough, and Mr Osborne, the`first luff, ' standing up likewise astern to inspect the better the boatand its motionless occupants, he himself having gone away in the cutter, seeing how anxious the commodore seemed in the matter, instead ofsending a young midshipman as usual. 

Something strange must have happened, for, as our boat touched theother, we could hear a startled cry from Mr Osborne, followed by a sortof suppressed groan from the cutter's crew. 

This reached the commodore's ear. "Cutter, ahoy!" he hailed. "Any onealive?"

"No, sir, " came back the reply from Mr Osborne, in a sad tone. "Allare dead--and a fearful death too!"

"Why, " called out the commodore eagerly, as curious as all of us were, "what's the matter?"

"Struck by lightning, I think, sir, " answered Mr Osborne, who held hishandkerchief to his face and spoke in a stifled voice, after bendingdown and looking over into the sternsheets of the derelict. "Can't sayexactly, sir. They're in an awful state!"

"Ho, bad job!" muttered the commodore aft, on the poop, as if talking tohimself; and then in a louder key he sang out, "You'd better bring theboat alongside and let the doctor see them!"

Thereupon the bowman hitching the cutter's painter to the stem of theother boat which projected above the gunwale, and letting out the slackof the rope so as the boat should not come too close, Mr Osborne givingsome order to that effect, they took her in tow, and in a few strokeswere alongside the ship again. 

When they came up, there was no reason for any one to ask why the firstlieutenant had held his handkerchief to his face. 

The stench was abominable!

The doctor, who was ready and waiting at the ship's side, at once wentdown by the commodore's orders and examined the dead men, who we now sawwere five in number, though they smelt like five hundred. 

"Bedad, Tom, " said Mick to me, as we looked down over the side, holdingour noses--as, indeed, everybody on board was doing, every man-jack inthe ship, I think, being on deck, from the old commodore down to theyoungest middy and ship's boy--"Oi nivver smilt a shmell loike thetsince me faither an' Oi wor at Clontarf whin they opened the graveyardtheer, and toorned the owld coffins out wid the bones rattlin' aboot inthim jist loike pays in a pannikin, sure, whin we're goin' fur to makepay-soup, or pay doo, ez we used fur to call it aboard the owld _SaintVincent_!"

Mr Osborne meanwhile had come up the side; and from where Mick and Iwere standing, by the mizzen-chains, I could hear distinctly every wordhe said, though I missed the first part, from Mick Donovan speaking tome at the moment, and he was in the middle of a sentence when I began totake in his words. 

"--Must have been a terrible scrimmage, sir. One of the cutlasses seemscovered with dry blood right up to the hilt; while the two dead chapsbetween the thwarts are cut about and carved in all directions. The lotof them, no doubt, were at it hammer and tongs when the flash came. "

"Begorrah, " whispered Mick in my ear, in comment on this statement, "itwor jist loike the two Kilkenny cats, sure, who fought till thaire worownly theer tails lift, sure!"

The commodore, however, took a graver view of the matter. 

"It must have been awfully sudden, Mr Osborne, " he said; "and you thinkthey were runaways or mutineers?"

"I'm sure of it, " replied `Number One' significantly. "There are a lotof gold coins and dollars scattered about in the bottom of the boat, besides an open bundle containing a collection of watches and otherjewellery; and, from the greasy pack of cards lying alongside these, Ifancy they must have been playing for the plunder and quarrelled aboutthe division of it!"

"Then the lightning came and settled the thing for good and all, " saidthe commodore solemnly, sinking his voice to an impressive tone. "Itwas the judgment of God!"

The doctor, after a very brief stay in the boat, came up the side againand made his report to our chief. 

"All of them must have been killed instanter by the one flash oflightning, which seems to have gone all over the boat, zigzagging in amost curious manner, " said he. "The electric fluid, sir, has actuallyfused the blade of one of the cutlasses, and melted down the dollars anddoubloons, which the poor devils must have been gambling with, all intoa solid mass in the bottom of the boat!"

"Indeed!"

"Yes, sir, " affirmed the doctor, in answer to this exclamation from thecommodore. "But the lightning, sir, has done something more wonderfulthan that, which I would not have believed unless I had seen it myself. I pulled open the shirt of one of the dead men, and there, on hisbreast, was a perfect photograph, as if done in Indian ink, of a ship infull sail, like the one which nearly collided with us the other day andafterwards foundered!"

"Pooh!" cried the commodore incredulously. "It is probably a tattoomark, the same as all sailors like to deface their bodies with. "

"Oh no, sir, " persisted Doctor Mopson. "It's a real photograph printedby the flash of lightning. I've seen too many tattoo marks in my timewhile examining fellows in the sick-bay not to recognise them. This isplainly done by the electric fluid--you can see it for yourself, sir!"

"Thanks, " said the commodore drily, walking to the other side of thedeck and putting his silk handkerchief to his face, a very unpleasantwhiff from the boat, which was still alongside, coming inboard. "I'lltake your word for it, doctor, as you say it is so. I wonder if thosefellows really belonged to that unfortunate ship?"

"Not unlikely, sir, " said Mr Osborne, thinking the commodore, who hadsoliloquised aloud, according to his habit, had addressed the questionto him. "The vessel did not seem to have a man on board her as far as Icould see. Perhaps these dead beggars here plundered her and abandonedher after murdering their captain and officers!"

"Perhaps so, " agreed our chief; "but, in any case, whether they have metwith their just deserts or not--and for my part I am inclined to believethe former--we must give them Christian burial. I think, Mr Osborne, you had better let their boat be their coffin. "

"By far the best plan, sir, " put in the doctor, on the commodore lookingtowards him. "The lightning has so decomposed the corpses that it wouldbe impossible to handle them, and it would be detrimental to the healthof those touching them, too. "

This decided the commodore, who thereupon gave orders that some pigs ofballast should be put within the boat, and that it should be afterwardsboarded over with a few rough planks. 

This, Mr Chips the carpenter, with the aid of his mates, quicklyaccomplished; and then the boat, with its ghastly contents now happilyconcealed from view, was drawn up half out of the water, suspended fromone of the davits, and holes bored in the bottom. 

When all was ready, the `assembly' was sounded, and we all stoodbareheaded along the deck, drawn up as at `divisions, ' while thechaplain read a brief funeral service; and, on the conclusion of this, the painter that held up the boat being severed, the coffin-craft sankslowly below the surface to the fathomless abysses of one of the deepestparts of the Atlantic--for I heard the navigating officer tell MrOsborne that soundings had been got here showing a depth of over fourmiles. 

The funeral finished, the hands were piped down; and then, our yardsbeing squared again, we bore away once more for the Azores, reachingSaint Michael's a few days later, in company with the rest of thesquadron. 

This island, like the majority of the Azores, is of volcanic origin;and, looking at it from the sea, even when near in, it is not a verypicturesque object, the conical hills and extinct craters giving it amonotonous, if mountainous, aspect. 

We anchored off Ponta Delgado, about three-quarters of a mile off shore, in twenty-five fathom water, and, as we stopped there a couple of days, we were allowed short leave, each watch in turn, to land and see thesights. 

These, beyond the flowers, which were beautiful from the effects of thevolcanic soil, did not amount to much; and as the inhabitants are allPortuguese, whom we did not tackle to much, the ladies all wearing longcloaks with cowl-like hoods, the same as monks, which prevented us fromseeing their faces, I can't say we enjoyed our visit to the town asgreatly as we thought we would when we put off from the ship. 

We obtained one acquisition here to our company however, which pleasedall hands. 

This was a little black wiry monkey that originally came from theSpanish Main, I believe, being landed at Ponta Delgado by some passingship; and which Doctor Mopson brought on board, from "motives ofhumanity, " as he said, having seen its Portugee owner ill-treating it, and, besides, on account of his being "long desirous of dissecting thisspecimen of the simian family, " as I heard him tell that bruteLieutenant Robinson, who I saw enjoyed the prospect of seeing the poorlittle thing cut up. 

The doctor, though, had only spoken in joke, he being a most good-hearted chap who would not have hurt a fly, except inadvertently, shouldhe happen to have to treat the animal professionally; so, instead ofbeing dissected, `Jocko, ' as he was christened, was made free of theship, and presently became a prime favourite with all on board. 

He was certainly a clever little chap, performing all sorts of tricks, and being up to all sorts of mischief. 

"Begorrah, " as Mick said, "he can do ivv'rythin' save spake; an' thetthe artful joker won't do, faith, bekase he thinks, sure, we'll make himwurrk!"

One day on our passage home to England, `Jocko' got into as greatdisgrace as I did that time when I was `caught in the act, ' smoking, onboard the _Saint Vincent_. 

Master monkey, if you please, managed to get into the chaplain's cabinthrough the scuttle, the door being locked on purpose to prevent hisintrusion. 

It was on a Saturday when this occurred, a day the Reverend Mr Tibbitsdevoted to composing his usual Sunday sermon, which lay on his deskneatly written out on the usual official foolscap; the worthy gentlemanhaving just completed his task of attending to our spiritual needs onthe morrow, and being then engaged in recruiting his own inner man, after his arduous labours, with lunch in the wardroom mess. 

Hence, the chaplain's temporal necessity was Jocko's opportunity. 

Seeing the fine field open for the exercise of his ingeniousimagination, Jocko set to work as speedily as possible, to see whathavoc he could make in the short time the sagacious animal knew he hadat his disposal; and he seized hold in some way or other of a big quartbottle of ink which the chaplain kept for a reserve stock on top of thebookcase at the side--at least so it was thought afterwards, no one, ofcourse, having seen him do it. 

This, with an artistic idea of effect, the monkey poured liberally, notonly over the sermon and other papers that lay on the table, but on thereverend gentleman's sheets as well, Jocko probably thinking a blackcolour would be more suitable and in keeping with the clerical garmentsthat hung from some clothes-pegs adjacent. 

Next, Mr Jocko appropriated the chaplain's Bible, and `diligentlysearched the Scriptures' for some time, with great care tearing outthose leaves, and there were many, containing passages whichparticularly struck his fancy. 

A large prayer-book, whose type or binding offended him in some way orother, he took up with his paws and very carefully dropped through thescuttle, to refresh the souls of the fishes below. 

What mischief he might have done further, no one knows; for at thatmoment the chaplain opened the door and interrupted Jocko at hisdevotional exercises. 

From the yell he gave out, as the wardroom steward subsequentlydetailed, the Reverend Mr Tibbits must have believed His SatanicMajesty was in possession of his cabin; and, on his realising thecharacter of his visitor properly, ere he could clutch hold of Jocko, who was then chattering away in high glee and making hideous faces, hisinvariable habit when he expected punishment after some evil deed asnow, the agile monkey, gripping a portion of the ink-sodden sermon inone paw, and the chaplain's black velvet skull-cap in the other, vanished through the open scuttle by which he had obtained admittance, proceeding up the side as nimbly as one of the foretopmen to thecrosstrees aloft, where he put on the skull-cap and very possiblypondered over all that he had done. 

He had reason to; for a fiat of banishment from the wardroom and itsapproaches was the sequel to his escapade, in addition to a severethrashing after he was caught, which it took the watch the wholeafternoon to effect, Jocko playing a fine game of `follow my leader' upthe shrouds and down the stays, from one end of the ship to the other, until, tired out at last, he surrendered and took his flogging, like amonkey if not like a man. 

Exiled from aft the main-hatchway, Mr Jocko took up his quarters withthe boatswain, who offered to assume charge of him when Doctor Mopsongave him up as a bad job and the other officers repudiated him; and, being now able to associate with us forward more freely, he quicklylearnt all manner of new tricks, using a glass, for instance, as well asa signalman, and another sort of glass, especially if it contained grog, as expertly as Joblins did, when he had the chance. 

On our voyage home from the Azores he afforded rare fun to all of us, the men dressing him up in regular sailor rig, and the carpenter's matecarving a rifle and sword-bayonet for him out of a bit of wood that washandy. 

With this, Jocko used to take his place with the starboard watch when webeat to quarters, and the men would come hurrying up on deck hastilywith their weapons each to his station. 

You should only have seen him sight his rifle and pretend to aim at animaginary enemy; while at the order to `repel boarders' he would dropdown in a half-sitting posture, looking as comical as possible, holdinghis sword-bayonet at the charge. 

On these occasions he would always range himself by the side of Mick, whom he selected in preference to all the rest of the ship's company ashis chosen associate. 

The boatswain noticed this; and one day in the early part of April, aswe were coming up Channel on our return from our cruise and nearingSpithead, being just abreast of the projecting headland of Dunose on thesouth side of the Isle of Wight, Mr Blockley comes up to Mick as he andI and Jocko were standing on the forecastle. 

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. 

I BECOME AN "ORDINARY SEAMAN. "

"Tell us, Donovan, " said he--"now, what would you do with that monkey, supposing I make him over to you?"

"Faith, " replied Mick, not knowing whether the boatswain was trying totake a rise out of him or not, "Oi wudn't ate him, sor. "

"I suppose not, " said Mr Blockley, grinning, as Mick did, in sympathy. "But would you take care of him, my lad, if I give the monkey to you?"

"An' is it whither Oi'll take care ov him ye're afther axin' me?" saidmy chum, taking hold of Jocko as he spoke. "Begorrah, ye jist coom tome arrums, ye little baiste, and show Misther Blockley how fond yez areov me, ye divvle!"

Jocko, who had been standing in front of: the pair at the time on theforecastle in the position of `present arms, ' holding his little woodenrifle as correctly as the smartest drilled marine, at once dropped thison the deck, and sprang, not into Mick's arms, but on to his leftshoulder, where he chattered and grimaced away, no doubt telling hischosen friend in the choicest monkey language how much he loved him. 

This was proof to Mr Blockley of the affection that existed between thetwo; so, without further demur, he made over all right and title hemight possess in Jocko to Mick. 

"But, you're sure, my lad, you'll take good care of him, " he said. "Iwouldn't like any harm to come to the poor little beggar. The doctorgave him to me on the understanding that he would be well looked after, and on the same conditions I trust him now to you. "

"Faith, sor, ye couldn't do botther, " replied Mick, caressing Jocko withmuch satisfaction, evidently proud to be his real owner. "Sure, an' ifOi've got to go to say ag'in an' can't look afther the baiste mesilf, it's some 'un ilse Oi'll be afther givin' him to thet'll say to him avenbetther nor mesilf!"

"And who's that?" inquired the boatswain, with a laugh, noticing a flushcome over Mick's face. "You know I'm interested in the monkey and havea sort of right to ask. "

Mick looked `nine ways for Sunday, ' to use his own favourite expression. 

"Bedad, sor, " he at length replied sheepishly, "it's Jenny, sor. "

"But, " persisted Mr Blockley, smelling a rat, "who's Jenny?"

"Tom's sisther, sure. "

"O-o-oh!"

Not being certain exactly as to the meaning of Mr Blockley'sejaculation, Mick went on to explain further. 

"Yis, sor, she's the sisther, sure, ov me fri'nd Tom Bowlin' here, sor, "he said, pointing me out by a punch in the ribs that nearly knocked allthe breath out of me. "An', sure, she's moighty fond ov burrds!"

Mr Blockley laughed. 

"From that, I suppose, Paddy, " he said, as soon as he could speak, "youput Jocko here in the same boat as the birds?"

"Begorrah, Oi do, sor, " replied Mick, with a broad grin, as he cuddledthe monkey up to him in his arms; Jocko taking off Mick's cap the while, and carefully scattering its motley contents to the winds. "Oi callhim, sure, a Saint Michael's canary, faith, sor!"

"You'll do, " said Mr Blockley, laughing again as he went away to attendto his duties, in seeing the chain cables got up from below, and rangedalong the lower deck in preparation for our anchoring anon. "Let alonean Irishman for having the last word!"

Having a good breeze with us from the southward and westward, we soonrounded Saint Helen's point, off the east end of the island; and makinga wide reach in towards the Warner lightship, we brought up at Spitheadat Four Bells, comfortably. 

Just before we anchored, Mr Osborne, the first lieutenant, sent forMick and myself, the marine who passed the word forward for us, sayingthat `Number One' wanted to see us in the wardroom. 

Wondering what was up, my chum and I proceeded aft, where we found MrOsborne seated at the table, having just had lunch, as the cloth showed. 

`Number One, ' who had evidently enjoyed his meal, being in a genialmood, as indeed, to give him his due, he usually was, did not keep uslong in suspense. 

"Ha, my lads, " he said, on the sentry ushering us up to where he sat, "you've given in your names, I believe, to pass for ordinary seamen, eh?"

The cat was out of the bag at once, and mightily we felt relieved atthat. 

I could not help smiling as I answered Mr Osborne in the affirmative;while, as for Mick, his "Yis, sor, " was rolled out with an emphasis thatmade `Number One' laugh outright. 

