each moment that Jocko would disgrace
himself and the bubble would burst; but no, there the admiral, would
keep him, talking all the time, and directing most of his attention
towards the pseudo "Senor Carrambo," for whose benefit Tom had to
translate, or pretend to translate, what was said.

Tom said he never got so punished for a joke in his life before, and he
took very good care not to let his sense of the ridiculous put him in
such a plight again, as for more than two mortal hours he suffered all
the tortures of a condemned criminal; as he said, he would rather have
been shot at once!

But when the admiral shook hands with him on his departure, Tom felt
worst of all.

"Good-bye, lieutenant," said the admiral, "and thanks for your
introduction to `Senor Carrambo.' I admired the condition and
discipline of your ship to-day, Mr Finch, and, in forming my opinion of
your character I must say that you carry out a joke better than anyone I
ever met. _But you should remember, lieutenant, that those who have the
end of the laugh, enjoy the joke best_. Good-night, I shall communicate
with you to-morrow!"

Poor Tom! after believing that the admiral had suspected nothing up to
the last moment, to be thus undeceived.

It was heartrending!

Gone was his commission, he thought, at one fell blow, with all the
pleasant dreams of promotion that had flashed across his brain after the
admiral's encomiums on him that afternoon; and he would have to think
himself very lucky if he were not tried by court-martial and dismissed
the service with disgrace.

It was paying dearly for a practical joke, played off on the spur of the
moment, truly!

When he reached the _Porpoise_ he felt so disgusted that he kicked poor
Jocko, boat-cloak, fez and all, down the main hatch, gruffly ordered his
gig to be triced up to the davits, and went below to brood over his
anticipated disgrace in the solitude of his own cabin, where I presently
found him.

After a great deal of persuasion, I got him to indite a letter of
apology to the admiral, detailing all Jocko's perfections, and how he
had been constantly an inmate of his cabin; while assuring him that the
passing off the monkey as a "foreigner" had not been a planned thing,
but was only the result of an accident and his own unaccountable love of
fun, although the falsehood he had been guilty of was most
reprehensible.

Indeed, as I made him observe, if it had not been for the admiral
himse