CHAPTER II
IN THE KING'S SERVICE
Before morning came Will had thought the matter over in every light, andconcluded that he could not do better than join the navy for a few years.Putting all other things aside, it was a life of adventure, and adventureis always tempting to boys. It really did not seem to him that, if heentered the merchant service at once, he would be any better off than hewould be if he had a preliminary training in the royal navy. He knew thatthe man-of-war training would make him a smarter sailor, and he hoped thathe would find time enough on board ship to continue his work, so thatafterwards he might be able to pass as a mate in the merchant service.
Tom Stevens came round in the morning.
"I have quite made up my mind to go with you if you will let me," he said.
"I will let you readily enough, Tom, but I must warn you that you will nothave such a good look-out as I shall. You know, I have learnt a good deal,and if the first cruise lasts for five years I have no doubt that at theend of it I shall be able to pass as a mate in the merchant service, and Iam afraid you will have very little chance of doing so."
"I can't help that," Tom said. "I know that I am not like you, and Ihaven't learnt things, and I don't suppose that if I had had anyone tohelp me it would have made any difference. I know I shall never rise muchabove a sailor before the mast. If you leave the service and go into amerchantman I will go there with you. It does not matter to me where I am.I felt so before, and of course I feel it all the more now that you havesaved my life. I am quite sure you will get on in the world, Will, andsha'n't grudge you your success a bit, however high you rise, for I knowhow hard you have worked, and how well you deserve it. Besides, even if Ihad had the pains bestowed upon me, and had worked ever so hard myself, Ishould never have been a bit like you. You seem different from us somehow.I don't know how it is, but you are smarter and quicker and more active. Iexpect some day you will find out something about your father, and thenprobably we shall be able to understand the difference between us. At anyrate I am quite prepared to see you rise, and I shall be well content ifyou will always allow me to remain your friend."
Will gratified the sub-officer later by telling him that he had made uphis mind to ship on board one of the king's vessels, and that his friendand chum, Tom Stevens, had made up his mind to go with him.
The coxswain looked Tom up and down.
"You have the makings of a fine strong man," he said, "and ought to turnout a good sailor. The training you have had in the fishing-boats will beall in your favour. Well, I will let you know when the lieutenant makeshis rounds. I am sure there will be no difficulty in shipping you. Boysain't what they were when I was young. Then we thought it an honour to beshipped on board a man-of-war, now most of them seem to me mollycoddled,and we have difficulty in getting enough boys for the ships. You see, weare not allowed to press boys, but only able-bodied men; so the youngsterscan laugh in our faces. Most of the crimps get one or two of them to watchthe sailors as the boys of the village watch our men, and give notice whenthey are going to make a raid. I don't think, therefore, that there is anyfear of your being refused, especially when I say that one of you has gotinto great trouble from refusing to aid in throwing us off the scent whena lugger is due. If for no other reason he owes you a debt for that."
Three days passed. Will still remained at the coast-guard station, and menstill hovered near. Tom came over once and said that it had been decidedamong a number of the fishermen that no great harm should be done to Willwhen they got him, but that he should be thrashed within an inch of hislife. On the third day the coxswain said to Will:
"I have a message this morning from the lieutenant, that he will be hereby eleven o'clock. If you will write a line to your friend I will send itover by one of the men."
Tom arrived breathless two minutes before the officer.
"My eye, I have had a run of it," he said. "The man brought me the letterjust as I was going to start in the boat with my uncle. I pretended tohave left something behind me and ran back to the cottage, he swearingafter me all the way for my stupidity. I ran into the house, and then gotout of the window behind, and started for the moors, taking good care tokeep the house in a line between him and me. My, what a mad rage he willbe in when I don't come back, and he goes up and finds that I havedisappeared! I stopped a minute to take a clean shirt and my Sundayclothes. I expect, when he sees I am not in the cottage, he will lookround, and he will discover that they have gone from their pegs, and guessthat I have made a bolt of it. He won't guess, however, that I have comehere, but will think I have gone across the moors. He knows very well howhard he has made my life; still, that won't console him for losing me,just as I am getting really useful in the boat."
