constant and varied orders to the gang of men
working the capstan, and the others easing off the hawser that had been
passed round the bollard, keeping a purchase on it and hauling in the
slack as the vessel crept along out of the dock so as to prevent her
"taking charge" and slewing round broadside on at the entrance where she
met the full force of the stream, I was well-nigh deafened with the
hoarse shouts and unintelligible cries that filled the air on all sides,
everybody apparently having something to say, and all calling out at
once.

"Bear a hand with that spring!" Mr Mackay would roar out one instant
in a voice that quite eclipsed that of Tim Rooney, loud as I thought
that on first going on board. "Easy there!" screamed Matthews from his
perch forwards, not to be outdone; while the boatswain was singing out
for a "fender" to guard the ship's bows from scrunching against the dock
wall, and Tom Jerrold overseeing the men at the bollard on the wharf
calling out to them to "belay!" as her head swung a bit. Even lanky
young Sam Weeks, the other middy like myself, had something or other to
say about the "warp fouling," the meaning of which I did not catch,
although he seemed satisfied at adding to the general hubbub. All the
time, too, there was the red-headed Mr Saunders, the second mate, who
had stationed himself in the main-chains, whence he could get a good
view of what was going on both forward and aft alike, continually urging
on the men at the capstan to "heave with a will!"--just as if they
wanted any further urging, when they had Mr Mackay at them already and
their tramping chorus, "Yo, heave, ho" to fall back upon!

It was a wonder, with so many contradictory commands, as these all
seemed to my ignorant ears, that some mishap did not happen. But,
fortunately, nothing adverse occurred to delay the ship; and those on
shore being apparently as anxious to get rid of the Silver Queen as
those on board were to clear her away from the berth she had so long
occupied when loading alongside the jetty, she was soon by dint of
everybody's shouting and active co-operation warped out of the basin
into the lock, drifting thence on the bosom of the tideway into the
stream.

Here, a little sturdy tug of a paddle steamer, which had been waiting
for us the last hour or more, puffing up huge volumes of dense black
smoke, and occasionally sounding her shrill steam whistle to give vent
to her impatience, ranged up alongs