r', you be green 'uns!" he cried, sinking his voice to a cautious
pitch. "Don't you fight here; why, the `crushers' will nab yer afore
yer can strike a blow comfortably! If fight yer must, coom up here on
the fo'c's'le, and then you can fight away theer to yer 'art's content,
without nobody not a-hinterfeerin' with yer!"

CHAPTER SIX.

A KNOTTY POINT!

I led the way towards the forecastle of the old ship, where the high
bulwarks, I saw, would screen us well from observation; although the
place, of course, was on the open deck, and visible from aloft, had
anybody been there on the look-out, anxious to take a peep at us.

In the old days, indeed, had this rencontre between `Ugly' and me then
took place, we might have fought in an enclosed arena; for the _Saint
Vincent_, I have been told, when she was first built, was fitted with a
poop and topgallant-forecastle, and went to sea with them, but Admiral
Sir Charles Napier, who was then commodore of the Channel Squadron, and
hoisted his broad pennant in her, found the ship so top-heavy when under
his command that he reported her to be unseaworthy on his return to
Spithead with the fleet, the result of which was that she lost her poop
and topgallant-forecastle; hence `Ugly' and I had now to fight under the
eye of the circling seagulls, always on the wing, screeching round the
old training-ship in their plaintive fashion, and diving ever and anon
into the tideway to pick up scraps that were chucked overboard by our
comrades, more sensible than us, down below at their dinners!

The deck was quite clear, the only person visible being the captain of
the afterguard, who was taking a snooze on a pile of canvas and old
sails that were stowed in a heap close by the main bitts; so, acting
under the chaperonage of Larrikins, who officiated as bottle-holder,
`Ugly' and I stood up, facing each other with our fists doubled, ready
for action, in a nice little open space that seemed to have been left
especially for the purpose between the heel of the bowsprit and the
knight-heads.

One of the other first-class boys had stopped up to see the fun in
addition to Larrikins, and he now offered himself as second to `Ugly,'
while Mick, of course, he being really the main cause of the quarrel,
naturally came forward as mine.

"Now, gents," cried Larrikins, seeing my antagonist and myself were duly
prepared, "yer can bergin the puffomince as soon as yer likes!"

Before waiting even for