"I hear very good reports of both of you, my lads--of you Bowling inparticular, " he said, looking at some papers before him, which he signedand handed over to the marine sentry, telling him to send them on to theship's office; "and, as you are now both eighteen, the proper age to beentered on the books as `ordinary seamen, ' and have shown your aptitudefor the service during the six months you have been aboard this ship, Ipass you, my lads, so you may now look upon yourselves as `boys' nolonger!"

Thanking the lieutenant, we left the wardroom, as may be supposed, decorously enough; but we had no sooner got out on the dock without thanMick executed a wild caper, which made the sentry grin. 

"Bedad, Tom, " he said, loud enough for the marine to hear, "me faytherallers s'id Oi'd be a man afore me moother; an', faith, Oi'm thet now, plaize the pigs!"

It was certainly a most unexpected denouement to the ordeal we hadexpected when sending in our names, both of us thinking we would havehad to pass some stiff grind in seamanship and other naval acquirements, similar to the examinations we used to undergo on board the old _SaintVincent_; and as we now were rated really as seamen, with the pay of oneshilling and threepence a day, instead of sevenpence, besides having allthe dirty work of the ship taken off our hands, Mick and I consideredourselves in clover, as you may readily imagine!

The _Active_ and _Volage_, the two Portsmouth ships of the TrainingSquadron, went into harbour early the very next morning, layingalongside the dockyard as before, to refit for their summer cruise; and, later on, when we were moored in our old berth at the Pitch-House jettyand things made right on board, we got leave with the rest of thestarboard watch to go ashore, Mick, of course, going home with me, andJocko equally, of course, forming one of the company. 

On our reaching Bonfire Corner, Mick was in a fix about Jocko, apparently, eyeing him when we got near the door of father's cottage, and then looking at me with a puzzled expression on his face, the monkeysaving him the trouble of scratching his head, which Mick had got intothe habit of doing whenever he was in a quandary, by most affectionatelyperforming the operation for him. 

"Hullo, old chap, " said I, "what's up?"

"Faith, Tom, Oi'm onaisy in me moind, sure, about Jocko, " he replied. "Oi don't want yer sisther to be afther sayin' him at foorst. Sure, Oiwant to take her be surprise, alannah. "

"Well, " said I, "that needn't trouble you, Mick. Let's put the littlebeggar over the garden wall. "

"But, s'posin' onywun's theer?"

"You needn't be afraid of that, " said I. "Mother and Jenny will be justhaving tea about this time, most likely, in the kitchen; and, iffather's at home and not out in his wherry, he'll be taking a caulk inhis old seat under the mulberry-tree. "

"Begorrah, thin, " cried Mick, in high glee at my now giving him thisinformation, "we'll put the little baiste roight over the wall forninstwhare he's a-sottin'; an', faith, if Jocko says him, he'll rouse him oopfast enuff, an' thin yer fayther'll think he's the divvle, sure, jist ezthe chaplin did aboard the ship t'other day whin Jocko got into hiscabin an' carried on `Meg's divarshuns'!"

"The very thing, " I said, entering into the joke and anticipatingfather's astonishment. "Sling him over by that apple-tree, and thennobody will be able to see how he got in. "

Mick at once carried out my suggestion. 

The apple-tree, which had all its pretty pink and white blossoms out infull bloom, ran up close to the side of the wall, one branch indeedprojecting over it, though at too great a height for the street boys toget at the fruit, having to content themselves instead with shyingstones at what they were unable to reach. 

Clambering up the face of the rough old brick wall like a cat, Mickcarefully let down Jocko on the other side at this point, telling him ina whispered word of command that he was on `sentry go' and mustn't stirtill the order was given to `relieve guard. '

Jocko evidently understood him clearly; for, although I expected hewould have climbed back again on Mick's shoulder almost as soon as heput him down, the intelligent animal remained in the garden. 

All things therefore working together as we wished, Mick and I nowproceeded up to the front door and knocked. 

Unfortunately, father had seen the _Active_ coming in and "blown thegaff" on us; and so, instead of our taking them by surprise, we foundthem on the lookout and all ready to receive us. 

Little Jenny, who had grown considerably since I had last seen her, andwas all the prettier, too, as Mick, I noticed, observed as well asmyself, of course opened the door for us; and coming up the passagebehind her was mother and father, with the cockatoo `Ally Sloper'bringing up the roar of the procession, all of them laughing andtalking, and saying, all in one breath and at the same time, how gladthey were to see me and Mick again, old `Ally Sloper' screaming outlouder than the lot, "I'll wring your neck! I'll wring your neck!" Wedid have a tea. 

To look at the table, one would have thought we had been starved all thetime we were afloat, and that mother wished us to make up what leeway wehad lost in the grub line by stowing our holds now as full as we couldpossibly manage. 

Bless you, there was a dish of ham and eggs got ready by Jenny in ajiffy, sufficient to have served round the whole of our mess; while, asfor the bread and butter, cut thin so as to make one want to eat themore, with marmalade and cakes and the jam, there was plenty, I think, for our whole ship's company!

Mick and I ate and ate, I pressed by mother, and he unable to resistJenny's hospitable solicitude, until neither of us felt inclined torise; when, just at the end of the feast--Mick and I being only justable then to make signs showing our inability to stow any more, speechhaving failed us--a most terrible bobbery broke out in the back garden, the cockatoo yelling like mad, and every other bird, I believe, in theshop joining in a demoniac chorus and lending emphasis to his screams. 

"Ship my rullocks!" cried father, jumping up from his seat and makingfor the scullery door, with mother and Jenny after him. "It's thatdratted old tom-cat of Bill Squeers come prowling arter the birds again, I knows. I've sworn I'll pison him some day; and, by the Lord, too, Iwill, if he's bin and gone and meddled with `Ally Sloper'!"

"Aye, Thomas Bowling, just you stick to that, " said mother, spurring himon to instant vengeance, fearing that father's loudly expressedanimosity to our namesake the cat would evaporate, as it invariably did, after the cause of the commotion had made off. "The nasty beast nearlyfrightened one of Jenny's canaries to death the other day; but I gavehim one with my broom-handle which made him scoot, I can tell you, thebrute not having come back into the garden again, as I knows of, tillto-day!"

So saying, mother disappeared, with her potent broomstick, behind thehedge of evergreens that shut off the backyard from our garden, in thewake of father and Jenny, who, being more speedy in their movements, were already out of sight. 

Mick looked at me, and I looked at Mick; and then the two of us burstinto a roar of laughter as we followed up the chase to see the end ofit. 

We arrived just in time. 

Jocko, who, as may be supposed, was the originator of all the row, hadgot up into the mulberry-tree, the cockatoo's own especial domain, and, chattering and making faces at the bird, had clutched hold of one of hislegs in his hand-like paw, trying to pull him from his perch. 

This `Ally Sloper' resisted with all his might and main, hanging from abranch of the tree with the claw that was free, while he pecked and bitthe monkey with his nut-cracker beak, making Jocko wince and snarl andpull all the harder to get him into his clutches, the cockatoo screaminglike mad, as I have said, all the while!

"Lor'!" exclaimed mother, holding up her hands at this sight, just as wecame up, "it ain't Squeers's cat after all! How ever did that theremonkey get here?"

"It must have broken loose from some place near, " said Jenny. "Themilkman told me this morning that Smith, the fancier, had one the otherday which crammed a lot of cinders down the baby's throat and nearlykilled it, and that Mr Smith was obliged to get rid of it. "

"Then, this can't be that chap, " said father, sitting down in his oldarmchair under the tree and looking up at Jocko, who had released `AllySloper' on our approach and gone up aloft in one of the topmostbranches. "I'd bet 'arf-a-crown now, Sarah, as how them two youngstershere could tell us summat o' the monkey if they likes!"

He had a sharp eye, had father, and had caught Mick winking at me. 

So, there being now no longer any need, or indeed chance, ofconcealment, especially with Jenny's eyes fixed on him, Mick thought itbest to make a clean breast of it at once. 

"Coom down out o' thet, ye divvle. 'Tenshin, Jocko!" cried he, pattinghis shoulder, to which his friend the monkey at once jumped from thetree; and then, turning to my sister, he said, with a roguish look inhis black eyes, "Oi've brought ye a little prisint, Miss Jenny, ez Oihopes ez how ye'll be afther acceptin'. "

Jenny smiled. 

"What, " said she--"a monkey?"

"No, Miss Jenny, " replied Mick, grinning, while Jocko chattered insympathetic glee. "He ain't a monkey at all, at all. Sure, he's what Icalls a Saint Michael's canary!"

This was a settler for all of them; father leaning back in his chair andholding his sides, while mother and Jenny enjoyed the joke as much as wecould both wish, `Ally Sloper' adding to the merriment of us all byshrieking out at intervals alternately, "Say-rah! Say-rah!" and "Blestif I don't have a smoke!" in father's very own voice. 

On returning to the _Active_ after our leave was up, Mick and I weresent to the guardship, or depot, having to leave our old ship throughgetting our new rating as ordinary seamen, we having been drafted to heras `boys'; for, being no longer held to be such, we, of course, had no`local habitation or name, ' according to the saying, on board her. 

We did not have much of a stay at home, however, all the same, Mickgetting appointed within the next fortnight to the flagship on the Capestation, when he and I parted for the first time since we became chums, more than two years previously, on our joining the _Saint Vincent_together. 

A sailor's life, though, is made up of partings, not only with oneanother, but with the old folks at home as well, and sometimes withcertain persons even dearer than these; so, wringing my hand in hishearty grip and leaving a tender farewell for Jenny, whom he was unableto see before going away, she being on a visit to a cousin of ours wholived at Chichester, Mick and I said good-bye to one another. Really, Ienvied his luck of getting the chance of seeing active service so soon!

I did not have to envy him long; for, a week later, I was turned over tothe _Mermaid_, a new second-class cruiser just commissioned to join theeastern division of the Mediterranean Fleet, to take the place for thetime of one of the smaller ships belonging to the squadron, under refitat Malta, our orders being then to proceed to the Red Sea, where it wasexpected that Osman Digna would be making matters warm in and aboutSuakin later on in the year. 

Some three days subsequently to my going on board her, with a completenew rig-out, bag, baggage, and all, the _Mermaid_ sailed for theStraits; if sailing it can be called in a ship going by steam alone, andwhich had not a royal-yard to cross, or any other spars to speak ofaloft for that matter, the cruiser being rigged to carry fore-and-aftsail in case of emergency should her engines break down. 

It might be thought from this that my early training in a sailing-shipwas thrown away, there being no longer any necessity for me to displaymy activity in racing up the rigging and running out on a yard to reeftopsails. 

The contrary, however, was the case; and I've found, even during myshort experience afloat--ay, and in spite of the ridiculous assertionsof some shore folk, who know about as much of life in the navy as theydo to club-haul a ship off a lee shore--that the men who have learnt tohold on by the skin of their teeth in a heavy gale, from the aptitudethey have gained in the old-fashioned class of ships, are the handiestand the readiest at a pinch in the new!

Of course, though, I only found out this afterwards; as on first joiningthe _Mermaid_ the ship was as strange to me as I, sore at parting withMick, felt myself a complete stranger to all on board. 

So I thought, at least. 

But I was mistaken. 

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. 

AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE. 

"Hullo!" exclaimed a voice that seemed very familiar to me, on mygetting down to the mess-deck below with my bag, when I had got mynumber, and been told off to my watch and division. "Who'd ha' thoughto' meeting yer here?"

The speaker was a broad-shouldered chap, with a lot of hair all over hisface, and I did not recognise him for the moment. 

"You've got the advantage of me, mate, " said I civilly, not wishing tohurt his feelings if he had made a mistake in addressing me, as Ibelieved he had. "I can't place you. "

"Lor', carn't yer?" replied the chap, with a broad grin stealing overhis face. "I fancies, Tom Bowlin', I hed th' adwantage on yer onst, an'placed yer too, that time I cut yer down in yer hammick aboard the_Saint Vincent_, hey, old ship?"

It was Larrikins. 

Needless to say how glad I was to meet him again, or what yarns we hadto tell each other of what had happened to us respectively since last wemet. 

He was the same frolicsome, good-tempered chap that he had been on boardthe training-ship, I found, after a very few minutes' talk; but his loveof practical-joking had been sobered down a bit within due bounds, and, on the whole, he was very much improved in every way. 

"I s'pose ye've never bin aboard a hooker like this afore, " he said tome presently, after we had made an end of exchanging reminiscences, noticing that I was all at loggerheads in finding my way below. "It'sthem bloomin' watertight compartments as does it; but come along o' me, Tom, and I'll show yez the ropes. "

So saying, he took me over the ship, pointing out how the _Mermaid_ hada steel-protected deck running fore and aft, that sheltered her enginesand boilers beneath; the space in beneath this and the bottom of thevessel being subdivided by a series of vertical iron bulkheads, completely shutting off the various `flats, ' or lower decks, from eachother. 

An arrangement so complex naturally necessitated a fellow having toclimb up one hatchway and go down another before he could speak to hischum in the next flat, thus causing one to go through `sich a gettingupstairs' like that mentioned in the celebrated negro ballad. Thedifference of the deck plan of a modern cruiser, as compared with thatof my old ship the _Active_, was not the only thing I had to learn onbeing drafted to the _Mermaid_; for the drills were quite as strange tome at first as her complicated build inboard. 

The stokers, of course, had to see to driving her through the water, that being their special duty, under the superintendence of theengineers; so, as this job was taken out of the hands of us bluejackets, and there was nothing for us to do in the way of setting and taking insail, the executive officers managed to find other work for us to keepour minds from mischief when we were aboard. 

One of these tasks was `collision mat' drill; when we would be tumbledup on deck to rig out a roll of oakum that was plaited into thesemblance of a gigantic doormat, right over the side, dragging it bymeans of guys and springs under our forefoot, to fill up some imaginaryhole that had been knocked into us by too friendly a craft passing byand running athwart our hawse!

Another favourite drill in vogue with the johnnies of our new regime wasthat of `closing watertight doors. '

The signal for this being about to be carried out was the blowing of aparticularly excruciating sort of foghorn at some unexpected hour of theday or night--it used to be in every watch on the _Mermaid_; and at thesound of this melodious instrument, which was most likely selected bythe authorities in recollection of the story of Joshua and his trumpet, the `walls, ' or, rather, bulkheads, of the ship did not `come down, ' butwere run up!

By this means every compartment throughout the ship was isolated and allcommunication cut off between the various flats. 

The officers were shut into their wardroom; the engineers and stokers intheir own special domain; and the men forward, perhaps, on their mess-deck; until the officer of the watch had made the rounds and those incharge of the respective watertight doors had affirmed the fact, frompersonal supervision, that all these were closed, when, this gratifyingintelligence was communicated to the captain, and he gave the order toopen them again. 

In addition to these exercises, there was the old `fire quarters' drill, to which I was accustomed; and `man and arm ship, ' when all of ushurried to our stations on the main-deck batteries--those who formedpart, that is, of the crews of the several guns of different types wehad aboard; while the rest of us lined the sides of the upper deck, prepared to pepper away with our rifles at any approaching foe, andrepel, with our sword-bayonets at the `charge, ' all possible boarders. 

We had about a week's cruising in the Channel, to knock us into shape aswell as test our machinery, the _Mermaid_ being a new vessel and notlong delivered over from the contractors; but, Captain Hankey being asmart officer, besides being ably seconded by his subordinates, this wasso satisfactorily achieved, as regards both ship and men, that ere wereached old Gib, whose couching lion-head facing out to sea reminded mestrongly of the more familiar Bill of Portland, any one inspecting uswould really have thought the _Mermaid_ an old stager and that our rawcompany had been working together for months, instead of only a week ortwo!

`Old Hankey Pankey, ' though, as he was called on the lower deck--sailorshaving always a nickname for their officers, whether they like them ordislike them--possessed the rare art of managing those under his commandto such a degree that he would have turned out a likely enough crew frommuch worse material; while he `got to win'ard' of the engineers socleverly that they never grumbled at any orders he gave--unlike thosegentry in general--thus enabling us to pile on steam and make thepassage out from England in far less time than we expected, there beingno complaints from the stokehold of `leaking tubes' and `priming'boilers necessitating our having to `slow down. '

After passing through the Gut of Gibraltar, we made for Malta; whichplace seems to have such a magnetic attraction for our men-of-war, bothhomeward and outward bound, that none by any chance ever gives it thego-by, there being always some little defect to `make good, ' ordespatches to wait for, or letters to post, or something that obligesthem to cast anchor in Valetta harbour, if they are only allowed toremain an hour or two!

We fortunately stopped here for three days; and, though the mengenerally were not given leave ashore, Larrikins and I, being both inthe first cutter, we had the chance of landing more than once. 

We had a bit of fun, too, on one of these occasions when going up theNix Mangiare stairs, leading up from the place where the men-of-warboats put in to the town above. 

These stairs are so named, it may be explained for the benefit of thosewho have not been there, from being the haunt of a number of beggars whofrequent the steep ascent, demanding alms of all bluejackets and othersthat may chance to pass up or down, their whining plea being that theyhave nothing to eat-- "Nix mangiare, buono Johnny, nix mangiare!"