The lieutenant landed from his cutter at the foot of the path leading upto the station. The sub-officer received him at the top, and after a fewwords they walked up to the station together.
"Who are these two boys?" he asked as he came up to them.
"Two lads who wish to enter the navy, sir."
"Umph! runaways, I suppose?"
"Not exactly, sir. Both of them are fatherless. That one has received afair education from the daughter of the clergyman of the village, who tooka great fancy to him. He has for some years now been assisting in one ofthe fishing-boats and, as he acknowledges, in the spying upon our men, aspractically everyone else in the village does. When, however, Miss Wardentold him that smuggling was very wrong, he openly announced his intentionof having nothing more to do with it. This has had the effect of makingthe ignorant villagers think that he must have taken bribes from us tokeep us informed of what was going on. In consequence he has sufferedsevere persecution and has been sent to Coventry. After the fight we hadwith them the other day they appear to think that there could be nofurther doubt of his being concerned in the matter, and four men set outafter him to take his life. He fled here as his nearest possible refuge,and if you will look over there you will see two men on the watch for him.He had made up his mind to ship as an apprentice on a merchantman, but Ihave talked the matter over with him, and he has now decided to join aman-of-war."
"A very good choice," the officer said. "I suppose you can read and write,lad?"
"Yes, sir," Will said, suppressing a smile.
"Know a bit more, perhaps?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, if you are civil and well behaved, you will get on. And who is theother one?"
"He is Gilmore's special chum, sir. He has a brute of an uncle who isalways knocking him about, and he wants to go to sea with his friend."
"Well, they are two likely youngsters. The second is more heavily builtthan the other, but there is no doubt as to which is the more intelligent.I will test them at once, and then take them off with me in the cutter andhand them over to the tender at Whitby. Now send four men and catch thosetwo fellows and bring them in here. I will give them a sharp lessonagainst ill-treating a lad who refuses to join them in their rascallywork."
A minute later four of the men strolled off by the cliffs, two in eachdirection. When they had got out of sight of the watchers, they struckinland, and, making a detour, came down behind them. The fishermen did nottake the alarm until it was too late. They started to run, but the sailorswere more active and quick-footed, and, presently capturing them, broughtthem back to the coast-guard station.
"So my men," the lieutenant said sternly, "you have been threatening toill-treat one of His Majesty's subjects for refusing to join you in yourattempts to cheat the revenue? I might send you off to a magistrate fortrial, in which case you would certainly get three months' imprisonment. Iprefer, however, settling such matters myself. Strip them to the waist,lads."
The orders were executed in spite of the men's struggles and execrations.
"Now tie them up to the flag-post and give them a dozen heartily."
As the men were all indignant at the treatment that had been given to Willthey l
aid the lash on heavily, and the execrations that followed the firstfew blows speedily subsided into shrieks for mercy, followed at last bylow moaning.
When both had received their punishment, the lieutenant said: "Now you canput on your clothes again and carry the news of what you have had to yourvillage, and tell your friends that I wish I had had every man concernedin the matter before me. If I had I would have dealt out the samepunishment to all. Now, lads, I shall be leaving in an hour's time; if youlike to send back to the village for your clothes, one of the men willtake the message."
Tom already had all his scanty belongings, but Will was glad to send anote to John Hammond, briefly stating his reasons for leaving, andthanking him for his kindness in the past, and asking him to send hisclothes to him by the bearer. An hour and a half later they embarked inthe lieutenant's gig and were rowed off to the revenue cutter lying aquarter of a mile away. Here they were put under the charge of theboatswain.
"They have shipped for the service, Thompson," the lieutenant said. "Ithink they are good lads. Make them as comfortable as you can."
"So you have shipped, have you?" the boatswain said as he led themforward. "Well, you are plucky young cockerels. It ain't exactly a bed ofroses, you will find, at first, but if you can always keep your temper andreturn a civil answer to a question you will soon get on all right. Youwill have more trouble with the other boys than with the men, and willhave a battle or two to fight."
