me walking-sticks. Up town we
met them occasionally, but no one seemed inclined to talk, and a
'barley' was as far away as ever. If we went to the Institute they
were to be seen lolling all over the sofas in the billiard-room,
smoking cigarettes, when, as everyone knows, a briar pipe is the only
thing that goes decently with a brass-bound cap, tilted at the right
angle. They did not seem to make many friends, and their talk among
themselves was of matters that most apprentices ignore. One night
Jones heard them rotting about 'Great Circle sailing,' and 'ice to the
south'ard of the Horn,' and subjects like that, when, properly, they
ought to be criticising their Old Man, and saying what an utter duffer
of a Second Mate they had. Jones was wonderfully indignant at such
talk, and couldn't sleep at night for thinking of all the fine
sarcastic remarks he might have made, if he had thought of them at the
time.

When our barque, by discharge of cargo, was risen in the water, we were
put to send the royal-yards down on deck, and took it as a great relief
from our unsailorly harbour jobs. The 'Torreador's,' with envious
eyes, watched us reeving off the yard ropes. They had a Naval Reserve
crew aboard to do these things, and their seamanship was mostly with a
model mast in the half-deck. They followed all the operations with
interest, and when Hansen and Eccles got the main royal yard on deck,
in record time, they looked sorry that they weren't at the doing.

"Sumners" and "Deviation Curves" are all very well in their way, but a
seamanlike job aloft, on a bright morning, is something stirring to
begin the day with. A clear head to find one's way, and a sharp hand
to unbend the gear and get the yard canted for lowering; then, with a
glance at the fore (where fumblers are in difficulties with their
lifts), the prideful hail to the deck, "All clear, aloft! Lower away!"

No wonder the 'Torreador's' were not satisfied with their model mast!

Some days later we got another chance to show them how things were done
aloft, and even if we were not so smart at it as we might have been,
still it was a fairly creditable operation for some boys and a
sailorman. Our main topgal'nmast was found to be 'sprung' at the heel,
and one fine morning we turned-to to send the yard and mast down. This
was rather a big job for us who had never handled but royal-yards
before; but under the able instructions of the Mate and Bo'sun, we did
our