We had already been accosted by three or four of these chaps, to each ofwhom we had given a trifle, moved by their poverty-stricken appearanceand Maltese whine; when, on reaching the top of the steps, an oldfellow, who from his venerable look seemed above that sort of thing, repeated a like request to his compeers lower down the stairs, holdingout the palm of a lean clawlike hand resembling one of Jocko's paws. 

"No, no, that won't wash, " said Larrikins, in a chaffy way, catchinghold of a fine-looking malacca cane the old fellow was leaning on, andwhich seemed more fit for a grand seignior than a beggar. "None of yourbono johnnies with me, you old reprobate. Yer oughter be ashamed onyerself, yer ought, axing fur charity from poor sailors like we--youwith this fine walkin'-stick here, good enough for `old Hankey Pankey'hisself!"

With that, Larrikins, wrenching the malacca from the unwilling hands ofthe old fellow, gave it a shake in the air as if he were going to applyit to the shoulders of its owner. 

"By jingo, " I cried out, "there's something chinking in it that soundslike money, Larry!"

"Lor', it is money, Tom, " exclaimed Larrikins, at once giving the sticka good bash against the side of the wall. "The thunderin' old cheat ofa Maltese scoundrel is a regular take-in, askin' on us fur to help himand he a-rollin' in gold all the time, the blessed old miser!"

This statement was true enough; for, as the malacca cane came againstthe stonework, the head of it flew off, and from the hollow cavitywithin that was then disclosed there rolled out, if you please, a stringof gold pieces some twenty at least in number--the result, probably, ofthis respectable mendicant's very industrious beggary since he had takento the trade, the old rascal carrying his horde about with him forsafety's sake. 

He now burst into tears at his secret wealth being thus brought tolight; judging, no doubt, from what he knew of the morals of his owncountrymen, that Larrikins and I were going to appropriate it to our ownuse. 

But, Larrikins and I were English sailors--not any of your Malteseriffraff; and so, picking up the scattered gold, we gave it back to theold impostor, the suspicious scoundrel counting each piece as we droppedit into his hands to make sure that we did not purloin any. 

"Take that, yer old joker, " said Larrikins, as we left the scene of theincident, tendering the old gentleman a parting kick. "That's someinterest, old Bono Johnny, to stick inter yer ditty box along o' yershiners!"

We had no further adventure at Malta, beyond finding out that most ofthe shopkeepers and other chaps with whom we dealt during our short staywere as great cheats as our beggar friend of the Nix Mangiare stairs. 

Before leaving the port, however, to proceed up the Levant, we heard apiece of news that gave some of us much satisfaction. 

This was, that, instead of the _Mermaid_ having to act for some monthsas jackal to the eastern division of the fleet, as had been intendedwhen we were commissioned, we were now ordered to pass up theMediterranean and proceed on through to the Red Sea, the cruiser whichwe had been hurriedly despatched to relieve on account of her condenserbeing cracked, having had her damages made good in the dockyard, the_Merlin_ indeed lying out in French Creek all ready to return to herstation within forty-eight hours of our arrival at Valetta. 

So, on the third morning, a lot of signalling went on between our shipand the flagstaff ashore at the naval station, the upshot being that wewere ordered to sail early in the afternoon; when, steam being got upand the anchor weighed, we bade adieu to the island, leaving Saint ElmoPoint on our port hand and shaping a course eastward. 

When we were nearing Alexandria, we had a bit of a `Levanter, ' whichdelayed our progress for half a day, during which time we had to slowdown our engines and keep under easy steam, head to sea; but, afterthat, the weather was as fine as we could wish, and we got through theCanal without a hitch, not a single vessel blocking us, even afterpassing the Bitter Lakes, a very unusual thing at this period of theyear, when the China clippers crowd the narrow waterway and causerepeated stoppages as a rule to ships outward bound. 

On emerging from the Canal, at Suez, we made the best of our way downthe Red Sea to Suakin, where we found despatches from the senior officerof the East African station, to which we were attached, directing us tojoin him off the island of Socotra; and that if we did not come acrosshim there we were to cruise along the coast between Ras Hafim and Obbia, where it was reported the Somali Arabs were getting busy with the adventof the south-west monsoon, and carting cargoes of slaves over to Omanand the Persian Gulf--that is, when they saw a chance and none of ourmen-of-war were on the spot to stop them!

In obedience to these instructions, therefore, we steamed steadilyonwards through the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and, making a wide stretchacross the Gulf of Aden to take advantage of the current, steeredstraight for our appointed rendezvous. 

Here, finding no one to meet us, nor hearing any news of import to alterour programme, Captain Hankey hauled up for Cape Guardafui, intendingthen to beat down the Somali coast as he had been directed. 

Seeing the funnels of a steamer awash off Binna, we put in nearer to theshore, the steam cutter being piped away to examine the wreck, which wastoo close in to the rocks for the _Mermaid_ to approach her with safety. 

There was no trace of any one living on board, though she had evidentlybeen only recently abandoned, various articles lying about on the deckaft, which was clear of the water, that would not have remained longaboard had she been stranded for any length of time. 

She was clean gutted, however, almost every single movable thing of anyvalue having been stripped from her. 

"Ha!" I heard Captain Hankey say to our first lieutenant, both of themcoming in the cutter to inspect the steamer. "Those Somali Arabs havebeen here, Gresham. "

"Not a doubt of it, sir, " replied Mr Gresham. "Those beggars are thebiggest thieves, I believe, in the world; and murderous rascals, too. Irecollect, sir, when I was out here in the old _Vampire_, we had many atussle with them, for they fight like wild cats!"

"Aye, they do that, " said the captain. "I shouldn't be surprised ifsome of their dhows are knocking about here now!"

"Nor I, sir, " agreed the other. "Oliver, of the _Magpie_, whom I saw atSuakin, told me there was a rumour of the Somalis running cargoes ofarms, which they pick up somewhere in the German protectorate, to supplyOsman Digna's forces for a fresh campaign that has been planned by theArabs against us along the whole coast. "

"That may be, " said Captain Hankey; "but the beggars who have been atwork here wore only on the lookout for loot, I think--though, perhaps, they may have murdered the crew and passengers of this vessel, too, forall we know. However, to make matters sure, we'll look out for them!"

"Aye, aye, sir, that will prevent any mistakes, " said Mr Gresham, witha laugh. "I don't think any Arab dhow, whether belonging to the Somalisor otherwise, can escape the _Mermaid_, should one heave in sight!"

There being nothing that we could do for the steamer, which would haveto be `written off as a loss' by the underwriters at Lloyd's, thecaptain gave the signal for the cutter to return to our ship; and then, making a good offing, so as to put the Arabs off their guard, we bankedour fires, except under one boiler, keeping the screw just revolving soas to maintain our position abreast of Binna, well out of sight of theland. 

A strict watch was maintained, though, all the same, lookouts beingstationed in our military tops as well as on the forecastle; and, in theearly morning, long before sunrise, the steam pinnace and first andsecond cutters were lowered alongside, and provisioned ready for action. 

Captain Hankey had kept his eyes open to some purpose when he inspectedthe steamer, for he had seen a lot of things that had been stripped offthe vessel put together in a heap under the bridge, as if her plunderersintended returning for them, not having been able to carry them away attheir last trip; and, albeit he did not draw the attention of our firstlieutenant to this, to my knowledge, when talking to him, no doubt, fromthe preparations he made, `old Hankey Pankey' drew his own conclusions. 

His judgment was not at fault. 

Hardly had the first flush of dawn tinted the yellow eastern sky withits rosy light, heralding the glowing heat of day, ere one of the menstationed in the tops hailed the deck. 

"There's something moving away off on our weather bow, " sang out theman, shoving his head over the side of the top. "I can't make it outexactly, sir; there's a haze on the water ahead. "

The second lieutenant, who was acting as officer of the watch, being aneasy-going sort of chap and rather sleepy from being up pacing to andfro on the bridge since midnight, did not pay much attention to thisintelligence. 

"All right, lookout-man, " he hailed back, after a portentous yawn. "It's probably the morning breeze blowing the fog off the land that yousee. Tell me, a-a-ah! When you are able to make it out more clearly, a-a-ah!"

And, he almost yawned himself out of his boots as he gave utterance tothe last word. 

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. 

BOARDING THE SLAVE DHOW. 

"On deck, there!" shouted out the lookout-man again, almost before thesound of Lieutenant Dabchick's last yawn had died away in the distance, like a groan or its echo. "There's a whole fleet o' dhows a-creeping upunder the lee of the land and running before the wind to the north'ard, sir!"

This stopped Mr Dabchick's yawns and made him open his sleepy eyespretty wide, I can tell you!

"A fleet of dhows, lookout-man!" he cried, fully awake at last, not onlyin his own person, but as regarded the responsibility attaching to himshould he unhappily let our prey escape and so foil his captain'scarefully arranged plan. "Are you certain, Adams?"

"Not a doubt of it, sir, " replied the captain of the foretop, in anassured tone that expressed his confidence in his own statement. "They're Arab dhows sure enough, sir. One--two--three; and, ay, thereis two more on 'em jist rounding the p'int--that makes five on 'em, sir, all bearing to the north as fast as they can go, with slack sheets andthe breeze dead astern, which they are bringing up with them. They'reright off our weather beam, now, sir. "

"The devil!" ejaculated Lieutenant Dabchick, in his flurry using astronger expression than he would probably have done had `old HankeyPankey' been on the quarter-deck, rushing into the chart-house on thebridge and snatching up a telescope, which he brought to bear on thehorizon in the direction indicated by Adams in the foretop above, whosepoint of vantage, of course, gave him a wider range of view. "On ourweather beam, you say?"

"Ay, ay, sir, " roared back the lookout; "they're right abreast of ourforrud funnel now, sir. "

Mr Dabchick's hand shook so much from excitement that he could not holdthe glass steady; so, propping it up athwart the stanchion at theweather end of the bridge, and sprawling out his legs to give him a goodpurchase, he worked the telescope about till he at last spotted theobjects Adams had seen. 

"By the Lord Harry!" exclaimed the lieutenant, "you are right, Adams. Imust send down and tell the captain at once. "

With that, he hailed the midshipman of the watch and despatched him withthe news to Captain Hankey's cabin aft; while at the same time he rangthe engine-room gong, and shouted down through the voice-tube to tellthem below to `stand by, ' as probably we would want steam up in a veryshort time; directing also the coxswains of the boats alongside to makeready, as well as passing the word forward for the boatswain's mates andthe drummer and bugler to be handy when wanted. 

This done, all his orders having been issued and executed in less timethan I take to tell of it, Mr Dabchick resumed his interrupted, ifmonotonous, task of walking up and down the bridge; stopping whenever hehad to slew round, at the end of his promenade, to take another squintat the dhows, and warning Adams, though that worthy needed no suchinjunction, to `keep his eye on them. '

Mr Dabchick had just sung out this for the second time on getting backto the weather end of the bridge, when Captain Hankey, accompanied byMr Gresham and a lot of the other officers, rushed on deck, some ofthem half dressed and buckling on their gear as they came hurryingalong. 

`Old Hankey Pankey' made straight for the bridge, the first lieutenantclose at his heels. 

"Ha, Mr Dabchick, " cried the captain, as he skated up the iron ladderleading from the deck below to the chart-house, taking three steps ateach bound, "so you've sighted those beggars at last, eh?"

"Yes, sir, " said the second lieutenant, smiling, and rubbing his hands, having put down his telescope on top of the movable slab on the bridgethe navigator had for spreading out his charts; Mr Dabchick assuming anair of great complacency, as if it were entirely through his exertionsthe dhows had been seen or were there at all--"I think you'll find 'emthere to win'ard all right, sir. "

`Old Hankey Pankey' caught up the telescope that Mr Dabchick had justdeposited on the slab, putting it to his eye. 

"Yes, they are dhows sure enough, Gresham, " he said to the firstlieutenant, after a brief inspection of the craft, which were stealingpast us under the loom of the land far away to the westward. "No doubt, they are the very rascals who plundered the wreck we saw yesterday, andas likely as not murdered all the people on board! They are making forthe same spot again, too, to pick up the rest of the loot they have notyet taken off; but we'll stop their little game. Bugler, sound the`assembly'! Drummer, beat to `quarters'!"

The blare of bugle and beat of drum rang through the ship, mingled withthe hiss and roar of the steam rushing up the funnels; the captain, ashe sang out his orders to those on deck, mechanically, from force ofhabit, putting his hand on the engine-room telegraph to prepare the`greasers' in the flat below, and rapidly shouting down the voice-tube, as soon as the electric bell on the bridge gave a responsive tinkle, that they were to `get up steam' as quickly as possible. 

But, there was no fear of our alarming the enemy with the noise of ourpreparations, not even when the boatswain's mates added their quota tothe din after the bugle was sounded. They were too far off, and, besides, we were to leeward, and twice the row we made could not havereached their ears. 

All of our fellows below belonging to the port watch came tumbling upthe hatchways in a jiffy on hearing the `assembly, ' clutching up theirrifles and sword-bayonets from the arm-racks on the lower deck; while weof the starboard, who were already up from having the middle watch, proceeded at a break-neck pace to fetch ours. 

Then the gunner took his keys from their appointed place outside thedoor of the captain's cabin and went below to open the magazines in theflat appropriated to their combustible contents, in company with aworking party to attend to the ammunition hoists; while the marineartillerymen and crews of the main-deck battery and upper-deck machine-guns hurried to their stations under charge of "Gunnery Jack, " thelieutenant whose special function was to see to our little barkers. 

A minute later, when those whose duties did not take them elsewhere wereranged along the upper deck, Captain Hankey, who had gone down to hiscabin in the meantime and buckled on his sword to be in proper fightingrig, came back on the bridge, where he remained in conversation with MrGresham until the `orderly' midshipman--I don't mean to say that theothers were disorderly, but only just wish to specify those who weretold off to carry messages from the various parts of the ship, when at`quarters, ' to the captain, they acting, so to speak, as his aides-de-camp on board--returned to say all was as it should be. 

"Now then, Gresham, " said `old Hankey Pankey, ' drawing himself up to hisfull height, and looking every inch what he was, an officer and agentleman--ay, and a sailor too, as plucky as they make them--"I thinkwe'd better begin, or those beggars will get too far ahead, and a sternchase, you know, is a long chase. Bugler, sound `man and arm boats'!"

The boy, a young marine, who did this part of our musical business, puffed out his cheeks, inflating his lungs the while, and blew a blastthat seemed to make the air shake; the boatswain's mates, who always acton such occasions like the chorus at the opera, screeching with theirwhistles fore and aft up and down the hatchways, repeating with anexasperating repetition the same order little Joey the bugler hadalready given; while, all the officers who had charge of the respectiveboats stood up at the gangways to inspect the crews of these as theywent down the side to take their places on the thwarts, so as to seethey were all properly equipped. 

"Mr Gresham, " said Captain Hankey to the first lieutenant, "I shouldlike you to go in the steam pinnace and work away to win'ard towards RasHafim--you know the place we marked on the chart last night aboveBinna?"

"Very good, sir, " replied Mr Gresham, taking up a revolver and box ofcartridges he had brought on deck with him, and going towards the aftergangway, abreast of which the steam pinnace was lying, buzzing away likea little wasp alongside; the intimation on the part of our captain thathe would `like' a thing being done being quite equivalent to a commandto do it! "You mean, sir, that queer-shaped headland some twenty milesdown the coast?"

"Yes, we passed it when we came back from the wreck, " replied `oldHankey Pankey, ' pointing with his hand away to windward. "You will thencut off the retreat of the dhows, while we head them off farther up thecoast. "

"Very good, sir, " said Mr Gresham, accepting this as a final dismissal. "I will attend to your orders, sir. By George, those Arabs will haveto be precious sharp if they manage to steal back past us to theirhaunts!"

So saying, Mr Gresham went down the side, without any further palaver;and, when he was seated in the sternsheets, the pinnace went off in abee-line to the sou'-west in the teeth of the monsoon, which wasbeginning to blow now pretty briskly. 

The first cutter was then piped away, Larrikins and I being the twofirst to jump aboard her when the bowman laid hold of her painter anddrew her up alongside. 

Lieutenant Dabchick came with us in command, as soon as she was fullymanned and armed, an ammunition-chest being lowered down with a supplyof `pills and pepper' for the little nine-pounder boat-gun we carried inour bows; when, we sheered away from the ship's side and lay on ouroars, and the second cutter hauled up alongside to receive her crew andequipment like ourselves. 

This did not take long in doing--the whaler being also manned and thesenior midshipman sent in charge of her, with the boatswain to check hisrashness; and then, the three of us, first cutter, second cutter andwhaler, were all taken in tow by the _Mermaid_, which went off fullspeed ahead after the Arab dhows that were now only some five miles offus, the cruiser shaping a slanting course so as to prevent them frommaking for the wide stretch of open water that lay to the north'ard, should they try to escape in that way. 