"We sha'n't mind that," Will said; "we have had to deal with some toughones already in our own village, and have proved that we are better thanmost of our own age. At any rate we won't be licked easily, even if theyare a bit bigger and stronger than ourselves, and after all a lickingdoesn't go for much anyway. What ship do you think they will send us to,sir?"
"Ah, that is a good deal more than I can say! There is a cutter that actsas a receiving-ship at Whitby, and you will be sent off from it asopportunity offers and the ships of war want hands. Like enough you willgo off with a batch down to the south in a fortnight or so, and will beput on board some ship being commissioned at Portsmouth or Devonport. Alarge cutter comes round the coast once a month, to pick up the hands fromthe various receiving-ships, and as often as not she goes back with ahundred. And a rum lot you will think them. There are jail-birds who havehad the offer of release on condition that they enter the navy; there arefarm-labourers who don't know one end of a boat from the other; there aredrunkards who have been sold by the crimps when their money has run out;but, Lord bless you, it don't make much difference what they are, they areall knocked into shape before they have been three months on board. Ithink, however, you will have a better time than this. Our lieutenant is akind-hearted man, though he is strict enough in the way of business, and Ihave no doubt he will say a good word for you to the commander of thetender, which, as he is the senior officer, will go a long way."
The two boys were soon on good terms with the crew, who divined at oncethat they were lads of mettle, and were specially attracted to Will onaccount of the persecution he had suffered by refusing to act as thesmugglers' watcher, and also when they heard from Tom how he had saved hislife.
"You will do," was the verdict of an old sailor. "I can see that you haveboth got the right stuff in you. When one fellow saves another's life, andthat fellow runs away and ships in order to be near his friend, you may besure that there is plenty of good stuff in them, and that they will turnout a credit to His Majesty's service."
They were a week on board before the cutter finished her trip at Whitby.Both boys had done their best to acquire knowledge, and had learnt thenames of the ropes and their uses by the time they got to port.
"You need not go on board the depot ship until to-morrow," the lieutenantsaid. "I will go across with you myself. I have had my eye upon you eversince you came on board, and I have seen that you have been trying hard tolearn, and have always been ready to give a pull on a rope when necessary.I have no fear of your getting on. It is a pity we don't get more lads ofyour type in the navy."
On the following morning the lieutenant took them on board the depot andput them under the charge of the boatswain. "You will have to mix with aroughish crew here," the latter said, "but everything will go smoothlyenough when you once join your ship. You had better hand over your kits tome to keep for you, otherwise there won't be much left at the end of thefirst night; and if you like I will let you stow yourselves away at nightin the bitts forward. It is not cold, and I will throw a bit of oldsail-cloth over you; you will be better there than down with the others,where the air is almost thick enough to cut."
"Thank you very much, sir; we should prefer that. We have both beenaccustomed to sleep at night in the bottom of an open boat, so it willcome natural enough to us. Are there any more boys on board?"
"No, you are the only ones. We get more boys down in the west, but up herevery few ship."
They went below together. "Dimchurch," the boatswain said to a tallsailor-like man, "these boys have just joined. I wish you would keep aneye on them, and prevent anyone from bullying them. I know that you are apressed man, and that we have no right to expect anything of you until youhave joined your ship, but I can see that for all that you are a trueBritish sailor, and I trust to you to look after these boys."
"All right, mate!" the sailor said. "I will take the nippers under mycharge, and see that no one meddles with them. I know what I had to gothrough when I first went to sea, and am glad enough to do a good turn toany youngsters joining."
"Thank you! Then I will leave them now in your charge."
"This is your first voyage, I suppose," the sailor said as he sat down onthe table and looked at the boys. "I see by your togs that you have beenfishing."
"Yes, we both had seven or eight years of it, though of course we were ofno real use till the last five."
"You don't speak like a fisherman's boy either," the man said.
