work without any serious digression from the standards of
seamanship. The Mate wondered what was making us so uncommon smart and
attentive, but when he caught sight of the 'Torreador's' watching our
operations with eager eyes, he understood, and even spurred us on by
shouting, "_Mister!_" (the boys of the _Torreador_ were thus addressed
by their Officers) "_Mister_ Hansen, please lay out 'n the topsl-yard,
'n unhook that bloody brace!"

At dusk the 'Torreador's' had stiff necks with looking aloft so much,
and when we knocked off, with the yard and mast on deck, and the gear
stopped-up, they went below and hid their elaborate model mast under a
bunk in the half-deck.

Soon after this a better feeling began. Eccles met one of the
'Torreador's' up-town, and an acquaintance was made. They spent the
evening together, and he learned that the other chap came from near his
place. [It was really about fifty miles from there, but what's a fifty
miles when one is fourteen thousand miles from home?] The next evening
two of them came across. "To see the ship," they said. They brought
briar pipes with them, which was rather more than we could reasonably
have expected. Thereafter nightly visits were the rule, and we became
as thick as thieves. We took them to our bosom, and told them of many
fresh ways to rob the store-room, though they had no need to go
plundering, theirs being a well-found ship. We even went the length of
elaborating a concerted and, as we afterwards found, unworkable scheme
to get even with a certain policeman who had caught our Munro a clip on
the arm with his club when that youngster was singing "Rule Britannia"
along the Water Front at half-past midnight. In the evenings our
respective commanders could be seen leaning across their poop rails,
engaged in genial conversation, addressing one another as "Captain" in
the middle of each sentence with true nautical punctiliousness.

Once the 'Torreador's' Old Man seemed to be propounding his views on
the training of apprentices with great earnestness. What he said we
could not hear, but our Old Man replied that he had work enough "----
to get the young 'sodgers' to learn to splice a rope, cross a
royal-yard, and steer the ship decently, let alone the trouble of
keeping them out of the store-room," and that he'd "---- nae doot but
they'd learn navigation ---- in guid time!"

The elder boys went picnicing on the Sundays to Cliff House or
Saucilito; the se