sion making a complaint to the Governor about his
partiality to Englishmen. Great sympathy was secretly extended to poor
Tom by his English friends, but the loss of his position and his
wealth broke his heart, and he only survived the blow for a few weeks.

In addition to controlling the berthing of vessels, and keeping the
harbour free from confusion, it was Tom's duty to see that no fires or
lights were allowed either by day or night, and, as these rigid rules
were frequently broken, his "hush money" very largely contributed to
his already affluent income. Nor did his removal affect the
acquisitiveness of his successor, who loyally followed in his
footsteps. As soon as a sailing-vessel arrived in the Roads, the
galley fire had to be put out before she was allowed to come into the
Mole. All cooking was done ashore at a cookhouse that was loathsomely
dirty. A heavy charge was made for the use of the place, and also for
the hire of the cook's lurky, a flat-bottomed kind of boat constructed
of rough planks. These boats were invariably so leaky that on the
passage to and from the shore they became half-foil of water, and the
food was frequently spoiled in consequence. But, even if all went
right, the crews often had to partake of badly cooked, cold rations.
Many a meal was lost altogether, and once or twice a poor cook who
could not swim was drowned by the boat filling and capsizing. The
frail craft of this kind were of curious shape, and only a person who
had the knack could row them. No more comical sport could be witnessed
than the lurky race which was held every season. Many of the cooks
never acquired the art of rowing straight, and whenever they put a
spurt on the lurky would run amuck in consequence of being
flat-bottomed and having no keel. Then the carnival of collisions,
capsizing of boats, and rescuing of their occupants began. Some
disdained assistance, and heroically tried to right their erratic
"dug-outs." It would be impossible to draw a true picture of these
screamingly funny incidents, but be it remembered they were all
sailor-cooks who took part in the sport, and the riotous joy they
derived therefrom was always a pleasant memory, and kept them for
days in good temper for carrying out the pilgrimage to and from the
cookhouse.

The popular English idea is that there are only two classes in
Russia--viz., the upper and lower; but this is quite a mistake. There
has always been a thrifty shopkeeping and arti