Their retreat to the port whence they had sailed was cut off by thepinnace; and, as their only refuge now when we overhauled them would bethe rock-bound coast lying between Binna and Ras Hafim, they were, as Iheard Mr Dabchick say to the coxswain, `between the devil and the deepsea!'

The reckless beggars, too, were so busy looking out in the direction ofthe stranded steamer for which they were making, that somehow or otherthey did not catch sight of us until they were nearly within easy rangeof our six-inch breechloaders; the leading dhow, which was what theArabs call a `batilla, ' and carried two large lugs or lateen sails onwide yards, besides a sort of square jib forwards, rigged out on abowsprit like a spritsail boom, caught sight of us as we luffed up tolet fly at her. 

For a second or two they seemed all of a heap, like a covey offrightened partridges; and then, getting their tacks aboard as smartlyas if they were English seamen and not rascally Somali Arabs, theyhauled their wind and made in for the shore, thinking, no doubt, `OldNick' was after them. 

They were not far out in this surmise, if such should have crossed theirminds, as they very quickly found out. 

The _Mermaid_ yawed off her course, swirling us round in her wake as ourtow-rope slackened and then grew taut again, all in an instant; and, then, bang belched out one of our big hundred-pounder quick-firing gunsthat we carried on the upper deck fore and aft, pitching a shell thatburst right over the rearmost dhow. 

This made them quicken their movements if possible; while `old HankeyPankey, ' seeing we were a trifle short in our range, steamed on afterthem so that they might have the full benefit of all our battery--thewater now churning up over the gunwale of the cutter as she dragged uson astern of her, the bow of the boat high in air, while we were all themore depressed aft from having the other boats behind us. 

On flew the dhows, on raced the _Mermaid_, flopping her tail asrepresented by the boats in tow, for we did wag about prettyconsiderably, as one of our men who was half a Yankee said; until, presently, on the water showing signs of shoaling, the _Mermaid_ broughtup broadside on and began pitching shot and shell as fast as the mencould work her batteries at the dhows, which were now well inshore andalmost on the rocks--which latter seemed to jut out from this coast inthe most shapeless, uncanny fashion, like the solitary tusk or two stillpossessed by some nearly toothless old hag. 

`Bang, smash, boom!' went our guns, the fire bursting forth from theship's side in the centre of puff-balls of smoke, accompanied by thehurtling sound of the shot through the air, and the dull intonation theshell gave out after the first report, when these missiles dischargedtheir contents around their target. `Bang, smash, boom!'

It must have been pretty lively for the Arabs: too warm after a bit tobe pleasant!

So `old Hankey Pankey' appeared to think; and, when our guns had firedabout a couple of rounds each all round, the bugle sounded the `ceasefire, ' and he came aft and hailed us. 

"Mr Dabchick, " he called out, "I'm going to cast you off, and you willpull straight for the shore and capture those dhows as best you can, while I will cover your advance with the guns of the ship. Recollect, you are in command of the expedition and that Mr Doyle in the cutter, and Mr Chisholm in the whaler, are under your orders; so, you can do asyou think best when you get alongside them. I would divide my forces, Dabchick, if I were you; but, you must exercise your own judgment whenthe time comes!"

"Aye, aye, sir, " replied the lieutenant, as heartily as if he had justbeen told he was made `first luff' of the flagship--for, though sleepysometimes when on watch of a night, he was a plucky little chap, with alot of go in him; and then, as our painter was sent adrift and the slackhauled in by the bowmen, he sang out to us, "Oars! Off we go, my lads!"

This was the signal for a ringing cheer from all hands in our boat, aswell as from those in the second cutter and whaler, which had beenlikewise cast off from the tow-rope; while `old Hankey Pankey' himselfjumped up into the rigging of the _Mermaid_ as we started away, and leda return cheer from the ship as the three of us raced in line abreasttowards the dhows inshore. 

The sun was now well up in the sky, and it was blazing hot over ourheads, but I don't think a man of us minded this, as we pulled away, like Britons, and as lightheartedly as some of us used to do in the olddays when we belonged to the _Saint Vincent_, and were struggling ourbest to be the first boat at our summer breaking-up sports so as to winthe Admiralty medal!

But, there was something more than a medal at stake now, aye, or a moneyprize either; for we were battling, as we all well knew, mere ladsthough most of us were, for our Queen--God bless her!--and that countrywhose flag waves over every sea, and on whose dominions, stretching fromeast to west all round the globe, the sun never sets!

Nearer and nearer we got into the coast, all hands pulling with a will;Larrikins, who was stroke, giving the fellows a touch of his old stylewhen he rowed in the captain's gig of the training-ship; the whaler, with the middy in command, running us hard, though, and the secondcutter labouring up astern. 

As we approached the dhows, however, Mr Dabchick ordered us to pulleasy, singing out to the other boats to spread out to leeward and makefor the batilla, which had remained behind like a watchdog guarding thesmaller craft, while we attacked her in the bows. 

The breeze was now dying away, the wind blowing off shore; and theSomalis, seeing this, triced up their lateen sails, turning round likerats driven up into a corner and facing us, at bay. 

Captain Hankey, who had been pitching shot and shell into them from themoment of our casting off from the _Mermaid_, some of the missilesdescribing beautiful curves over our heads as we pulled in, now ceasedfiring, for fear of hitting us as well as the foe; and so, the Arabswere able to concentrate all their energies towards resisting us, thebatilla sending some round shot in our direction from an old brasscarronade she had mounted on her high forecastle, one of which, skippingalong the water as if it were playing ducks and drakes, shaved off threeof our oar-blades on the starboard side. 

This did not stop us, though. 

"Shift over, bow and the next man, " shouted out Mr Dabchick. "Now, alltogether, pull away, my lads, and let us go for them!"

The cheer that we gave on starting away from the _Mermaid_ was nothingto what our chaps roared out now from their lusty throats; as, makingthe water boil with the blades of our oars, we rowed hand over fistright at the batilla's bows, the second cutter making for her sternwhile the whaler, by Mr Dabchick's directions, pulled athwart the hawseof a smaller dhow that had stayed her flight landwards and was comingback, apparently, to the assistance of her big consort. 

`Crash!' came the stem of our boat against the side of the batilla atthe same time that her old carronade, which had been loaded this timewith bullets and scrap iron like a shell, and having its muzzledepressed, went off, right in our faces, with a `Bang!'

One of the fellows forward, the bowman on the port side of the cutter, poor chap, tumbled backward overboard, uttering a wild shriek as hefell; but otherwise the discharge did not do us much damage, and inanother second we seemed all scrambling up into the dhow and were at ithammer and tongs. 

It was my first fight and I can't forget it. 

Every single incident that occurred stands out as clearly before me nowas if I were going over it all again!

We had, of course, all loaded up with ball-cartridge and fixed thesword-bayonets to our rifles before we got up to the Arabs; and, by theorders of our commander, we gave them a volley at close quarters as weboarded. 

But, after this, I don't think any one thought of loading or firingagain, save one or two of the fellows astern and the coxswain of theboat, being too busy guarding the slashes the Somalis made at us withtheir long scimitar-like swords that were curved like reaping-hooks, andthe blows they dealt us with their unwieldy matchlocks, which they usedin club fashion. 

It was a terrible struggle trying to climb the high overhanging sides ofthe batilla in the face of such tooth and nail opposition, the beggarsfighting, as Mr Gresham had said, like veritable wild cats!

We were beaten back into the cutter twice, after some half a dozen of ushad been wounded, some desperately; and then the second cutter, whichcould not manage to board her astern, coming up to our help and sheeringin alongside us, our gallant leader Mr Dabchick determined on one grandfinal rush. 

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. 

WE NEARLY LOSE THE CUTTER!

"Larrikins, " said I, whispering in his ear, as we stood up together justin the rear of Mr Dabchick, balancing myself on one of the thwartsforward, being about to make another spring for the side of the bigdhow, while Larry shoved a cartridge hastily into the breech of hisrifle, and was in the act of taking a pot shot at a chap who seemed tobe the skipper of the batilla and had a nose on him like the beak of aBrazilian parrot, "little Dabby means business!" He did. 

Hardly had I said this to my chum, making him miss his aim, I am sorryto say, at the Arab beggar, who made a cut at me the next minute andwould have sliced off my starboard fin if I had not drawn back ratherhurriedly, ere our lieutenant sprang on to the back of Jones, the otherbowman, and then jumped right clean amongst the mass of Arabs in thebows of the dhow. 

"Come on, my lads!" he cried, in the middle of his jump; "follow me!"

This was enough for us. 

Without an instant's reflection I imitated Dabby, using Jones's back asa scaling-ladder, as did half a dozen other fellows; until the poorbeggar was pretty nearly trodden flat into the bottom of the boat. 

`Whiz!' went the matchlock balls of the Arabs past our ears; `whir-r-ir'sliced away their scimitars right and left in the air, with theregularity of so many flails at work on a barn-floor; but we did notmind them a bit, for the `phit--phit--phit!' of the bullets from ourMartini rifles pattered amongst the bronze-coloured rascals like hail, deadening the whiz of their longer-barrelled weapons, while ever andanon the Maxim of the second cutter grunted out a fusillade of grape, making a noise like that of an old man with a bad cough on a winter'snight going up to bed in the cold. 

"Ship my rowlocks!" as father would have said had he been there, but theMaxim made some of those blessed Arabs cough, I can tell you; ay, andput a goodish few to bed too!

"Lor', " cried Larrikins, who was fighting like a bulldog by my side, "Inever did see, blame me Tom, sich a bloomin' scrimmage in me life asthis yere!"

It was all that, it being a case of give and take all round, for theSomalis made a rare stand. 

They went their best for Dabby, seeing that he was our leader; but theplucky little chap, with his sword in one hand and a revolver in theother, stood amongst them as brave as you please, cutting at this one, peppering at that, and guarding in some miraculous way a hundred blowsaimed at him from every side. 

Don't think, though, that we left our officer to battle against theArabs single-handed. 

Not we. 

I do not say it in any boasting sense, will you please recollect, for Iam sure that no one who knows me would accuse me of being a braggart;but, as I am telling of events that really happened, I must speak thetruth, and so to do this I am obliged to say that I was one of the firstto spring to Mr Dabchick's side after he boarded the dhow, Larrikinscoming next with a mad leap that nearly scrunched my toes off, and thenthe coxswain of the cutter and the rest of the chaps. 

Striking out with our cutlasses, we soon cleared a circle round thelieutenant; and then, forming up like a breastwork in front of him, werushed at the remaining Somalis in the bows, hurling over into the sea, with the impetus of our charge, those whom we did not cut down outright, or settle with a thrust from our straight-edged blades. 

The crew of our other boat had meanwhile climbed aboard amidships, wherethey soon despatched the rest of the Arabs holding out there, a well-aimed shot from the rifle of Larrikins potting the green-turbaned chiefof the gang. 

With his fall, all opposition now ceased, and we took possession of ourprize; some twenty odd Somalis only remaining in our hands as prisoners, the others having been all slain in open combat, or drowned when theytumbled over the side. 

We had not escaped scatheless either, for we lost three men in our boat, besides Bartlett the bowman, and had five wounded, the coxswainseriously; while Larrikins had a bullet through the fleshy part of hisforearm, and I received a knock on the knee from a friendly Arab whichmade me limp for more than a month afterwards. 

The second cutter, however, came off the worst, Mr Doyle, our juniorlieutenant, having been shot through the lungs with a jagged matchlockball in the desperate hand-to-hand fighting that ensued on her firstattack, which the Somalis repulsed, twelve more men of her complement, besides, being either killed or wounded. 

Poor Mr Doyle died shortly after we effected the capture of thebatilla; but, being a quiet, inoffensive sort of man, I don't think hisloss affected any one very much, while Mr Chisholm the middy, who wasmade an acting sub-lieutenant in his place--such is the fortune of war--was the reverse of sad when he came up to us presently in the whaler, towing the smaller dhow, which he had very pluckily captured to his owncheek. 

The rest of the Somali craft had been run ashore on the rocks to escapeour clutches, reminding me of my old chum Mick one day, when we werewalking along the Gosport ramparts and it was raining, proceedingcarefully to take off his clothes and go into the water, to `kapehimself dhry, ' as he explained to me in his Irish way. 

So now the Arabs had knocked their dhows to pieces to save them; but themen who manned them, as well as the poor slaves with which the majorityof them had been crammed, we found, on pulling inshore to examine themlater on, had all got safely beyond our reach, far away amid the khorsof the desert coast of the barren and inhospitable Nogal country. 

To make matters certain that they should not be able to get the dhowsafloat again in the event of their returning, as well as to revengeourselves at being prevented from towing these off ourselves, so that wemight obtain the usual bounty given by the Zanzibar prize court fortheir capture, we set fire to every single one of them, burning the lotto the water's edge. 

The whaler assisted us at this job, the second cutter being sent back tothe ship by Mr Dabchick to convey all our wounded comrades thither formedical treatment, as well as the body of Mr Doyle, and that of anotherpoor fellow who had not gone overboard; we ourselves not yet returningto the _Mermaid_, not rejoining her until our task was done, late in theafternoon. 

We buried the lieutenant and bluejacket who had fallen, at sunset; afterwhich, hoisting in all our boats, the cruiser put on steam and made forRas Hafim, picking up, when nearly abreast of the headland, just beforedark, the steam pinnace--all the chaps aboard of which, from Mr Greshamdownwards, getting quite angry when we told them of the little piece ofbusiness we had been engaged on up the coast, our shipmates being riledat having been left out in the cold and not sharing in our fun. 

Fun they thought it; but, if they had gone through the job of scrubbingdown the thwarts and bottom boards of the cutter after the fray, asLarrikins and I had to do, mopping up the blood and gore, which was morethan an inch deep, the fighting would not have seemed so jolly as theirimaginations pictured it. 

Seeing nothing of our senior officer after picking up the pinnace, weproceeded down the coast in the direction of Zanzibar, running acrosshim at last when near Mombassa. 

This was lucky for us; for, as soon as Captain Hankey had communicatedwith the flagship, he received fresh instructions that he was to keepguard on the district lying between Pemba on the south and Witu on thenorth; and, as Mombassa was about midway between the two points, wewere, so to speak, in the very centre of our cruising ground. 

For the next few months, though, our work was not very lively, all of usbelonging to the boats being now engaged on patrol duty and separatedfor weeks sometimes from our comrades on board the ship. 

The first and second cutters, the launch, and the steam pinnace wereeach provisioned and sent away to scout along the coast independently ofeach other, watching for dhows and any suspicious craft we might seemaking from the mainland for the islands, having orders to capture ordestroy such as we found carrying slaves; the _Mermaid_, our foster-mother, giving us a look-up in turn at our respective stations, to seehow we were getting on, and supply us with any stores we might need inthe grub and water line. 

It was a dreary task. 

Sometimes for days we would not sight a sail; and, keeping out to sea, so as to avoid observation from the shore, there was nothing to be seenthat could distract one's attention but the wide-stretching steel-bluesurface of the limitless Indian Ocean, and the eternal coppery skyoverhead, with never a cloud to shade us from the ever-blazing sun. 

The south-west monsoon was in full swing, and the weather, consequently, was cooler than usual--that was one comfort; but, the irksomeness of ourlife was almost unbearable, and we all longed for something to happen, no matter what, to break the monotony of our perpetual patrol. 

Of course, we did come across some dhows, one in particular, a large`bagala, ' a craft with a high square stern, and a prow like a goose-neck; while her poop resembled that of a Chinese junk, being only atrifle clumsier--if possible. 

We overhauled this hooker between Zanzibar and Pemba; and, as she wasmaking for the latter island, where cloves are grown and a large numberof slaves employed in their cultivation, the trade being the mostimportant on the coast, we naturally thought we were going to make a bighaul and get no end of bounty for the capture of the dhow. 

But, as luck would have it, when we boarded her, not a single nigger wasaboard, nor was there any sign about her to show that she was fitted outfor the contraband business, there being no second bamboo deck betwixther hold and the upper one, which the slavers always have; and, thoughwe rummaged her fore and aft, we could not tumble upon the special stockof rice and barricoes of water, which are always carried for theaccommodation of the ebony passengers, if they have any. 

No, all was in order; her `reis, ' or skipper, a swarthy Arab, with themost diabolical expression I ever saw on human face, showing us hisclearance paper, which had the stamp of the British Consulate, anddescribed that he was bound on a trading voyage to Muscat. 

So we had to let him pass, the old rascal of a `reis' grinning over herstern at us as the bagala made off, running before the wind; the hook-nosed Arab looking as pleased as Punch, and yet having a sort of sly, malicious twinkle in his eye, like that `Old Nick' probably puts on`when he catches a churchwarden robbing a till, ' as Larrikins said. 

