"I am only giving you
your due, for I think you have really behaved in a very plucky manner,
and deserve all that I have said, and more. I must tell you, though, I
have heard something else also about you, Tom Bowling, which, perhaps, I
might have been inclined to speak about, for I don't like any fighting
or ill-feeling between the boys under my command here; but, after what
has occurred, I shall not take any notice of what I might have heard to
your detriment. Besides, I believe you were not particularly in fault,
all things considered."

Fancy! He must have been told of the fight between `Ugly' and me.

My face, no doubt, expressed the thoughts that passed through my mind;
and, as I could see from a mirror opposite me, I appeared, as father
used to say, "like a cat looking nine ways for Sunday!"

The captain, though, evidently wished to set me at my ease.

"Never mind, my boy," he said reassuringly. "We'll let bygones be
bygones; and, as you have so nobly condoned the offence of fighting with
your shipmate by subsequently saving his life, I feel more inclined to
reward than punish you. Have you been allowed ashore yet to see your
parents since you joined?"

"No, sir," I replied. "I didn't have my uniform rig last Sunday, sir."

"Well, then, my boy, you may go and see them this afternoon if you like,
when you've finished your dinner. I will give you leave till Eight
Bells."

So saying, he scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to me.

This was a pass, permitting me to be absent from the ship until the time
specified on it.

Noticing, as I thanked him for his kindness, that I did not appear
perfectly satisfied, he glanced at me scrutinisingly. His eye was like
a gimlet, and seemed to penetrate my inmost thoughts; for, I declare, he
guessed the feeling that was uppermost in my mind.

"Would you like, my lad," he said, smiling again, "to take a chum with
you ashore?"

"Why, sir," I exclaimed, "that was the very thing I was thinking of!"

"Ha!" said he, "I fancied that was what was on your mind. Who is your
chum?"

"Mick Donovan, sir," I replied; "he's an Irish lad who joined the ship
the same time as me."

"All right; Mick Donovan shall go with you," said he. "Hand me back
your pass."

This I did; whereupon he bracketed Mick's name with mine and returned me
the paper.

"You may go now," he said kindly, seeing the rush of joy that must have
been reflected on my face, filling, as it did,