se cases. Face greatly swelled,
eyes closed, very great enlargement of the nose, lips puffed and badly
cut, three front teeth missing."

"By Jove, that is severe punishment! Who is it?"

"Master's mate Condor."

"Why, who has he been fighting with?"

The doctor laughed. "I could hardly believe it when I heard. I waylaid
young Jocelyn, who was executing a war-dance of delight, and questioned
him. It is your last acquisition, Blagrove."

"Impossible, Doctor! There is the lad himself, without the slightest
sign of having been engaged in a fight. I have been looking at them all
rather closely, for they nearly all disappeared about half an hour ago,
and one knows what that generally means. Mr. Knight was very angry about
it, so when they came back again I glanced at them; and as none of them
were marked in any way, or showed any signs of their having been engaged
in a bout of fisticuffs, I came to the conclusion that there had been no
fight. And you mean to say that Blagrove punished Condor in that fashion
without receiving a mark himself? Condor is a powerful fellow, and must
be nearly three years older than the lad. It seems well-nigh
impossible!"

"I was astonished myself, but, if you remember, he told us the other
evening at the captain's table that he had earned the good-will of
those Arabs by rescuing the sheik's son from an attack by two European
ruffians. He certainly told it in a very modest tone; but that a lad
could thrash two men armed with knives seemed to me to border on
romancing. Young Jocelyn said that the fight did not last more than five
minutes, and that Blagrove did not receive a scratch. His delight was
excessive, and I fancy Condor is rather a bully. You see there is nobody
else in the mess anywhere near his weight and age, and he took advantage
of it accordingly. The boy said that after it was over and they shook
hands, Blagrove told Condor that there should be no bullying in the mess
in future.

"I asked what the affair was about. Jocelyn did not know, but said that
he heard that something had happened when Blagrove first came on board,
and that they all knew that there was going to be a fight, but he thinks
that it was put off until they left the Pireus for some reason or
other."

"That young fellow must be a marvellously good boxer to be able to
punish a fellow so superior in age and weight without showing a mark
himself. The lesson is certainly likely to do Condor good. I have heard
fro