No wonder the old slave-dealer sniggered to himself; for we heardafterwards that he put in at Pangani the same night, after we were outof sight, beating down to the southward, and succeeded in running acargo of the usual sort, the proceeds of the trip enabling him to retirefrom business and set up as a holy man for the rest of his life. 

Beyond boarding this dhow, though we saw some others at a distance whichwe were unable to forereach on, the beggars being too handy on a wind, we did not have a single exciting incident for the three months or morethat we were detached from our ship; and all of us, as I have said, werelonging for something to wake us up. 

This `something' came at last. 

Ay; and in a most unexpected fashion, too!

It was getting near the time for the _Mermaid_ to come and relieve us, and we were making for our rendezvous at Bagamoyo, to the south ofZanzibar, for her to pick us up. 

The south-west monsoon having slackened down a good deal within the lastfew days, though the month of August, when it usually blows with itsgreatest force, we were able to work well to windward; and we wererapidly closing on Bagamoyo, when the sea began to get up in a verystrange manner, and the sky, which had been cloudless, as customary, since the morning, became clouded with masses of fleeting vapour thatpresently banked themselves on the horizon to the north. 

"I say, Draper, " said Mr Chisholm, who, since his promotion, had beenappointed to the cutter, turning round to our coxswain, "what do youthink of the weather?"

"Think, sir?" rejoined Draper, who had served on the East Africanstation before joining the _Mermaid_, and `knew the ropes, ' as thesaying goes. "I don't think about it at all, sir. "

"Well, well, " said Mr Chisholm, who was a jocular sort of young fellowand never hard on a man, besides which he knew Draper's crusty way, "tell us what you know, then. "

"Very good, sir, " replied our old shellback of a coxswain. "Then, Iknows, sir, the monsoon's on the shift, and we're agoin' to have a blowfrom the nor'ard afore dark. "

"What do you advise our doing, coxen?"

"Adwise, sir?" repeated Draper, as usual, after Mr Chisholm, his habitalways when asked a question. "If I was you, sir, I'd up stick and runfor it, sir, to the nearest port. "

"The nearest port on our lee is Zanzibar, " said Mr Chisholm. "Isuppose you mean to loo'ard, Draper?"

"Aye, aye, sir, I means to loo'ard. "

"Then you advise our putting up the helm and running for Zanzibar?"

"Aye. "

The cutter was rigged with a dipping lug and a spritsail; so, no soonerhad crusty old Draper given his laconic answer to Mr Chisholm, than thelatter sang out to Larrikins, who was in the bows. 

"Look out there forrud!" he cried. "Stand by to dip!"

This is considered one of the smartest things in boat-sailing, the menhaving to be specially stationed for the purpose; but, as we had beenliving in the cutter now for three months, and had experience of herunder any and every change of wind and sail, the operation did notoccasion much difficulty to us. 

Larrikins, who was bowman, pressed out the fore part of the lug as soonas the yard was half lowered, while two other hands gathered the sheetof the sail forwards, and passed it round the mast as soon as Draper hadput the helm up; when I and another chap who was aft with me, unhookedthe sheet to port and then rehooked it to the starboard side, which wasto windward now on the cutter's head coming round, as she went off onthe other tack. 

Gathering way in a minute or two as we eased off the sheet of the lug, the cutter went ahead at a great pace, making much better weather of itrunning before the wind, as was the case now, than she had lately, before we came about, when beating up to Bagamoyo; skimming over thebroken surface of the sea, her bows and the deadwood of her keelforwards being clean out of the water sometimes as she jumped from waveto wave, and sending the spray she threw up as she came down bash on thetop of some billow, right inboard, wetting us to the skin, and leaving awake behind her like a millrace. 

We were steering almost due north now; and, looking ahead under theleech of the lugsail, I could see that the clouds we had observed beforebanked up on the horizon had crept up towards the zenith, spreading outlaterally on either side, until half of the heavens was obscured. 

Then, all of a sudden, the wind dropped, as if done with a turn of thehand. 

"Look out there for your sheet!" cried old Draper, in a warning tone, assuming the direction of affairs and taking command of the boatunconsciously in the emergency, over the head of his officer, MrChisholm. "Let go your sheet, I say!"

Bouncer the seaman, who sat on the after thwart and had charge of this, bungled about the job, having taken a turn with the end of the roperound the cleat, instead of holding it in his fist as he should havedone; and the coxswain's harsh repetition of the order in such animperative tone seemed to flurry him, making him all the slower. 

"Hang it all, man!" shouted Mr Chisholm, taking up the cry, "let go thesheet at once!"

Seeing what a fog Bouncer was in, besides which the sail was just thenbeginning to bulge back as the wind headed us, the boat rocking for aninstant and then canting over as if she was going to capsize, I drew myknife and rushed to where he sat in the bottom of the boat, strugglingwith the sheet!

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. 

THE ARAB STRONGHOLD. 

At that moment the wind lulled for an instant, and I was just able tomake a slash with the sharp edge of my knife across the rope, severingit instanter, and thus saving poor bungling Bouncer all further trouble;when, a terrific gust came, this time right astern, carrying sail andmast and all, the latter snapping off like a carrot close to the thwartwhere it was stepped, over the heads of all in the boat forwards, highin air--just as if the lot were the remnants of a big kite that hadparted its supporting string, the sail ultimately disappearing in thedistance, swallowed up by the angry waves. 

These latter were now boiling up round the cutter on every side, ourlittle pigmy of a craft seeming lost in the seething caldron of brokenwater; but, she was buoyant as a cork, and, although half rilled, breasted the billows in fine style and running before wind and sea at atearing rate with not a rag of sail on her now, nor an oar, save one MrChisholm and I rigged out over the stern by Draper's direction, thisbeing better to steer her by than the rudder, which we then unshipped. 

It was a good job for us that our old coxswain had got wounded, and thatDraper had taken his place just then temporarily while Hoskins was onthe sick-list; for, though Draper was the oldest petty officer on boardthe ship--his promotion to a higher grade having been delayed, Ibelieve, through his natural crustiness of temper, which he really couldnot help--there was no doubt that he knew the East Coast of Africa well, and the management of a boat the better of the two, especially in astormy sea. 

Ay, and it was stormy now!

Far as the eye could reach, the mad waves dashed and clashed againsteach other as they raced along, borne onward before the blast; throwingup their white crests, all lashed into foam, in showers of spray andspindrift that fell back over us in the boat, wetting us to the skin andblinding those that had to face it. 

The horizon, too--what we could see of it, that is, through the spray--was covered with a mass of inky clouds, almost blue-black in hue, thatcovered by degrees the whole of the heavens, with the exception of around spot right overhead that looked like a gigantic eye. 

Mr Chisholm, who, young though he was, had the sight of a hawk, spottedthis at once. 

"Hullo, Draper!" he cried, pointing aloft. "What's that up there--anything more brewing up for us, d'ye think?"

The coxswain, who had all his work cut out to keep the boat from beingswamped by the heavy following seas that came rolling up astern of us, threatening every minute to engulf the cutter and carry her down bodilybelow, gave an uneasy squint in the direction whither the young officerpointed his finger. 

"Lord-sakes, sir, " he exclaimed, shaking his head in a very grave way, "that be a h'ox-eye!"

"Ox-eye!" Mr Chisholm repeated after him in a quizzing tone, with agrin on his face. "I've heard of ox-tongues before--those tinned onesain't bad eating sometimes for lunch on a pinch; but an ox-eye--what isthat, Draper?"

"Nothin' to larf about, " grunted out our crusty coxswain, bracing hisbody against the loom of the oar with which he was steering and slewingthe boat's head aside to avoid a cross sea that nearly broke at thatvery moment over our bows. "If ye'd be'n as long on this coast as me, sir, ye'd know when ye seed one o' them things up there--it means, `Lookout!' Ay, by the Lord too, we must look out now! Stand by there--allhands lie down in the bottom of the boat; it's yer only chance, if yevalues yer lives!"

"Down, men!" Mr Chisholm cried, endorsing Draper's words of warningwith his command. "Do as the coxswain tells you--down for your lives!"

Our chaps who were seated on the thwarts forwards and amidships at oncescrambled down on the bottom boards, while we in the sternsheets, including Mr Chisholm himself, squatted on the grating, only old Drapersitting up still at his post aft with both hands holding the loom of thesteering oar in a firm grip. 

"Bend yer heads, " muttered this worthy the next moment; "it's a-comin'now!"

As the words passed his lips and we all bowed down below the level ofthe gunwale, the roar of the sea seemed hushed in the dead stillnessthat ensued; and then, with a wild shriek that sounded like the moaningof some lost soul from the bottomless pit, the wind, which had beengathering up all its strength in the interim, burst upon us, burying thecutter's bows as it struck her right under water. 

Bouncer, frightened out of his life, made a movement to rise as he layalongside me on the stern grating; but old Draper gave him a kick in theribs with the toe of his heavy boot. 

"Lie still, you beggar!" he cried, bringing, with a tremendous pull ofhis arms, the oar-rudder hard over. "The boat's rightin' all right. We've seed the wust on it if yer'll only bide still!"

Fortunately, we had a weather cloth over the bow, which prevented thesea from pouring in and swamping us when the cutter dipped under; while, as all of us remained quiet and our dead weight was more towards thestern than forwards, the boat's natural buoyancy prevailed and she roseup like a cork. 

The worst might have been over, as Draper had said; still, we were not`out of the wood' yet, gust after gust assailing us, and the wavesracing up madly astern, when, dividing, they would tower up on eitherside of our frail craft, threatening destruction for the moment ere theyrolled onward again--we, all the while, fleeing before the fury of thestorm we knew not whither, powerless alike to shape a course or guideour boat. 

All that our skilful coxswain could do was to prevent the cutter fromshipping a sea, no matter how the wind took us, or whether we ran withthe billows or athwart them, as sometimes happened from the sudden shiftof the gale, at whose beck and call we were; for, one moment going northor west into the open sea, the next recklessly careering eastwards, right in upon the rocks of the mainland, or dashing south amongst themazy little islands and islets round and about Zanzibar, where ourplight would be as perilous. 

We had been boxing the compass like this for some four or five hours, without the weather showing any signs of a mend, it being now late inthe afternoon; and our head turned towards Bagamoyo again for about thefifth time that day since we began our circling experiences, when, justas it was beginning to grow darker, though there had not been much lightabout since noon, a ship hove in sight. 

She was dead ahead of us, riding out the gale under steam. 

The smoke of her funnels was trailing away to leeward and so mixing upwith the clouds that were banked on the horizon that old Draper, who waslooking out as well as steering, for he would not allow any of us to siton the thwarts, said he could not tell `t'other from which. '

Presently, however, as we surged onwards, carried down upon her at therate of twelve knots or more, Draper could distinguish the smoke fromthe clouds; ay, and the ship herself. 

"By the Lord!" he cried, looking at Mr Chisholm, his face all aglow andhis voice heartier than I ever heard him speak before, "it's the_Mermaid_, sir. "

"The _Mermaid_, coxswain!" ejaculated Mr Chisholm, at once jumping tohis feet and taking a sight himself, shading his eyes with his hand. "Yes, it is the _Mermaid_, hurrah!"

"Steady there, sir, " said Draper, warningly putting his hand on theyoung officer's arm; "we ain't aboard her yet, sir; and if yer don'tkeep cool, sir, beggin' yer pardon, sir, it's precious little we'll seeof her this night, or ever ag'en, fur that matter!"

"But, how shall we get alongside?"

"Keep cool, sir. I'll tell 'ee when the time comes, " rejoined thecoxswain, in a soothing tone that took off the impertinence of his thusspeaking to his officer. "You leave it to me, sir, and I'll find a way, if man can do it, to get alongside our old hooker; 'sides them aboard'll be on the lookout, too, and between the pair on us we ought fur tomanage it comf'ably!"

While `old crusty' was laying down the law in this fashion, thoughcontinuing to mind his steering as smartly as he had done all along, thecutter was nearing the cruiser every instant, the wind taking her alongin a series of mad leaps and bounds through the water and over thewater, jumping from the top of one wave to that of another, andsometimes almost in mid-air, until we seemed about to hop on board the_Mermaid_, all standing like some of those flying-fish I have seen inthe tropics, or else smash ourselves all to pieces against her ironhull. 

But, in the nick of time, when only some twenty or thirty yards off hersharp ram bow, which would have cut into the cutter as easily as a knifegoes into butter in summer-time, Draper gave a tug to his steering oar;and, Captain Hankey `making a lee' for us by porting his helm, we glidedinto comparatively calm water under the cruiser's starboard counter. 

A dozen ropes were thrown to us from men already stationed in therigging for the purpose, a dozen hands and more held out to help us upthe side; and almost before any of us well knew where we were, there westood, safe and sound on the deck of our old ship again, the cutterbeing then hoisted up to the davits. 

Draper, who had saved her and us, was the last man to leave her, whenthe falls were secured and the gripes put round the boat again. 

After this exciting episode, nothing very notable occurred during ourstay on this part of the coast for the next twelve months, beyond mybeing made `able seaman. '

I passed for this grade very satisfactorily, I am glad to say; but, itwould not be fair for me to omit mentioning that it was mainly throughmy old friend Larrikins that I was able to get off with flying colours. My old chum coached me up in the knotting and splicing of wire rope, ofwhich art he was a proficient, his father being a working smith, andLarrikins himself having been intended originally for that trade, beforethe superior attractions of the sea weaned him from the paternalhandicraft. 

In the following year, however, matters became a trifle livelier on theEast coast. 

The Somali, from the constant blockade we kept up along their territorywith our boats and cruisers, from Cape Guardafui down to the Equator, thus putting a stop to their slave-dealings, capturing as we did alltheir dhows and blocking all outlets from the coast, determined onretaliatory measures; so, mustering all their forces and calling up theassistance of the slave-dealers of the interior, they began to attackvarious points of the British protectorate. 

Possibly, had the Arabs only us to deal with, things might not have gotto this pass; but, very unluckily for this country, the Germans, whohave long been jealous of our colonial enterprise and commercial successin Africa as elsewhere, took it into their heads, not long since, toextend their trade on the eastern seaboard. 

The ideas of Meinherr Von Sourkrout and his warlike Kaiser in respect ofthe colonisation of this part of the Dark Continent, like those of ourFrench cousins on the West Coast, differ much from the more peacefulplan pursued by England for several generations past--a plan that hasworked wonderfully well in the building up of our Empire, and the spreadof our manufactures over every land and sea!

Meinherr Sourkrout's method for extending trade, that is, according tothe experience of us bluejackets of the British Navy who have served onthe East African station, has been to shoot down the natives whereverthe flag of his Fatherland has ever been stuck up; and, when the men ofthe negro tribes, objecting to such friendly advances, have bolted intothe bush, Meinherr, imitating the example of his great countrymanMarshal Haynau, took to flogging their wives and womenfolk in order tocoax the black gentlemen back. 

The darkeys, somehow or other, didn't tackle to this treatment; and, theGermans having thus roused them up to the south of our protectorate, where, unfortunately for us, Meinherr Von Sourkrout and his domineeringcompatriots have a territory far too close to our own, the natives, being of the opinion that we were in sympathy with their oppressors, joined hands with the Somalis in their advance on our trading postsalong the coast--they did not touch those belonging to the Germans, forthe very good reason that these have none!

I heard Mr Gresham explaining all this one day to Dabby when they wereboth sitting in the captain's gig, to which I had been shifted since mypromotion to able seaman; for I was pulling stroke at the time, the boattaking them ashore to a grand dinner-party given by the British Consulto the Sultan or some other `big pot' at Zanzibar, off which port the_Mermaid_ was then lying. 

I wondered what led to this queer talk, as none of us on board had heardanything on the lower deck about any row being imminent; for, of course, sick of our stagnant life for the last few months, as all of us were, the inkling of any fight being in the air would have been as welcome tous as the `flowers of May. '

Still I kept my ears open all the same; and when, the next morning, Imet the captain's steward returning from the galley with a cup of earlycocoa for `old Hankey Pankey, ' and he told me that he thought we weregoing to be busy soon, the `old man' having directed him to take out hissword and pistols, and give them to his marine servant to be cleaned up, I began, as `Gyp' did that time on board the _Saint Vincent_, `to smella rat. '

A little later on, my impressions became confirmed; for, just as we werepiped down to breakfast after `wash and scrub decks, ' and I was tellingLarrikins, who sat alongside me at the mess-table, what I had heard, theengine-room gong sounded, and the word was passed to get up steam asquickly as possible. 

`Old Hankey Pankey' did not waste time when he had once got his orders;and some couple of hours after we had weighed anchor and were rapidlyleaving Zanzibar, with its rows of square stone houses, built with flatroofs in the eastern style, that front the beautiful curving bay, whosewhite sandy beach is washed by water so clear that you can see thebottom at six fathoms, and which is backed, beyond the warehouses andmansions of the merchants, by the bright greenery of palm trees anddates and other rich tropical growths, the beautiful foliage of whichcontrasts vividly with the intense whiteness of the buildings andadjacent shore, offering quite a relief to the eye from the glaring sunand coppery sky overhead. 

