d served them out three fingers of rum
apiece, which the bo'sun took upon himself to hocus. By latest accounts,
they're sleeping it off and--I say, waiter, you might tell the cook to
devil those kidneys."

"But hasn't Captain Suckling returned yet?" I ventured to ask.

"He hasn't," said Mr. Strangways. "The deuce knows where he is, and the
first lieutenant, not being in the deuce's confidence, is working himself
into the deuce of a sweat. What's worse, His Excellency hasn't turned up
yet, nor His Excellency's suite: though a boat waited for 'em five solid
hours yesterday. All that arrived was His Excellency's valet and about a
score of valises, and word that the great man would follow in a
shore-boat. Which he hasn't."

From this light gossip Mr. Strangways turned and addressed himself to the
devilled kidneys, remarking that in his Britannic Majesty's service a man
was hungry as a matter of course; which I afterwards and experimentally
found to be true.

Well--not to protract the tale--an hour later we took boat with our
belongings, under Mr. Strangways' escort, and were pulled on a swift tide
down to the ship. It so happened that the first and second lieutenants
were standing together in converse on the break of the poop when we
climbed on board and were led aft to report ourselves. The second
lieutenant, Mr. Fraser (in whom we recognised our friend of the night
before) stepped to the gangway and shook hands with a jolly smile.
His superior offered us no such cheerful welcome, but stuck his hands
behind him and scowled.

"H'm," said he, "are these your two infants? They look as if they had
been making a night of it."

I could have answered (but did not) that we must be looking pasty-faced
indeed if his gills had the advantage of us: for the man was plainly
fretting himself to fiddle-strings with anxiety. He turned his back upon
us and called forward for one of the master's mates, to whom he gave
orders to show us our hammocks. We saluted and took leave of him, and on
our way below fell in with Strangways again, who haled us off to introduce
us to the gun-room.

Of the gun-room and its horrors you'll have formed--if lads still read
their Marryat nowadays--your own conception; and I will only say that it
probably bears the same relation to the _Melpomene's_ gun-room as chalk to
cheese. The _Melpomene's_ gun-room was low--so low that Strangways seldom
entered it but he contused himself--and it was also