e had to say for himself, 'Big Bill' cleared his
throat with a _woof_--you know how it sounds: the ship shakes and
trembles when he does it--and the 'old man' fairly tottered under the
blast. 'Big Bill' explained that he could not get a uniform big enough
for him, because the paymaster could not fit him out. The captain
almost grinned when he heard the excuse, and 'Big Bill'--well, he
enjoyed the situation, I'll bet a month's pay."

There was a little pause here, and we heard a great voice rumbling from
below. Then we knew that "Big Bill" was telling his intimates all about
it, embellishing the story as only he could do.

We laughed sympathetically as the shouts of glee rose to our ears. We
had all enjoyed his good-humored Irish wit.

"Well, who else was in trouble this afternoon, 'Stump'?" said "Mourner,"
the inquisitive.

"Oh, a lot of unfortunate duffers. Several who were put on the report
for being slow in lashing up their hammocks got a couple of hours extra
duty each. One or two were there because they had clothes in the 'lucky
bag'--they had left them round the decks somewhere, and the
master-at-arms had grabbed them. The owners had to go on the report to
get the clothes out. It cost them a couple of hours each."

"Well, how did you get out of it?" said I, when "Stump" paused to
breathe.

"I was nearly scared to death," he continued, after a minute or two. "My
name was not called, and the rank thinned out till there were only a
few of us left. I began to think that some special punishment was being
reserved for me, and that the captain was waiting so he could think it
over. What my offence was I could not imagine; my conscience was clear,
I vow. As I stood there in the sun I thought over the last few days, and
made a confession to myself, but couldn't think of anything very wicked.
Had I unintentionally blocked a marine sentry's way and thus interfered
with him in the performance of his duty? I had visions at this point of
myself in the 'brig,' existing on bread and water. Had I inadvertently
gone into 'Cutlet's' pet after wheel-house? I was in a brown study,
conjuring up imaginary misdeeds, when a voice sounded in my ear: 'Here,
my man; what do you want?' I looked around, dazed, at the captain, who
stood by, the closed report book in his hand. Then I realized that my
being there was a mistake, so I saluted and said, 'Nothing, sir.'"

"That's a very nice tale," said "Dye." "We'll have to get 'Mac' to
veri