'
"'Mong Jew!' says 'e, sniffin' round. An' twice more 'Mong Jew!'--which is
pure French. Then he slings 'is 'ammick, nips in, an' coils down. 'Not bad
for a Portugee conscript,' I says to myself, casts off the tow, abandons
him, and reports to 'Op.
"About three minutes later I'm over'auled by our sub-lootenant, navigatin'
under forced draught, with his bearin's 'eated. 'E had the temerity to say
I'd instructed our Antonio to sling his carcass in the alleyway, an' 'e
was peevish about it. O' course, I prevaricated like 'ell. You get to do
that in the service. Nevertheless, to oblige Mr. Ducane, I went an'
readjusted Antonio. You may not 'ave ascertained that there are two ways
o' comin' out of an 'ammick when it's cut down. Antonio came out t'other
way--slidin' 'andsome to his feet. That showed me two things. First, 'e
had been in an 'ammick before, an' next, he hadn't been asleep. Then I
reproached 'im for goin' to bed where 'e'd been told to go, instead o'
standin' by till some one gave him entirely contradictory orders. Which is
the essence o' naval discipline.
"In the middle o' this argument the gunner protrudes his ram-bow from 'is
cabin, an' brings it all to an 'urried conclusion with some remarks
suitable to 'is piebald warrant-rank. Navigatin' thence under easy steam,
an' leavin' Antonio to re-sling his little foreign self, my large flat
foot comes in detonatin' contact with a small objec' on the deck.
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