s broad daylight before the
captain could leave the deck. When the ship was put a little to rights,
and those officers who had appeared in limited costume had gone below to
don the usual amount of dress, Mr Fitzgerald walked up to Mr Bryan,
the first-lieutenant, and said--

"I wish, Bryan, that you would ascertain what are and what are not the
regulations of this ship. Two days ago the captain told me that it was
against his express orders that any officers should appear on the
quarter-deck without their breeches, and now he appears himself without
his, and so do Haisleden and the master, and some other fellows
besides."

"There are some occasions when it does not do to stick at trifles,"
answered Mr Bryan, who found it very necessary to humour his eccentric
brother officer.

"Well, at all events, the captain cannot find fault with me after that,"
said the second lieutenant; "I am always saying the same--I never stick
at trifles."

"No, indeed you do not; but sometimes it is just as well to look at
them, and ascertain if they are trifles," observed Mr Bryan.

It was found that the frigate had received so much damage that it was
necessary to put back to Port Royal. It was a matter of very little
consequence to us midshipmen. We were chiefly interested because we
knew that we should get a supply of fresh meat and vegetables, which we
preferred to the salt pork and weevilly biscuits served out to the navy
in those days, and for very many days later; indeed, where is the naval
officer, under the rank of a commander, or I may say a lieutenant, who
does not tap every bit of biscuit on the table before he puts it into
his mouth? He taps mechanically now, but he learned the habit when it
was necessary to knock out the weevils.

We soon had the ship as much to rights as circumstances would allow. In
the evening Grey and I went below, and found the boatswain seated on a
stool in his cabin, with his legs stretched out at full length before
him.

"Ah, young gentlemen, I know what you've come for," he exclaimed when he
saw us. "You're curious to hear some more of my yarns. It's natural,
and I'll not baulk you. There's one thing you may depend on, it will be
a long time before I shall spin them all out. You needn't tell me where
I left off. I was telling you about my pet shark and the dreadful event
connected with it. It's a warning to people not to have pet sharks, as
you'll say when you hear more. But come in,