hey were passing at the time, and disappeared from sight. As his ship
sailed the next morning, the police of Portsmouth searched in vain for
the culprit, who, getting undiscovered on board, did not fail to amuse
his messmates with a full account of his exploit; ha! ha! ha!"

The Admiral laughed heartily at his story, as, of course, did everybody
else, with the exception of Captain Sourcrout, who, grimly smiling,
observed--

"I should have brought that harum-scarum lieutenant to a court-martial
pretty sharply."

"What for--smoking a cigar on the top of a lamp-post?" asked the
Admiral. "It is not against the articles of war."

"No, Admiral Triton, but for conduct unworthy the character of an
officer and a gentleman," answered Captain Sourcrout gruffly.

"Well, as to that, people may be allowed to have their opinion. It's
not a usual proceeding, I grant you, but the act was beyond the
jurisdiction of his captain, and as Paddy was as gallant a fellow as
ever stepped and never failed in his duty, I don't think he would have
been willing to act as you suggest. We must not forget that we were
once upon a time youngsters ourselves, and we may possibly recall to
mind some of the tricks we played in those days, ay, and after we had
mounted a swab, or maybe two, on our shoulders. You remember the
sentry-box which stood at the inner end of the landing-place on the
Common Hard, with a comfortable seat inside it, rather tempting, it must
be confessed, to a drowsily-disposed sentry to take a quiet snooze. Our
fore-fathers had more consideration for the legs and feet of soldiers
than the martinets of our times. To be sure, it a sentry was found
asleep he ought have been flogged or shot, but he could sit down and
rest himself, and if he did so it was at his own risk.

"One night several young commanders, there may have been a post-captain
among them, coming down to the Common Hard, after a dinner-party on
shore, to go on board their ships, found the sentry fast asleep in his
sentry-box. They, of course, were as sober as judges; he, evidently,
drunk as a fiddler. They thereon held a consultation, and came to the
unanimous conclusion that it was meet and fit that a man guilty of so
flagrant an infraction of military discipline should receive condign
punishment, and constituting themselves the executioners as well as the
judges of the law, forthwith set about carrying out the sentence they
had pronounced. Calling up the str