demanded the soldier sternly; "take your co--coat
off lik' a man."

He rose to his feet and swayed unsteadily to and fro.

"If you keep your li'l' 'eads still," he said gravely, to Bill, "I'll
punch 'em."

By a stroke of good fortune he selected the real head, and gave it
a blow which sent it crashing against the woodwork. For a moment the
seaman stood gathering his scattered senses, then with an oath he
sprang forward, and in the lightest of fighting trim waited until his
adversary, who was by this time on the floor again, should have regained
his feet.

"He's drunk, Bill," said another voice, "don't 'urt 'im. He's a chap
wot said 'e was coming aboard to see me--I met 'im in the Green Man this
evening. You was coming to see me, mate, wasn't you?"

The soldier looked up stupidly, and gripping hold of the injured Bill by
the shirt, staggered to his feet again, and advancing towards the last
speaker let fly suddenly in his face.

"Sort man I am," he said, autobiographically. "Feel my arm."

The indignant Bill took him by both, and throwing himself upon him
suddenly fell with him to the floor. The intruder's head met the boards
with a loud crash, and then there was silence.

"You ain't killed 'im, Bill?" said an old seaman, stooping over him
anxiously.

"Course not," was the reply; "give us some water."

He threw some in the soldier's face, and then poured some down his neck,
but with no result. Then he stood upright, and exchanged glances of
consternation with his friends.

"I don't like the way he's breathing," he said, in a trembling voice.

"You always was pertikler, Bill," said the cook, who had thankfully got
to the bottom of his staircase. "If I was you--"

He was not allowed to proceed any further; footsteps and a voice were
heard above, and as old Thomas hastily extinguished the lamp, the mate's
head was thrust down the scuttle, and the mate's voice sounded a profane
reveille.

"Wot are we goin' to do with it?" inquired Ted, as the mate walked away.

"_I'm_, Ted," said Bill, nervously. "He's alive all right."

"If we put 'im ashore an' 'e's dead," said old Thomas, "there'll be
trouble for somebody. Better let 'im be, and if 'e's dead, why we don't
none of us know nothing about it."

The men ran up on deck, and Bill, being the last to leave, put a boot
under the soldier's head before he left. Ten minutes later they were
under way, and standing about the deck, discussed the situation in
thrill