"Say, Tom, " said Larrikins to me presently, as the two of us, with a lotof the other hands, were polishing up the brasswork of the machine-gunson the upper deck, "d'yer know where we're bound in such a hurry?"

"No, Larry, " I replied. "Somewhere up the coast, though, I 'spect fromwhat I told you down below. "

Larrikins chuckled to himself. 

"Ye'r a fine chap, Tom, to give a fellow h'infumation, " he said with asnigger. "I could 'a told you as much meself. Why, carn't I see with'arf a h'eye we're steerin' to the north'ard up the coast, with themunsoon a-blowin' right in our teeth and the sun on our starb'rd 'and!"

I laughed, too, at the sharp wag's rejoinder. 

"Well, Larry, " I said at last, after polishing up the ratchet of theNordenfeldt I was working at to my personal satisfaction, hoping to havethe aiming of it bye-and-bye, "I can't tell you any more than that weare bound up the coast, and are likely to have a brush with the Arabsalong there somewhere; but where that somewhere is, my joker, I'm hangedif I know!"

"I can tell you, mate, " put in a man who was rubbing up the gun at theend of the bridge hard by where we were standing. "We're off forMombassa again. I heard `old Square toes, ' the navigator, tell MrChisholm just now. He said we were agoin' to meet the _Merlin_ there, and purseed further up the coast together. "

"Oh!" said Larry, "that means business, Tom. "

"Ay, " said I, "it does, my hearty, and to tell the truth, Larry, I'mjolly glad of it. "

So were all hands on board, when the news spread through the ship; and, on our reaching Mombassa late in the afternoon of the same day, steamingfifteen knots all the way, pretty nearly our full speed when thestokehold was not `closed up, ' we found the _Merlin_ there before us, asthe man on deck had told Larry and me in the morning. 

This made assurance a certainty, every man-jack of the crew being cock-a-hoop with excitement, when, after a lot of signalling between the twocruisers, and the _Merlin's_ gig bringing her captain alongside, hebeing junior to `old Hankey Pankey, ' the two of us sailed off in companyjust before sunset. 

Our destination was Malindi, at the mouth of the Sabaki river, where itwas reported the Somalis had made an inroad into the Britishprotectorate, and burnt one of the out stations of the East AfricanCompany, slaughtering all the whites and natives employed by thetraders. 

This place was only some sixty miles to the northward of Mombassa; andall the arrangements for our landing having been completed, and `oldHankey Pankey' settled his plan of operations with Captain Oliver of the_Merlin_, we did not hurry on the passage to Malindi, timing ourselvesto arrive about daybreak, casting anchor in front of the town, as nearin as we could get without shoaling our water, at Six Bells in themorning watch to the minute. 

During our run up the coast from Mombassa, the first lieutenant and MrDabchick saw to our boats being got ready, and the bluejackets andmarines, who were detailed for service with the expedition, mustered ondeck in all their `war paint, ' and told off to the respective craft inwhich they were to go ashore; and by Eight Bells, after a hurriedbreakfast, which none of us much cared to eat, we were all so full ofenthusiasm at the prospect of action, we shoved off from the _Mermaid_--all in dead silence, though, so that no inkling of our coming mightreach the ears of the Arabs before we were upon them. 

The boats of the _Merlin_ left their ship at the same time as we didours; the two lots making for the land in two columns abreast, `oldHankey Pankey' leading our line in the launch, with the first and secondcutters and the whaler trailing on behind, while Captain Oliver ledthose of the _Merlin_. 

On reaching the shore, the sea being fortunately very quiet, though thenorth-east monsoon was now blowing, we waded up the sandy beach withoutany difficulty; and, leaving our flotilla under charge of the boat-keepers, a couple of hands in each craft to look after them so as toprevent their grounding in the event of the wind getting up, when thesurf might be dangerous, we united our forces and marched in a bodyinland. 

Avoiding the town of Malindi, our object being to surprise a stockade, where the Somalis were reported to have established themselves, somefive miles off in the bush, in the rear of the outposts of the settlers, we shaped a course south by west under the guidance of one of thenatives, who had been sent to us by one of the principal merchants ofthe place on hearing of our landing, so as to make our way easy for us, steering by compass in the jungle ashore being very different to what itis on the open sea. 

The rascal, who was evidently a Somali spy sent by his astute comradesto watch our movements, made our way very easy indeed; for he took usdirectly in front of the stockade we had intended surprising, instead ofshowing us a by-path leading to the rear of the fortification, fromwhich we could have outflanked the defence. 

`Old Hankey Pankey, ' who led our fighting force of bluejackets andmarines, which mustered in officers and men altogether some two hundredstrong, was flabbergasted as he gaily marched in front of the column onour being received by a hail of bullets and buckshot, which decimatedour ranks as we suddenly debouched from a rough, tangled undergrowth ofscrub and dwarf plantain trees. 

Amidst these we could hardly see an inch before us; and then, we foundourselves in front of a high palisade, made of the trunks of heavy treeslashed together with lianas and rattan creepers that were as strong aswire rope. This was loopholed for musketry, and from thence a murderousfire of innumerable weapons was directed at our devoted heads. 

Plucky as a lion, however, the captain rallied us; and, dividing thecolumn into three portions, taking command of the middle divisionhimself, while Captain Oliver of the _Merlin_, and Lieutenant Dabchickof our ship, headed the two others, we advanced with a cheer to stormthe stockade, `old Hankey Pankey' aiming for its front face, and theother sections of our force for the flanks of the fortification. 

Talk of fighting, it was a case of `pull baker, pull devil!' then!

We numbered two hundred, as I have said, but the Somalis must havemustered two thousand at least, if they had a man there. 

Twice we advanced to the attack, twice we were forced to fall backbefore the withering flight of bullets that met us face to face fromevery hole and corner of that infernal stockade; though Captain Hankeybravely walked right up to the timber work till he almost touched it, arevolver in either hand, which he fired alternately at the beggars!

But, the captain got a big matchlock ball through both his legs, themissile having been discharged at him as he turned sideways, with a"Follow me, lads!" to cheer us on. 

He was not licked yet, though; for, as Larrikins stooped over him tolift him up, `old Hankey Pankey' got his arm round his neck and climbedup on to him pick-a-back, Larry highly delighted at the job, he and thecaptain then advancing again to the assault. 

In the meantime, Mr Dabchick had brought up one of our little nine-pounder boat-guns which had stuck in the rear and blew in part of thepalisading on the left of the stockade, when he and a lot of us made adesperate charge to storm the entrenchment. 

Poor little Dabby, though, was shot dead while entering the breach theshell of our nine-pounder had made in the outer palisade that protectedthe Arab defences; and then, finding a second fence composed of similarbaulks of timber in front of us, as strong as that we had surmounted, and that the fire of the Somalis increased the nearer we got to them, our chaps, staggered by the fall of poor Dabby, I must confess it, allat once began to cut and run!

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. 

BABOON VALLEY. 

"Stand by!" roared `old Hankey Pankey' from his perch on the top ofLarry's shoulders, noticing our hasty retreat from the left of thestockade, our fellows indeed rushing back in their scurrying flight intothe midst of the centre column and mixing it up into irretrievableconfusion. "Steady there! Face round, my men, stand firm!"

Just at that moment, though, when starting forwards again, with thecaptain still pick-a-back on his shoulders, Larrikins stumbled over adead Arab that lay in front of him, and down came he with `old HankeyPankey' all in a heap together, with a couple of Somalis, at whom theywere going full butt. 

This second catastrophe broke up our ranks, some of the chaps--only afew, though, I am proud to say--bolting into the bush; but Mr Chisholm, who was leading the rear division, waved his sword in the air, and criedout for volunteers to rescue our captain. 

At once, the whole lot of us that were left followed him up to thefront, where Larrikins and `old Hankey Pankey'--the latter of whom ofcourse could not rise of his own accord, by reason of the injury to hislegs--were fighting as only Englishmen can fight amidst a perfect hordeof Arabs, who had poured out from the stockade on seeing us retreat. 

"Hurrah, boys!" cried Larry, as we came up at the double, firing awaywith our rifles right and left, and digging our sword-bayonets, tillthey were dyed red with blood, into the body of every Somali who barredour onward progress to the help of our comrade and the captain. "Giveit to the bloomin' beggars hot!"

We did not need the advice, however, as the Arabs themselves could haveborne testimony to, for with a wild rush, that carried everything andeverybody before it, we drove our foe back into their stronghold, andrecovered `old Hankey Pankey, ' who was at once hoisted triumphantly upby a couple of marines. These gallant fellows, I should add, to giveall honour to the corps, stood stauncher even than we bluejackets didthat day; for, not a man turned his back on the foe until the captaingave the word. 

This `old Hankey Pankey' was forced to do, much against the grain, amoment or two later on, Captain Oliver having been driven off from theright attack, thus leaving both our flanks now exposed as well as ourfront to the fire of the Somalis, who once more rushed out from thestockade upon us. 

"We must retire, my lads, " cried the captain in a hoarse voice, thewords coming out with almost a sob. "But no hurry! Fall back bysections, each wheeling and firing in turn. The company will nowretire! Quick march! Halt! Front!--fire!"

He suited the action to the word himself as he said this, dischargingboth his revolvers point-blank at two of the Arabs, who were leading onthe gang in hot pursuit of us, tumbling them over like ninepins. 

We had retreated in this fashion for about a mile or so, changing frontcontinually and facing the Somalis, who pressed us hard every inch ofthe way; until, coming to an open space on the main road that had beencut in a sort of zigzag through the bush from Malindi up to Uganda, thecaptain determined to make a stand here and teach our pursuers a lesson, the more particularly as we now had with us all our little nine-pounderboat-guns. 

These, with the exception of one, that only got up at the last momentwhen too late, we had been unable to drag along with us for the attackon the stockade, the path we had traversed through the bush in the firstinstance under the leadership of our treacherous guide having almostbeen impassable for ourselves, let alone guns. 

Accordingly, with a rapid order to Mr Shrapnell, or `Gunnery Jack, ' whohad accompanied the column from the ship, but had remained behind withhis little battery of field-pieces on their becoming bogged in the bush, trying all he could to extricate them so as to get up with the column, he being anxious, of course, to take his part in the fighting, we formedsquare in the open. 

The thirty odd marines we had with us were drawn up two deep in front, they being the oldest and most seasoned men of our force; while webluejackets were quickly echeloned along the sides and rear of thesquare, at each corner of which was stationed one of the nine-pounders. 

Our Maxim gun, which had become jammed at its first discharge when usingit against the stockade but had now been made serviceable again, wasplaced right in the centre of our front line, so as to fire over theheads of the rank kneeling. 

"Now, men, " shouted out Captain Hankey, who had dismounted from theshoulders of the `jollies' who had been carrying him in the place ofLarrikins since the latter's tumble, and was now seated on the stump ofan old tree in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by us all andcommanding a view of every part of the square, "aim low, and don't wastea shot; but, wait till I give the word!"

The Arabs, who had checked their advance on seeing us halt, hesitatingas if waiting to learn what we were up to, now began to press forwardagain, their ugly bronze faces, of a Jewish cut, peering at us out ofthe bush on either side; while a large number came out into the openwith a rush, making for the front of the square and firing their queerlong muskets, as well as hurling their jereeds, or short spears, rightinto our faces as they charged. 

Every one of us, I can tell you, gripped his Martini rifle as if hewould dig his nails into its steel barrel, sighting it for point-blankrange and aiming low, as the captain had told us, to catch the beggarsfull in the bread-basket as they came up, yelling and waving theirweapons about, thinking, no doubt, to frighten us. 

But, though we might have faltered after our third repulse at thestockade, we were not frightened now; nor did a man of us wish to fallback, even if he had the chance. 

We were only waiting for `old Hankey Pankey' to give the word. 

He did not delay this long. 

"Steady, my lads!" he cried, in a warning voice, after a quick glanceround the square to see that we had made all proper preparations to giveour friends the Somalis a hospitable reception. "Are you ready, MrShrapnell?"

"Aye, aye, sir, " replied `Gunnery Jack' instanter, "all ready!"

"Then, we'll blaze away and let the beggars have it all together, "yelled out `old Hankey Pankey, ' raising himself up in some wonderfulsort of way on the top of the tree stump, for he could not stand on hislegs; and, taking off his cap and waving it round his head thrice, hegave out the words, "One--two--three, Fire!"

Like a thunderclap, sharp, sudden, and rolling through the air with aconcussion that shook the very ground under our feet, a murderous volleybelched forth from our square, mowing down the Arabs as with the swathof a mower's scythe, the mass of on-rushing, howling, swarthy Somalissinking down to the ground, overborne by the avalanche of shot and shellwe hurled at them; for, the rifles of us men, the guns of MrShrapnell's battery, the revolvers of the officers, and the Maxim, allspoke at once and together. 

Aye, so they did; and, though varied in tone, from the musical `Ping!'of our Martinis to the crackling grunt of the quick-firing weapon, whoseirritable cough could be heard above the deep boom of the nine-pounderswhich echoed through the woods, all spoke the same word--Death!

We had no need to give them a second volley, the fearful effects of ourfirst having so intimidated the few survivors we could see in thedistance, that these incontinently fled back into the bush, leaving usnow to pursue our retreat to the coast without any further molestationon their part. 

But, albeit conquerors in this our last stand, the victory came too lateto cheer us; and it was with greatly saddened hearts and drooping faces, thus offering a strongly marked contrast to the bright enthusiasm withwhich we all had started up country in the morning, we now slowlyretraced our way to the shore, to the south of Malindi. 

Out of the two hundred bluejackets and marines who had landed from the_Mermaid_ and _Merlin_ at break of day, but half that number returned onboard their respective ships at nightfall, when the sun sank over thehills to the westward like a ball of fire, crimsoning the heavens to thehue of the blood that had been spilt!

On reaching the _Mermaid_ the surgeon had Captain Hankey carried down tohis cabin at once, as he was now becoming faint with exhaustion; though, I believe, the mortification he felt at the Arabs having licked us gavehim more pain than the damage done to his legs by the ball of thematchlock, which had taken him athwartship through the fleshy part ofhis understandings--breaking no bones, but crippling him all the same. 

The surgeon, however, could not keep him quiet long below; for no soonerhad his wounds been dressed than he insisted on being brought up on deckagain, when he had the hands all mustered aft and spoke a fewsympathising words to us anent the events of the day. He expressed hissorrow at the loss of so many good men and true, and added that, thoughdefeated for the time, we would shortly have `a go at the Arabs' again, and nail the Union Jack of old England yet on top of the Somalistronghold. 

"Three cheers now, my lads!" he called out at the end of his harangue, which was interspersed with a lot of `ahem'-ing and `haw'-ing, `oldHankey Pankey' not being much of a speaker--"three cheers for the oldflag that has never been licked yet in the long-run!"

If you could have only heard the shout that went up from the lustythroats of the chaps standing round me and Larrikins, you would not havethought we had just been beaten off by those black devils nor had tomourn so many jolly shipmates whom we would never see again in thislife!

But, sailors can't afford to waste any time in `crying over spilt milk';it would be a poor lookout for them, aye, and for our country too, ifthey did!

`Old Hankey Pankey' was of a like opinion. 

So no sooner had the echo of our ringing cheer died away amidst thehills beyond Malindi, now purpling with the shades of evening, ere, turning round as well as he could with his bandaged limbs, still sittingin the easy-chair in which he had been brought up from below, he hailedthe signalman and told him to make the _Merlin's_ number, calling MrGresham at the same time to his side, the two of them confabulatingtogether. 

Presently, in response to another signal from us, Captain Oliver came onboard, when he joined in the talk going on between `old Hankey Pankey'and Mr Gresham for a bit and then returned to his own ship; the_Merlin_ shortly afterwards slipping her moorings and making off at fullspeed to the southwards. 

"I tell 'ee wot, Tom, " said Larrikins to me on our going down to thelower deck just then, the `disperse' having sounded, and it being ourwatch below, "she's gone h'off fur to tell the h'admiral o' the bloomin'mess we've made on it!"

This we found was the case next morning when the captain's steward cameforwards as usual; this worthy being better than a newspaper to all ofus, for he used to tell us of things before they occurred, and trulyenough too, instead of waiting for events to happen and then garblingthem, as some prints I have seen do!

Two or three days later the _Merlin_, which reported having had a longchase after the senior officer, going almost as far as Zanzibar and backto Mombassa before she picked him up, returned to Malindi, in companywith the _Bullfinch_, another small cruiser attached to the East Africansquadron. 

Captain Oliver also brought orders from our chief, that parties ofbluejackets were to be landed to protect Malindi from any hostile attackof the Arabs, while he with the admiral and all the force on the stationwere busy preparing an expedition on a grand scale, to drive the Somalisaltogether out of the British protectorate, and so prevent any furtherattempt on their part to invade the country for some time to come. 

