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, Polson?" I asked. "I dunno, sir," he answered. "I tried to find out, but the scowbanks wouldn't tell me. I fancies, however, that they haven't got so very much, for I don't see how four men--or even five, if you chooses to reckon Chips in with 'em--could ha' brought more'n about a dozen bottles aboard among 'em without our findin' out somethin' about it; and a dozen bottles won't go so very far among all hands. I reckon that they'll finish the lot in the course of the next hour or so, and then they'll all turn in and have a good sleep, and be ready to come on deck in time for the first watch. Luckily there ain't no more wind than what we knows what to do with, and not much sign of it freshenin', so far as I can see; so p'rhaps there won't be such a very terrible lot o' harm done a'ter all." "Possibly not," I agreed. "But," I went on, seizing the opportunity to point a moral, "that is merely a happy accident. Had it been blowing hard, and the weather threatening, it would probably not have made the slightest difference in the conduct of those men. You and Chips, by listening to and falling in with the fantastic proposals of that madman Wilde, have set the men a very bad example, the effect of which is bound to recoil on your own heads sooner or later. By taking part in the seizure of this ship you have broken the law, which is the mainstay of all authority, order, and discipline, and in doing so you have encouraged those ignorant creatures for'ard to become lawless and disobedient. I have pointed all this out to you before, Polson, and now you have an example--a very mild example, it is true--of what inevitably happens under such circumstances." "Yes; I sees what you mean, Mr Troubridge," answered the boatswain. "But, Lor' bless yer, sir, I don't think nothin' at all of a little spree like this here. Discipline's a first-rate thing, I admit; but a man can have too much of it, and it does him good to chuck it overboard now and again. Them chaps for'ard won't be none the worse for this here little outbreak of theirs, you'll see. We all enj'ys a bit o' liberty occasionally, you know." "Ay," answered I rather bitterly. "The mischief of it is, Polson, that when men in the position of those noisy rascals in the forecastle take it upon themselves to determine when, and for how long a time, they shall indulge in a spell of liberty, they are as likely as not to insist upon having it at a moment when it spe
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