"No. A lady interested herself in me and got me to work all my spare timeat books."
"Well, they will be of no use to you at present, but they may come inhandy some day to get you a rating. I never learnt to read or write myselfor I should have been mate long ago. This is my first voyage in a ship ofwar. Hitherto I have always escaped being pressed when I was ashore, butnow they have caught me I don't mind having a try at it. I believe, fromall I hear, that the grub and treatment are better than aboard mostmerchantmen, and the work nothing like so hard. Of course the greatdrawback is the cat, but I expect that a well-behaved man doesn't oftenfeel it."
The others had looked on curiously when the lads first came down, but theysoon turned away indifferently and took up their former pursuits. Somewere playing cards, others lying about half-asleep. Two or three who werefortunate enough to be possessed of tobacco were smoking. In all therewere some forty men. When the evening meal was served out the sailorplaced one of the boys on each side of him, and saw that they got theirshare.
"I must find a place for you to sleep," he said when they had finished.
"The officer who brought us down has given us permission to sleep on decknear the bitts."
"Ah, yes, that is quite in the bows of the ship! You will do very wellthere, much better than you would down here. I will go up on deck and showyou the place. How is it that he is looking specially after you?"
"I believe Lieutenant Jones of the _Antelope_ was good enough to speak tothe officer in command of this craft in our favour."
"How did you make him your friend?"
Will told briefly the story of his troubles with the smugglers. The sailorlaughed.
"Well," he said, "you must be a pretty plucky one to fly in the face of asmuggling village in that way. You must have known what the consequencewould be, and it is not every boy, nor every man either, if it comes tothat, that would venture to do as you did."
"It did not seem to me that I had any choice when I once found out that itwas wrong."
The sailor laughed again. "Well, you know, it is not what you could call acrime, tho
ugh it is against the law of the land, but everyone does a bitof smuggling when they get the chance. Lord bless you! I have come homefrom abroad when there was not one of the passengers and crew who did nothave a bit of something hidden about him or his luggage--brandy, 'baccy,French wines, or knick-knacks of some sort. Pretty nigh half of them gotfound out and fined, but the value of the things got ashore was six oreight times as much as what was collared."
"Still it was not right," Will persisted.
"Oh, no! it was not right," the sailor said carelessly, "but everyone tookhis chance. It is a sort of game, you see, between the passengers and crewon one side and the custom-house officers on the other. It was enough tomake one laugh to see the passengers land. Women who had been as thin aswhistles came out as stout matrons, owing to the yards and yards of lacesand silk they had wound round them. All sorts of odd places werechoke-full of tobacco; there were cases that looked like baggage, butreally had a tin lining, which was full of brandy. It was a rare game forthose who got through, I can tell you, though I own it was not so pleasantfor those who got caught and had their contraband goods confiscated,besides having to pay five times the proper duty. As a rule the men tookit quietly enough, they had played the game and lost; but as for thewomen, they were just raging tigers.
"For myself, I laughed fit to split. If I lost anything it was a pound ortwo of tobacco which I was taking home for my old father, and I felt thatthings might have been a deal worse if they had searched the legs of mytrousers, where I had a couple of bladders filled with good brandy. Yousee, young 'un, though everyone knows that it is against the law, no onethinks it a crime. It is a game you play; if you lose you pay handsomely,but if you win you get off scot-free. I think the lady who told you it waswrong did you a very bad service, for if she lived near that village shemust have known that you would get into no end of trouble if you were tosay you would have nothing more to do with it. And how is it"--turning toTom--"that you came to go with him? You did not take it into your head thatsmuggling was wrong too?"