These instructions were acted on immediately by `old Hankey Pankey' tothe letter, parties of seamen and marines from each ship in turn landingand patrolling the outskirts of the settlement, in front of which ourlittle fleet of three vessels was anchored; and so we `marked time, ' soto speak, for the next few months, waiting for the ships belonging tothe West African squadron to come up with the admiral himself, as notuntil then would we be able to resume active operations against the foe, whose defeat of us before their stockade at Wooromoloo we were burningto avenge. 

"Lor', Tom, " said Larrikins to me, expressing the current feeling of allon board the _Mermaid_, "I'd die happy, s'help me, if I could only potthat there bloomin' Arab thief Abdalah, him we see'd shoot poor littleDabby. They told us, Tom, you reck'lect t'other day over in the niggertown there when we was on sentry go, him were the chief of the gang, andwere boastin' o' killin' our h'officers and makin' all on us cut andrun. Lor', I'd give a year's pay to settle that there beggar's hash!"

At last one morning, when we were pretty well tired of this forcedinaction, a despatch boat came up from Mombassa, bringing orders fromthe admiral, who had arrived there in his flagship, accompanied byseveral gunboats and other vessels, nearly all the crews of which hadbeen landed. 

The admiral informed our captain that he was about to proceed inlandthrough the province of Teita with this formidable column; and that he, `old Hankey Pankey, ' was to assemble as strong a force as he couldmuster from the ships under his command and with a second column thusformed he was to start from Malindi and work in a south-westerlydirection, when the two bodies would meet, completely hemming in theArabs. 

`Old Hankey Pankey' got us all ashore the same afternoon the admiral'sorders came; and, early the next morning, nearly four hundred strongnow, just double our former strength, we marched off up country towardsthe scene of our defeat at the hands of the Somali chieftain Abdalah, onthe occasion of our previous trip inland. 

When we got near his stockade, though, which, it need hardly be stated, we approached with considerable caution this time, the old bird hadflown, having crossed the Sabaki River before our approach and gone tojoin the rest of the Somalis at Teita, whom the admiral was now busyencompassing. 

Our way, therefore, so far, was clear; and, breasting the hillsmanfully, we proceeded along the route marked out for us, our hopes highand our spirits buoyant at the chance of now turning the tables on theold miscreant who had previously beguiled us. 

The country a little way from the coast began to get beautifully wooded:while a series of undulating plateaus were planted by the natives withplantains and sugar-canes, besides various vegetables whose names noneof us knew. 

Farther up the mountains some of the trees were tall and spreading, unlike anything, I thought, that ever grew in Africa; for I recognised amountain-ash and a sort of oak, while the juniper-tree perfumed the airwith its aromatic smell. 

I have good cause to remember these same junipers! On our way up theheights, Larrikins and I, who were scouting in advance, on either sideof the front of the column, met a native, who told us in the bastardjargon of the coast called the Swahili language that some big animals, which he said were bigger than us and covered with long hair, were in avalley on our right; and that, if we valued our lives, so at leastLarrikins told me, he having picked up some of the lingo from a negrowoman at Malindi, we had better make a detour so as to avoid this place. 

"Nonsense, " said I. "The rascal, perhaps, is another spy like that chapwho led us into the stockade trap! I ain't going out of the straightroad the cap'en laid down for us to steer. He said the column was to gowest sou'-west by compass, and west sou'-west, Larry, I'm going!"

So saying, off I bore in the direction I had indicated, keeping to theright of the main column, which was following the bank of the SabakiRiver. 

Trudging along steadily, Larry just keeping in sight of me, so as tohold touch with the column, I came, a little way farther on, upon a mostbeautiful grove of camphor and juniper-trees, that seemed cut out of agorge in the Kilima-Njaro mountains. 

The smell was so overpoweringly sweet and delicious, after the toil ofour long march and the arid wastes through which we had drearily toiled, knee-deep in hot sand that had burnt the soles of our feet through ourboots, that I really could not help halting for a moment to inhale thesoft perfumed air, which seemed to me like a breath from the portals ofParadise!

Leaning against one of the trees, a fine juniper it was, I had justtaken off my cap to wipe the perspiration that was rolling down my facelike rain, it having been a stiff climb upwards from the undulatingcountry below, besides having to battle, too, with the brushwood most ofthe way, and the creepers that hung down from the branches, making someof the places through which we passed perfect jungles of massedvegetation, when, all of a sudden, a big hairy hand clutched me roundthe throat and I felt myself drawn up into the tree. 

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. 

A REGULAR SCRIMMAGE!

I believe the delicious perfume that permeated the air had almost lulledme to sleep for the moment, when I was rudely roused up by feeling thegrip on my throat. "Belay that, Larry, " cried I, fancying that mypractical-joking friend had stolen a march on me, thinking to catch menapping, speaking without even taking the trouble to open my eyes. "Alark's a lark, old chap: but you needn't squeeze my throat so beastlyhard, Larry!"

The pressure of his fingers, as I thought, continuing and absolutelycausing me considerable pain, as well as throttling me, while I feltmyself drawn up, as I have stated, into the lower branches of the treeagainst which I had been leaning, I quickly opened my eyes. 

Heavens, I was horrified!

The hand that I fancied was the hand of Larry and which he had claspedround my neck in joke, was one of the great hairy paws of a huge baboon, who, with his grinning face shoved close to mine, was trying his best tochoke me in grim earnest; while, getting a purchase with the other pawon to a projecting limb of the juniper-tree, he was slowly hoisting mealoft. 

His grip was so strong that I felt powerless in his grasp; but, all thesame, I was not going to give in to a brute of a monkey without making afight for it!

So, feeling for the lanyard of my knife, I drew this out of its sheathand gave Jocko's elder brother a slash across his wrist that must havetickled him up a bit, the blood from the beast's paw shooting over myface in a stream, while he let go his hold of me. 

Hardly had I reached the ground, however, touching mother earth againwith a jerk that nearly dislocated my ankles, besides making me fallsideways all a-sprawl, than the baboon, giving vent to a vicious snarl, caught hold of my left leg with both his paws, just as a dog might seizea bone, and bit me savagely with his tusk-like teeth. 

Fortunately, all of us were in full marching rig with gaiters on, andthis protection prevented the baboon's teeth from penetrating far intomy flesh, though he made his mark on my unfortunate calf. 

Then, on my prodding him in one of his hind legs, which I clutched in myturn, thinking such a procedure only fair play, the beast dropped thegaiter he was busy gnawing up, and made at me with a howl, endeavouringto clutch me again in his hairy hug. 

But, dropping on one knee, I gave him an upper cut with my doubled fistright under the brute's chin, which prevented this movement; and thenext moment, falling back, when I jumped on top of him, he and I wererolling over and over, locked together, the baboon and I, in eachother's arms, and engaged in one of the biggest rough-and-tumble fightsI ever had the pleasure of participating in!

The big brute, though, was so strong and muscular that he got the betterof me after a bit, tearing all the clothes off me with the long nails hehad at the ends of his toes and human-like fingers, besides biting me inthe most savage fashion wherever he saw an opening. 

I thought my last hour had come. 

But, help was at hand. 

As I gasped and struggled frantically with the ferocious monster, feeling my strength ebbing away so fast that I had hardly power enoughto protect my face from the brute's cruel claws, I heard a hoarse shoutand a rapid footstep near me crunching on the ground. 

Then. 

`Bang!' came, the report of a rifle close to my ear, and the baboon'sbloody body fell back on top of me, the beast having been shot as deadas a herring. 

"Lor', Tom, " exclaimed Larrikins, hauling away the carcass of thebaboon, which I subsequently learnt was a species of the mandrill, common in the north-eastern and central parts of Africa, "I wer' only inthe nick o' time! Why didn't yer call out, chummy?"

"How could I, Larry?" said I, after he had put his water-bottle to mymouth and brought me round a bit, so that I was able to sit up andspeak. "The beast had me round the neck and I couldn't have shouted oreven whispered to save my life. "

"Well, ye wouldn't 'a saved it, me joker, if I hadn't missed yer all ofa suddink, " replied Larrikins, grinning; for I believe he could not havehelped laughing, his disposition was so humorous, if a fellow had toldhim his father was dead! "I wer' a-wondering where yer wer', Tom, whenI see'd a troop of big black monkeys makin' fur this very grove where weis. Wonderin' if they was them beasts that Swahili chap told us on, Ifollered 'em up; and then, all at onst, I see'd ye, Tom, a-strugglin'with that beast theer, and I comes up at the double and puts my rifleinter his ear and blows his bloomin' brains out, jest as ye was well-nigh spent, me joker. "

"Thank you, Larry, " said I; "you've saved my life. "

"All right, " he replied jokingly, pulling me up and rubbing me down, helping to arrange my tattered jumper and trousers, which that devil ofa baboon had nearly torn to pieces; his bites, luckily for me, not beingas bad as they had seemed, now that the blood was rubbed off. "I hopes, Tom, ye'll remember me in yer will when ye're dead, me joker!"

"I will do better than that, " said I, as we both moved off to join someof the other bluejackets scouting away behind us, who had come up duringthe stoppage of our march through the wild country. "I will rememberyou, Larry, as long as I live!"

The surgeon accompanying our column presently came up to me and neatlystrapped up the cuts which the baboon had inflicted on me with histeeth. He wanted me to retire to the rear and stop with the baggageguard; but, I would have none of that, no, not I!

"I would rather go on, sir, if you will allow me, " said I. "Now that Ihave rested and you have put that stuff on the wounds, I feel all rightagain, sir; and I don't want to be left out of the fighting and lose thechance of paying out those Arab beggars for a few scratches like these. Why, sir, chaps that don't know me would say that I was a coward!"

"Very good, my lad, " said the surgeon good-humouredly, for he was a raregood fellow, and a prime favourite with all on board the _Mermaid_; "youcan go on with the column if you like. We want such men as you in thebattle front; and, I think, we generally have them, too!" I thereforeresumed my place in the ranks, though let off scouting duty, as wasLarry, the two of us being now relieved by fresh hands from amongst thebluejackets; and so, I now marched along with the column, which pursuedits way onward steadily inland, steering the same west south-westcourse, until we had travelled some fifteen miles away from our base. 

We halted for the night on a beautiful grassy plain, covered with redand white clover, with thistles and dog-roses and dandelions intermixed, such as one might see on the outskirts of many an English wood in thesouth; while, there we were in the heart of Africa, so to speak!

Shortly after we encamped here, a runner brought news from the admiralto our captain, telling him that the other column had reached theposition assigned to it in the original plan of operations and that theywere now within good striking distance of the Arabs, who, the chiefwrote word, were massed in the vicinity of Arabuku, which afterexecuting our long detour we also were near. 

All our preparations being thus complete, `old Hankey Pankey' arrangedfor us to break camp at four o'clock the next morning, and move off towhere the Somalis and their allies were said by the natives to beintrenched in strong force, so as to take them in the rear while theadmiral made a front attack. 

No bugle, though, sounded to rouse us when day broke in the Africanforest and the rosy light of dawn came peeping through the trees, brightening the green sheen of their leaves and making the dewdropsglisten on the clover, the scene reminding me more of home than anythingI had seen since I left Spithead. 

But, neither I nor any one else had much time for such reflections thatmorning as we silently paraded before `old Hankey Pankey' and the otherofficers; and, after a careful inspection of our arms, we started in abee-line for Arabuku, the men massed four deep, with the guns in thecentre of our column and flanking parties on the right and left, `oldHankey Pankey, ' of course, let him alone for that, leading the van. 

At five o'clock, just as the old sun appeared in full splendour abovethe tops of the hills on our left, a halt was ordered by the captain, the word being passed quietly along the ranks from front to rear. 

I was on the right flank, close to `old Hankey Pankey' as he brought usup in this sudden fashion, so I heard every word he said to Mr Gresham, who marched by his side; though, for that matter, I almost guessed whatwas coming, from the captain wheeling round abruptly and stopping thesort of half trot at which he had been going along, the poor gentlemannever having quite recovered the use of his legs after the matchlockball had ventilated them. 

"I think this was about the spot, Gresham, eh?" said he to the firstlieutenant. "The admiral said we were to proceed four miles due southfrom our encampment at Kilili, or whatever else that place was called byour Swahili guide. "

"Yes, sir, " replied Mr Gresham. "I think we have about covered thatdistance by now; and our course has been true by compass, I know. "

"Yes, yes, " said `old Hankey Pankey, ' as if thinking over thematter--"yes. Got the rockets ready, Mr--ahem--Shrapnell?"

"Aye, aye, sir, " replied `Gunnery Jack, ' who had come up from his guns, on the halt being cried, to see whether the captain might not have anyspecial orders for him. "They're close at hand, sir. "

"The signal rockets, I mean. "

"Yes, sir, I'm speaking of the signal rockets, " replied Mr Shrapnell, with never a movement on his face, but looking grave as a judge. "Ithought you'd want them, sir, so I brought them along with me. Adamshere, sir, has them in his charge. The other rockets with the tube forfiring them are with the guns in the centre of the main column. "

"That's right, Mr Shrapnell; tell Adams to get one of the signals readyfor sending up at once, for I expect to see the admiral's every minute, "said `old Hankey Pankey'; adding, as `Gunnery Jack' stepped back toprepare the signal rocket with Adams, "That chap thinks himself verysmart with his rocket and tube, as if I didn't know the real differencebetween the two! It's just like those gunnery fellows. They thinknobody can be as sharp as themselves; but Mr Shrapnell will findhimself too sharp for himself as well as for me some day, if he doesn'tlook out!"

Almost as he said this, we could hear the `whis-s-ish' of a rocket goingup in the distance, the sound seeming to come from a point in the bushabout a mile or so ahead of us; and then, the bright blue and redglobules of fire that followed the burst of the warning signal were seenthe very next moment, high in the air above the trees in front, slowlysinking as their light died away out of sight. 

"Stand by there!" shouted `old Hankey Pankey' to Adams, who had ourreturn signal rocket all ready, slung on to a handspike for a stick. "Here's my cigar, set fire to it with that. "

He handed him as he thus spoke the manilla which he had been smokingthroughout our march, as if he were going to some picnic and probablyfeeling quite as jovial as if he had been; and, Adams at once settinglight to the end of the rocket, it soared aloft like its compeer themoment before, with a whish and a rush that must have scared all thestray baboons within earshot of its flight. 

Then we heard tom-toms beating close by, and the clash of brass or someother metal that had a ring like cymbals. 

"They're waking up, " cried `old Hankey Pankey' to Mr Gresham, with apleased smile on his face. "The column will now advance. Close yourranks, men. Keep steady. Forward!"

We had hardly taken a dozen paces, advancing in the same formation asbefore, when we heard the roar of guns in front and steady volleys ofrifle-fire, whose sound clearly betokened that it emanated from weaponssimilar to our own. 

"By George, we'll be too late!" cried `old Hankey Pankey, ' hobblingonwards at a fine rate for a moment, and then slewing round to give somefresh order to those following up behind. "Come on, men--come on at thedouble. Spread out your flanks, Mr Gresham! Spread out your flanks, d'ye hear? Tell Mr Shrapnell to bring up the guns. Spread out there, men--spread out in skirmishing order, to cover your front! Hang it, come on, my lads--come on, or we'll be too late!"

Captain Oliver of the _Merlin_ was running us cheek by jowl with hiscontingent on the left and Commander Jellaby of the _Bullfinch_ tryingto outstrip him on our right; so, we had hard work to keep our place inline ahead. 

But `old Hankey Pankey' was not going to let any one, junior or seniorin the service, beat him for first place when fighting was on; and noone who had known how terribly he had been wounded, the muscles of hislegs having become shrunk after the holes made by the matchlock ball hadclosed up, would have dreamt him capable of going the pace he did now. 

"Forward, men--forward!" he yelled out spasmodically, as he hobbled onlike the wind in front, taking long hops at intervals over anyobstruction that lay in his path. "_Mermaids_ to the front! You're notgoing to let us be licked, men, by any other ship on the station!"

How he got out the words between his leaps, and bounds, and hops, I amsure I cannot tell; but, get them out he did, though he must have beenpretty well pumped out already by his exertions, and his breath nearlyall spent. 

But, we hardly needed the stimulus to prompt us to action; for in barelyanother half minute we burst out of the bush, going at the double andspread out in a half circle, so as to catch all stragglers who mighthave vainly hoped to escape in our direction, for we were right in therear of the Arab town. 

This was already all ablaze from the rockets and bursting shells of theadmiral's brigade, the straw-thatched houses as they looked, though theywere really covered with dry plantain and banana leaves, burning up likeso many fierce bonfires in our front, and right and left; while thesharp rattle of musketry and loud banging of the guns of the firstdivision was mixed up with the platoon-like reports from the matchlocksof the Somalis, who were urging on their somewhat reluctant allies, theslave-traders of the interior, with hoarse yells and shrill screams, bolstering up their courage likewise by the beating of innumerable gongsand clashing cymbals, the consensus of sound making din enough to havewakened up all the dead dervishes of the desert for generations past, and caused them, had they come to life, to have proclaimed a `Jehad' orholy war against us, and thus roused up all the fanaticism of all thoseof the Moslem race yet left alive!

