He used to find his way into the midshipmen's berth and to make himself
quite at home, occupying the space which, as Hemming observed, a better
man might fill. Various devices were made to get clear of him. One of
the officers had a horn with which he now and then startled the silence
of the decks--a practice, by-the-bye, rather subversive of discipline.
One day, while Pigeon was in the berth, the horn was heard to sound.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Hurrah! the mail coach come in from Sicily," exclaimed Jack, starting
up and rushing out. "Come along, it's a sight worth seeing. You'll
have letters by it to a certainty, Pigeon."

Away rushed Pigeon up on deck, while Jack, amid the laughter of the rest
of the occupants, returned to the berth. The captain and several of the
gun-room officers were on deck, when Pigeon made his hasty appearance,
and hurried eagerly to the side.

"What is the matter, Mr Pigeon?" asked Captain Lascelles.

"The mail from Sicily! the mail from Sicily!" ejaculated Pigeon. "Has
it gone? Am I too late to see it?"

Even the captain could not help joining in the laugh which was raised
against the once dictatorial bully of little boys at school.

"Oh, you have not missed it," said Mr Thorn. "Go down to the berth
again, and say that we will call you when it heaves in sight."

More mystified than ever, Pigeon returned to the berth, when he was
welcomed with shouts still more vehement than those which had received
him on deck. The place he had left was occupied, and no one offered to
make room for him, or asked him to sit down--a pretty strong proof that
he was not wanted. Such is the deserved fate of school bullies when
they get into the world, and have their measures properly taken. Still
the midshipmen had not done with him. Quirk, the monkey, had remained,
on his good behaviour, part and parcel of the crew. For the sake of the
men, with whom he was a decided favourite, any slight misdemeanours
which they could not contrive to hide were generally overlooked. Quirk
occasionally paid a visit to the midshipmen's berth, where he sat up at
table cracking nuts, "evidently under the impression," as Jack observed,
"that he is one of us." Quirk had soon struck up a friendship with the
bear, who was a very tame beast, and could play almost as many antics as
he could, only in a more sedate way. Wherever Quirk went, Bruin would
endeavour to follow; and one day, while the midshipmen were at