"I never thought of it," Tom said, "and if I had been told so should onlyhave answered that what was good enough for others was good enough for me.I came because Will came. We had always been great friends, and more thanonce joined to thrash a big fellow who put upon us. But the principalthing was that a little while ago he saved me from drowning. There was adeep cut running up to the foot of the cliffs. One day I was running pastthere, when I slipped, and in falling hurt my leg badly. I am only justbeginning to use it a bit now. The pain was so great that I did not knowwhat I was doing; I rolled off the rock into the water. My knee was so badthat I could not swim, and the rock was too high for me to crawl out. Ihad been there for some time, and was beginning to get weak, when Willcame along on the top of the cliff and saw me. He shouted to me to hold ontill he could get down to me. Then he ran half a mile to a place where hewas able to climb down, and tore back again along the shore till hereached the cut, and then jumped in and swam to me. There was no gettingout on either side, so he swam with me to the end of the cut and landed methere. I was by that time pretty nigh insensible, but he half-helped andhalf-carried me till we got to the point of the cliff where he had comedown. Then he left me and ran off to the village to get help. So you willunderstand now why I should wish to stick to him."
"I should think so," the sailor said warmly. "It was a fine thing to do,and I would be glad to do it myself. Stick to him, lad, as long as he willlet you. I fancy, from the way he speaks and his manner, that he willmount up above you, but never you mind that."
"I won't, as long as I can keep by him, and I hope that soon I may have achance of returning him the service he has done me. He knows well enoughthat if I could I would give my life for him willingly."
"I think," the sailor said to Will seriously, "you are a fortunate fellowto have made a friend like that. A good chum is the next best thing to agood wife. In fact, I don't know if it is not a bit better. Ah, here comesthe boatswain with a bit of sail-cloth, so you had better lie down atonce. We shall most of us turn in soon down below, for there is nothing topass the time, and I for one shall be very glad when the cutter comes forus."
The boys chatted for some time under cover of the sail-cloth. They agreedthat things were much better than they could have expected. The protectionof the boatswain was a great thing, but that of their sailor friend wasbetter. They hoped that he would be told off to the ship in which theywent, for they felt sure that he would be a valuable friend to them. Thelife on board the cutter, too, had been pleasant, and altogether theycongratulated themselves on the course they had taken.
"I have no doubt we shall like it very much when we are once settled. Theylook a rough lot down below, and that sentry standing with a loaded musketat the gangway shows pretty well what sort of men they are. I am notsurprised that the pressed men should try to get away, but I have no pityfor the drunken fellows who joined when they had spent their lastshilling. Our fishermen go on a spree sometimes, but not often, and whenthey do, they quarrel and fight a bit, but they always go to work the nextmorning."
"That is a different thing altogether, for I heard that in the towns menwill spend every penny they have, give up work altogether, and becomeidle, lazy loafers."
Two days later, to the great satisfaction of the boys, a large cutterflying the white ensign was seen approaching the harbour. No doubt wasentertained that she was the receiving-ship. This was confirmed when theofficer in charge of the depot-ship was rowed to the new arrival as soonas the anchor was dropped. A quarter of an hour later he returned, and itbecame known that the new hands were to be taken to Portsmouth. The nextmorning two boats rowed alongside. Will could not but admire the neat andnatty appearance of the crew, which formed a somewhat striking contrast tothe slovenly appearance of the gang on the depot-ship. A list of the newmen was handed over to the officer in charge, and these were at oncetransferred to the big cutter.
Here everything was exquisitely clean and neat. The new-comers were atonce supplied with uniforms, and told off as supernumeraries to eachwatch. Will and Tom received no special orders, and were informed thatthey were to make themselves generally useful. Beyond having to carry anoccasional message from one or other of the midshipmen, or boatswain,their duties were of the lightest kind. They helped at the distribution ofthe messes, the washing of the decks, the paring of the potatoes fordinner, and other odd jobs. When not wanted they could do as they pleased,and Will employed every spare moment in gaining what information he couldfrom his friend Dimchurch, or from any sailor he saw disengaged andwearing a look that invited interrogation.
"You seem to want to know a lot all at once, youngster," one said.
"I have got to learn it sooner or later," Will replied, "and it is just aswell to learn as much as I can while I have time on my hands. I expect Ishall get plenty to do when I join a ship at Portsmouth. May I go up therigging?"
