544 NIGHTS IN THE GALLEY. 



Gibbon; but is that all you have to tell us about Navarino? I ex- 

 pected a good twister." 



" Oh, lads, I went into the admiral's ship afore the action was 

 fought as a supernumerary to join this here ship, so if I spin you a 

 newun about Navarino it must be in a new ship, and I ought to 

 have a fresh night for a fresh ship, so now let's have Jack Murray's 

 yarn." 



" Oh, sartainly, sartainly, that's nothing but fair/" cried all hands ; 

 come, Jack, heave a-head." 



" No, no, I shan't, lads, there arn't time to-night for me to spin you 

 a yarn ; when I get on a bowline I mean to make a long leg, I can 

 tell you that, my bo's ; so you, Mr. Bob Short, let's see if you can 

 make any use of that long tongue of yours, that's rolling over 

 your under-lip like a carrot ; come, you haven't spun us a yarn for a 

 long time it's your turn now, arn't it, lads ?" 



" Ay, that it is ; come, Bob, tip something to pass away the time 

 till to-morrow night, when we'll get Jack Murray under weigh, as he 

 says it will be a long time before he comes to again." 



" Well, lads, you know I haven't got much to say, 'cause larnt seen 

 much myself; so if you will have a yarn you must have one that I 

 heard my father spin once about a captain as is now one what was 

 made from before the mast. 



" It was in the Seringapatam, a forty-six, one o' the large frigates, as he 

 entered aboard of in the war-time, and went to cruise in the Channel ; 

 when he got aboard he was made quarter-master, though he was a 

 young man, for he was a smart sailor. Well, you know, there was a 

 little boy about thirteen years of age as was messenger-boy abaft, as it 

 might be here ; well, they noticed the little fellow was always asking 

 questions about seamanship of the quarter-masters as were not at the 

 conn, and teazing them to teach him to knot and splice, and all that sort 

 o' work; so they got tired of him always bothering them, and used to 

 tell him to be off, and perhaps give him a knock on the head, all except 

 my father, who thought him a fine promising young fellow as would turn 

 out a good sailor, sohepaid great attention to him taught him the marks 

 in the lead-line, how to heave the lead and take the helm where all 

 the ropes led, and how they rove ; and, in short, he did every thing 

 he could to make him a sailor. The young feller noticed this kind- 

 ness of my father, so different from the treatment he received from 

 the others, and he was very grateful for it, and attached himself very 

 much to my father, doing a number of little things for him, and always 

 paying attention to what he told him ; although he was a very hot, 

 headstrong, passionate youngster, he was so fond of my father, that a 

 word from him would quiet him at once in his hottest passions. At 

 last my father asked the first-leaftenant whether he should take the 

 youngster into his mess, telling him at the same time that he thought 

 him a very promising young feller, and all that. The first-leaftenant 

 says, ' Do, Short/ says he ; ' I wish/ says he, ' all men would take 

 the trouble you have done with the boys ; it does you great credit, 

 Short/ he says, says he ; 'if you come down to my cabin to-night/ 

 he says, I'll give you a glass of grog.' So after this my father had 

 him in his mess, and took every opportunity to teach him his duty ; 



