to the extent of my
acquirements; and, when he found them so far beyond his expectations, he
seemed to be struck with a sudden respect for me. The tone of his
conversation was more decorous than that of the preceding evening; he
gave me a great deal of nautical advice, recommended me to the
protection particularly of the first and second lieutenants, who were
also his guests, approved of my plan of sleeping at the tailor's, and
dismissed me very early, no doubt with a feeling of pleasure at having
removed a restraint; for, as I left the room, I just caught the
words--"Make a damned sea-lawyer, by-and-by."

CHAPTER THIRTY.

JEALOUSY COOLED BY A WATERING--RALPH EXHORTETH, AND RIGHT WISELY--THE
BOATSWAIN SEES MANY THINGS IN A NEW LIGHT--AND, THOUGH HE CAUSETH CRABS
TO BE CAUGHT, HE BRINGETH THEM TO A WRONG MARKET.

Pridhomme had been lying in wait for me, and picked me up as I left the
hotel. We went to the theatre, a wretched affair certainly, the
absurdities of which I should have much enjoyed, had I not been bored to
death by the eternal Jemima. That lady was like Jemima and that was
not. Was the person in the blue silk dress as tall as Jemima; or the
other in the white muslin quite as stout? Jemima was all he could talk
about, till at length, I was so horribly Jemimaed that I almost audibly
wished Jemima jammed down his throat; but as everything must have an
end, even when a midshipman talks about Jemima, we, at length, got to
the tailor's door, which was opened by the lovely Jemima in _propria
persona_. Not a step beyond the step of the door was the lover
admitted, whilst the poor wretch was fain to feast on the ecstasies of
remembering that he was permitted to grasp the tip of her forefinger
whilst he sighed forth his fond good-night.

In a few days, the _Eos_, being perfectly equipped, dropped down to
Sheerness, and I, for the first time, slept under the roof provided for
me by his Britannic Majesty. That is to say, I was coffined and
shrouded in a longitudinal canvas bag, hung up to the orlop deck by two
cleats, one at each end, in a very graceful curve, very useful in
forming that elegant bend in the back so much coveted by the exhibitors
in Regent Street.

I had taken a rather sentimental leave of Jemima, who had somehow or
another persuaded me to exchange love-tokens with her. That which I
gave her was a tolerably handsome writing-desk, which I could not help
buying for her, as she had taken a