Such was our grand rush, however, coming as it did on top of thecleverly planned combined attack of the admiral's columns in front ofthe town, thus taking the Arabs between two fires, that even Saladinwould not have saved them. 

Hundreds of them were shot down behind their stockades, which I must saythey defended gallantly to the last; while those who were not potted byour bullets, were `put out of action' by the bayonets of us bluejackets, who carried their intrenchments by storm. 

So far, I was only one of the crowd, loading and firing my Martini as Iadvanced or halted on the word of command being given by `old HankeyPankey'; who, plucky as a lion, was in the forefront all through, hisuniform cap tumbled off and his face all blackened with powder, `potting' this chap with the revolver that he held in his left hand, orsticking another Somali through the gizzard with his sword, which wasalways thrust out straight before him as he went onward, and always `atthe point. '

But, now, I had a little diversion on my own account. 

"Left turn!" shouted our company leader Mr Chisholm, whose sharp eyedetected through the smoke a body of the Arabs attacking an officer anda detached party of our men who had escaladed the fortifications on theright of the town; and seeing that they were hard pressed, though makinga gallant stand of it against heavy odds, our officer quickly calledout, "Double! Charge, my lads!"

By George! We did charge; and then, the bronze-coloured beggars, whohad thought to make an easy prey of our before isolated comrades, turnedsavagely to receive us, a whole horde of them!

Larrikins, who was next me, got his right arm transfixed by one of theirlight spears or jereeds, a lot of which came whistling through the airinto our ranks like a flight of sparrows. 

This made Larry drop his rifle like a hot potato; but, nothing daunted, he kept alongside of me all the same, drawing his cutlass as we racedalong together. 

"Lor', Tom, that wer' a nipper, that wer'!" he cried, with a grin on hisface, as if the wound were rather a joke than otherwise. "But I'mjiggered if I don't pay out the joker who skewered me then!"

At that moment a couple of the Arabs made at the pair of us; and I hadquite enough to do to guard off the shower of cuts one of them deliveredround my devoted head, his curved scimitar whirling about me in alldirections and the sunlight from above making it flash so that itdazzled my eyes. 

However, a lucky drive with my sword-bayonet through the rascal's throatstopped his little game; for the swarthy Arab dropped his scimitarinstanter, with a gurgle of rage and an upward roll of his eyes, "like adying duck in a thunder-storm, " as father used to say, tumbling down allof a heap as dead as mutton. 

Hardly had I done with him when, strange to say, I heard the bark of adog. 

This was very unusual, all Mahometans hating dogs and believing them tobe possessed of the Devil. 

Besides, somehow or other, I seemed to recognise the bark as familiar tome; for, believe me, the voices of dogs and their respective expressionsof grief or joy, though sounding the same to alien ears, are as distinctto such as are accustomed to hear them frequently as the voices of humanbeings of our acquaintance or any individual. 

Before I had time to think, however, though my senses were all on thealert from hearing the dog's bark, I saw that the naval officer whom wehad rushed up to help at Mr Chisholm's instigation, was engaged in afierce hand-to-hand fight with two Arabs, one of whom, a tall, leanSomali, with a peculiar sort of turban round his head, unlike any ofthose sported by the rest of the gang, I was certain was no less apersonage than the man, or `sheik' as he was called, Abdalah, the leaderof the Somalis. 

As I noted this, the officer fell; but, ere the big Arab, who drew backa long spear that he wielded, could give him the fatal thrust heintended, I was upon him. 

Clubbing my rifle, I dealt a vicious blow at the savage brute's headwhich shivered the spear wherewith he tried to guard it. 

The rascal, though, was not discomfited; for, clutching hold of a tulwarhe carried loosely in a sash of the old dressing-gown-like garment hewore, he almost slashed my nose off, the barrel of my Martini only justpreventing me from losing all my good looks!

The shock sent me on my knees; and then, seeing a sword lying on theground in front of me, I gripped hold of this more by instinct thananything else, and I rose to my feet again as quick as lightning. 

Quick as I was, however, the brute of an Arab was quicker; and, aiming aterrible slashing cut at me with the tulwar, which had it landed wouldhave decapitated me as clean as a whistle, and the last word of myhistory been told for good and all--aye, but for a wonderfulinterposition just as I thought my end had come. 

With a piercing yelp, that was succeeded by a deep, savage growl, awhite dog bounded up from the ground beside the officer, who had not yetrecovered from the effects of the blow that had struck him down. 

Would you believe it, this dog was `Gyp'!

Making a jump which no one could have imagined a dog of his size capableof doing, he clutched the Arab chief by the throat as he slashed at me, making him stumble back, thus causing the cut that would otherwise havesliced off my head like a carrot to be wasted in the air. 

As the big murdering rascal stumbled back, I thrust forth my arm holdingthe officer's sword and sent the blade right through the beggar'sstomach up to the hilt. 

"Be the powers, me joker, " cried a voice behind me, as sheik and `Gyp'and I all fell together on the ground in one batch, "ye did that well, alannah! Begorrah, it wor roight in his bri'd-basket, sure!"

"My goodness!" I exclaimed, recognising a voice that sounded asfamiliar to my ears as the bark of `Gyp' just now. "Who's that?"

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. 

WARM GREETINGS. 

"Tom, don't ye know me, owld chappie?" cried Mick, for, of course, itwas him; though, what with my deadly struggle and rescue by `Gyp, ' whomI thought thousands of miles away, besides the fact of my old chumcoming so unexpectedly on the scene, I felt perfectly bewildered, thinking that I must be in a dream. "Begorrah, ye're starin' at me, sure, ez if I wor a ghost or a banshee, bedad!"

"Really, Mick, " said I, when I could at length speak and was convincedthat it was himself in proper person and no phantom of my imagination, gripping his fist in a hearty grasp that expressed more than I could sayand which he understood better than all the words in the world, "youdon't mean to say it's you! How did you come here?"

"Faith, on the sowl of me fat, " he answered, with his jolly laugh, speaking in that racy brogue which sounded like music, it being so longsince I had heard it. "Sure, Oi've marched oop from the coast the sameez yersilf, alannah!"

"But, " said I, still wondering at the unlooked-for sight of him thereall of a sudden like that, "I thought you were on the West Coast, cruising about the Bight of Benin, or up the Niger, or somewherethereabouts?"

"So I wor, " he replied, with a grin at the stupefied look on my face;"but you forgits, Tom, our squadron's coom round here with the admiralto give ye a hilping hand, sure, in yer shindy with these blissid Arabthayves here. So, faith, Oi've coom along with the rest in the owld_Grampus_, bedad. But, Oi'm lookin' for our cap'en now. Have you saynhim, Tom, at all--he wor in the thick of the foightin' jist now summatabout heres?"

"Your cap'en, " said I, trying to repress `Gyp's' frantic joy at seeingme again; the faithful animal, who had stuck to the Arab chief with atenacious grip, only releasing him when he was assured of his not beinglikely to trouble any of us any more, now coming up to me and springingup, trying to lick my face as he yelped and whined with delight. "Whois your cap'en?"

"Why, Tom, I thought you knowed, " he replied, looking from me down at`Gyp, ' whose stumpy tail, and every hair on his white coat as well, seemed on the wag, his excited affections only finding outlet in thisway. "Faith, he's Cap'en Sackville, to be sure, be all the powers!"

"What--"

"Yis, " said Mick Donovan before I could get any further, answering myunasked question; "the same ez we lied aboord with us in the owld _SaintVincent_. "

I was dumbfounded. 

"What an ass I am!" I jerked out, shaking off poor `Gyp, ' andproceeding to where the officer lay on the ground a little way from us, stretched out face downwards. "I ought to have known it was him fromseeing the dog!"

"Aye, sure, it is him thrue enuff, " said Mick, stooping down and raisingup the prostrate figure in his arms. "Them murdering thayves hev kiltthe poor cap'en entoirely!"

Mick's dead man, however, did a most extraordinary thing for one who wassupposed to have departed this life. 

He first sneezed, and then opened his eyes. 

Next he spoke. 

"Where am I? Ah, yes, I recollect, " he faltered out slowly, his witsbeginning to work, and his memory coming back to him; when, all of asudden, catching sight of my face as I loosened his collar and sprinkledsome water from my bottle over his head to bring him to, he uttered aquick cry. "Ah, it's you, Tom Bowling--I remember you quite well. Ithought it was, my lad, before I lost my consciousness. It is you, then, whom I have to thank for saving my life just now?"

"How--why, " I stammered, not knowing well what to say--"what, sir?"

"Oh yes, Bowling; you can't get out of it, " he said in a firmer voice, and the old pleasant smile I recollect when he gave me that half-crownin his cabin on board the old training-ship that I spoke of at thebeginning of my yarn. "I saw you quite plainly, my lad, as you rushedup to my succour when those Arabs nearly settled me. There were two ofthem attacking me at the same time, one before and one behind, and ifyou had not come up I think they'd have settled me. "

"I hope, sir, " said I, as Mick and I raised him up between us into asitting posture--`Gyp' watching the operation with a most intenseinterest and pleasure, his little black muzzle working, and his shorttail wagging all the time--"I do hope you are not seriously hurt, sir?"

Captain Sackville drew a deep breath and shook himself. 

"No, " he said--"no bones broken, I think; but, I have got a bulletthrough one shoulder, I believe, for I can't lift my right hand--that'show I came to drop my sword, which I see you have, Bowling. "

"Yes, sir, " said I quietly, glancing to where the Somali chief wasdoubled up. "I paid off your score against that beggar over there withit, sir. "

"Indeed!" said Captain Sackville, trying to rise up on his legs, butfalling back with a groan. "O-o-oh! I think that fellow gave me a badthrust in the chest just before I dropped it; but, I declare I forgotall about it!"

Mick and I at once tore open his tunic and shirt, when we found a deepwound on his right side, from which the captain must have lost a gooddeal of blood, his clothing being quite saturated; but the wound was notbleeding much now and we bound it up with our two silk handkerchiefs, winding them round his body, which relieved him so much that he was ableto stand up on his feet. 

The battle between our forces and the foe was now pretty nigh over, andthe combatants had long since swept past us; pursuers and pursued havingalike disappeared in the bush surrounding the native town or lost tosight amid the smoking ruins, where some little desultory skirmishingwas still going on. 

Presently, however, a grand hurrah went up on the left, where theSomalis had made their last stand. 

It was a cheer such as British bluejackets alone can give; and then wesaw the Union Jack run up on the top of a big bungalow in the centre ofthe town, the only hut or building that had escaped destruction in thegeneral conflagration. 

"It's all over, my lads, " said Captain Sackville on hearing and seeingthis. "I think we had better see about joining the main column, andpick up any stragglers we may see in want of assistance by the way. "

But we came across none in any need of help, save such offices as thedead require, along our route to the front; for, wherever we noticed anygroups of bodies together, all alike, whether bluejacket or Arab, werestone dead. 

Bullet and knife and sword had each and all had a busy day of it!

After burying the dead with all the honours of war, the corpse of theArab chief I had killed with Captain Sackville's sword being identifiedformally as that of the notorious Abdalah, as I had thought, our columnsreturned to the coast in triumph with the proud consciousness of havingcleared the country of all the invading Somalis. 

The bluejackets and marines belonging to the admiral's division thenrejoined their ships at Mombassa; while our contingent, led still by`old Hankey Pankey, ' who was none the worse for the fray, retraced theirsteps through Teita and the `baboon valley'--where, I may add, I met nosecond mishap--to Malindi. 

We again went on board the _Mermaid_; and, to cut a long story short, the captain, who was very pleased with what he had seen of me during thecampaign, besides my having a good word put in by Captain Sackville, promoted me to `leading seaman' the very next day. 

Naturally, I was very sorry to part company with Mick so soon after ourlong separation; but, as I have said before, a sailor's life is made upof partings. 

Here besides, as things turned out, no great period elapsed ere we hovein sight of each other again; aye, under circumstances, too, that havecaused us to become closer companions than ever, as indeed we are now. 

I will tell you how this was. 

Not many months after our smashing up the Arabs and driving the Somalisout of the British protectorate back to their own inhospitable country, the _Mermaid's_ commission expired; when, instead of the cruiser goinghome to be paid off, a new crew was sent out to us from England, shestill remaining on the station, in accordance with the routine atpresent in vogue. 

The old _Dromedary_, that brought out our relief, which has cruised morethousands of miles, I believe, on such fetching and carrying work thanhave ever been covered by the oldest ship in the Navy, took us back homein her; and she called in at Simons Bay, en route, to fill up withsupernumeraries and other paid-off crews from ships belonging to theCape station. 

Amongst those that came on board here were the officers and men of the_Grampus_, including none others than Captain Sackville, who had quiterecovered from his wounds, Mick Donovan, and `Gyp. '

I need hardly say what a jolly passage home we all had; Larrikins andMick and I, with some other old shipmates of the _Saint Vincent_, yarning all the way from morning till night, not much work being wantedof us as we had fine weather throughout; while `Gyp, ' who still retainedhis affection for me, exhibited his old bias for lower deck company andcould not be kept away from the fo'c's'le where we were. 

Captain Sackville, of course, noticed this, but he was not a bit angryat it; and, on our leaving the old _Dromedary_ at Portsmouth, where wefinally arrived safe and sound after a pretty speedy passage for such anold tub, he gladdened my heart when saying farewell by making me apresent of `Gyp. '

"Begorrah, " as Mick related to Larrikins subsequently, when we returnedto the depot, after our customary payoff leave ashore, "ye nivver saydsich a coomin' home, sure, ez Tom hed, an' me too, bedad, whin we got upto the owld cottage at Bonfoire Corner. Sure, there wor Tom's faithera-sottin' in the garden in his owld armchair under the mulberry-tree, faith, afther Miss Jenny resayved us at the door--"

"Ah, " interposed Larrikins at this point, with a knowing wink. "But, what o' Tom's sister? Yer ain't told us about her at all, chummy. Didshe give ye a kiss, now?"

"Git away wid ye, " cried Mick, giving him a dig in his ribs, andgrinning the while all over his face at the recollection of somethingabout which I might have told a tale if I had liked, before proceedingto go on with his story of the warm reception we had met with. 

"Well, thin, Tom's fayther wor a-sottin' in the armchair, ez I wor a-sayin' whin you put me off me coorse, Larry, ye baste. Tom wor goin' onahid, wid `Gyp' a-kapin' behoind him, an' Oi, sure, behoind him agin widMiss Jenny, whin the monkey Jocko, who wor alongside of Tom's fayther, catches sight of `Gyp, ' and makes for the to'-gallant crosstrees ov themulberry-tree, faith. Now, Larry, ye moost rimimber the owld cockatoo`Ally Sloper' wor alriddy oop there aloft; an' whin the burrd says Jockomakin' fur him, he oop stick, or rayther oop wid his crist an' fliesdown roight atop ov Tom's hid, shraykin' out, `Say-rah, Say-rah!' asloud as the divvle could bawl. `Gyp' on this starts barkin' loike madat the blissid cockatoo; whin down cooms Masther Jocko fur to have hisshare in the foight. Begorrah, ye nivver sayd sich a rumpus in yerloife, Larry, 'specially whin Tom's fayther got overturned in hisarmchair an' Misthress Bowlin' came out fur to say wot all the row wasabout; whoile Miss Jenny an' Tom an' me, sure, wor all a-dyin' widlarfin', bedad!"

I may add, in conclusion, that Mick and I went from the depot to the_Excellent_, to go through a regular course of gunnery, preparatory toour aspiring to the grade of `petty officer'; and I hope, as my oldfriend the `Jaunty' of the _Saint Vincent_ prophesied, to rise bye-and-bye to the rank of `warrant. '

It is a pity, though, that no chance is yet afforded in our service inthe present day, as used to be the case in the past, when many anadmiral `crept through the hawsehole, ' as the saying was, forrespectable young fellows of good education and bright abilities to lookany higher; but, it is to be hoped that the day will come, as father'sold friend Captain Mordaunt said only the other day when talking to usboth under the old mulberry-tree in our garden, when this state ofthings will be changed, and a boy who enters the service as I did onboard one of our training-ships, will, as Bonaparte said the conscriptcarried a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack, keep snugly stowed awayan admiral's cocked hat in his ditty box!

However, be that as it may, and whether I ever rise to quarter-deck rankor not, I have not a single regret at having ever joined the Navy; for, no one glories more than I in serving our Queen and country under thegrand old flag that floats supreme over every sea where ship may sail. Aye, and my proud boast is that I am still `Young Tom Bowling, ' my dearold father being yet alive; and that I am one of `the Boys of theBritish Navy. '

THE END.