"That you may not. You don't suppose that His Majesty's ships are intendedto look like trees with rooks perched all over them? You will be taughtall that in due time. There is plenty to learn on deck, and when you knowall that, it will be time enough to think of going aloft. You don't wantto become a Blake or a Benbow all at once, do you?"
"No," Will laughed, "it will be time to think of that in another twentyyears."
The sailor broke into a roar of laughter.
"Well, there is nothing like flying high, young 'un; but there is noreason why in time you should not get to be captain of the fore-top orcoxswain of the captain's gig. I suppose either of these would contentyou?"
"I suppose it ought," Will said with a merry laugh. "At any rate it willbe time to think of higher posts when I have gained one of these."
The voyage to Portsmouth was uneventful. They stopped at severalreceiving-stations on their way down, and before they reached theirdestination they had gathered a hundred and twenty men. Will and Tom wereastonished at the bustle and activity of the port. Frigates and men-of-warlay off Portsmouth and out at Spithead;
boats of various sizes rowedbetween them, or to and from the shore. Never had they imagined such ascene; the enormous bulk of the men-of-war struck them with wonder. Willadmired equally the tapering spars and the more graceful lines of thefrigates and corvettes, and his heart thrilled with pride as he felt thathe too was a sailor, and a portion, however insignificant, of one of thesemighty engines of war.
The officer in command of the receiving-ship at Whitby had passed on tothe captain of the cutter what had been told him of the two boys by thelieutenant of the _Antelope_, and he in turn related the story to one ofthe chief officers of the dockyard. It happened that they were the onlytwo boys that had been brought down, and the dockyard official said itwould be a pity to separate them.
"I will put them down as part of the crew of the _Furious_. I want a fewspecially strong and active men for her; her commander is a very dashingofficer, and I should like to see that he is well manned."
The two boys had especially noticed and admired the _Furious_, which was athirty-four-gun frigate, so next morning, when the new hands were musteredand told off to different ships, they were delighted when they found theirnames appear at the end of the list for that vessel, all the more sobecause Dimchurch was to join her also.
"I am pleased, Dimchurch, that we are to be in the same ship with you,"Will exclaimed as soon as the men were dismissed.
"I am glad too, youngster. I have taken a fancy to you, as you seem tohave done to me, and it will be very pleasant for us to be together. Butnow you must go and get your kit-bags ready at once; we are sure to besent off to the _Furious_ in a short time, and it will be a bad markagainst you if you keep the boat waiting."
In a quarter of an hour a boat was seen approaching from the _Furious_.The officer in charge ascended to the deck of the cutter, and after a chatwith the captain called out the list, and counted the men one by one asthey went down to the boat, each carrying his kit.
"Not a bad lot," he said to the young midshipman sitting by his side."This pretty nearly makes up our complement; the press gang are sure topick up the few hands we want either to-day or to-morrow."
"I shall be glad when we are off, sir," the midshipman said. "I am nevercomfortable, after beginning to get into commission, until we are out onblue water."
"Nor am I. I hope the dockyard won't keep us waiting for stores. We havegot most of them, but the getting on board of the powder and shot isalways a long task, and we have to be so careful with the powder. There isthe captain on deck; he is looking out, no doubt, to see the new hands. Iam glad they are good ones, for nothing puts him into a bad temper soreadily as having a man brought on board who is not, as he considers, upto the mark."
As they mustered on deck the captain's eye ran with a keen scrutiny overthem. A slight smile crossed his lips as he came to the two boys.
"That will do, Mr. Ayling; they are not a bad lot, taking them one forall, and there are half a dozen men among them who ought to makefirst-rate topmen. I should say half of them have been to sea before, andthe others will soon be knocked into shape. The two boys will, of course,go into the same mess as the others who have come on board. One of themlooks a very sharp young fellow."
"He has been rather specially passed down, sir. He belonged to one of themost noted smuggling villages on the Yorkshire coast, which is saying agreat deal, and he struck against smuggling because some lady in the placetold him that it was wrong. Of course he drew upon himself the enmity ofthe whole village. The coast-guard stopped a landing, and two or three ofthe fishermen were killed. The hostility against the lad, which wasentirely unfounded, rose in consequence of this to such a pitch that hewas obliged to take refuge in the coast-guard station. I hear from thecaptain of the _Hearty_ that the boy has been far better educated than thegenerality of fisher lads, and was specially recommended to him by theofficer of the receiving-ship."
"Is there anything extraordinary about the other boy?" the captain askedwith a slight smile.
"No, sir; I believe he joined chiefly to be near his companion, the twobeing great friends."
"He looks a different kind of boy altogether," the captain said. "Youcould pick him out as a fisher boy anywhere, and picture him in highboots, baggy corduroy breeches, and blue guernsey."
"He is a strong, well-built lad, and I should say a good deal morepowerful than his friend."
"Well, they are good types of boys, and are not likely to give us as muchtrouble as some of those young scamps, run-away apprentices and so on, whowant a rope's end every week or so to teach them to do their duty."
The boys were taken down to a deck below the water-level, where the crewwere just going to begin dinner. At one end was a table at which six boyswere sitting.
"Hillo, who are you?" the eldest among them asked. "I warn you, if youdon't make things comfortable, you will get your heads punched in notime."
"My name is William Gilmore, and this is Tom Stevens. As to punchingheads, you may not find it as easy as you think. I may warn you at oncethat we are friends and will stick together, and that there will be nopunching one head without having to punch both."
"We shall see about that before long," the other said. "Some of the othersthought they were going to rule the roost when they joined a few days ago,but I soon taught them their place."
"Well, you can begin to teach us ours as soon as you like," Tom Stevenssaid. "We have met bullies of your sort before. Now, as dinner is goingon, we will have some of it, as they didn't victual us before we left thecutter."
"Well, then, you had better go to the cook-house and draw rations. Nodoubt the cook has a list of you fellows' names."
The boys took the advice and soon procured a cooked ration of meat andpotatoes. The cook told them where they would find plates.
"One of the mess has to wash them up," he said, "and stow them away in theracks provided for them."
"Johnson," the eldest boy said to the smallest of the party, "you need notwash up to-day; that is the duty of the last comer."
"I suppose it is the duty of each one of the mess by turn," Will saidquietly; "we learnt that much as we came down the coast."
"You will have to learn more than that, young fellow," the bully, who wasseventeen, blustered. "You will have to learn that I am senior of themess, and will have to do as I tell you. I have made one voyage already,and all the rest of you are greenhorns."
"It seems to me from the manner in which you speak, that it is not aquestion of seniority but simply of bounce and bullying, and I hope thatthe other boys will no more give in to that sort of thing than Stevens ormyself. I have yet to learn that one boy is in any way superior to theothers, and in the course of the next hour I shall ascertain whether thisis so."
"Perhaps, after the meal is over, you will go down to the lower deck andallow me to give you a lesson."
"As I told you," Will answered quietly, "my friend and I are one. I don'tsuppose that single-handed I could fight a great hulking fellow like you,but my friend and I are quite willing to do so together. So now if thereis any talk of fighting, you know what to expect."
The bully eyed the two boys curiously, but, like most of the type, he wasat heart a coward, and felt considerable doubt whether these two boyswould not prove too much for him. He therefore muttered sullenly that hewould choose his own time.
"All right! choose by all means, and whenever you like to fix a time weshall be perfectly ready to accommodate you."
"Who on earth are you with your long words? Are you a gentleman indisguise?"
"Never mind who I am," Will said. "I have learnt enough, at any rate, toknow a bully and a coward when I meet him."
The lad was too furious to answer, but finished his dinner in silence, hisanger being all the more acute from the fact that he saw that some of theother boys were tittering and nudging each other. But he resolved that,though it might be prudent for the present to postpone any encounter withthe boys, he would take his revenge on the first opportunity.