at will teach you not to supplant me and go in my boat again, you
young rascal!" he cried, pegging away merrily with the rope's-end on my
bare back. "I intend to give you one of the best thrashings you ever
had in your life for doing it!"

"What do you mean?" I exclaimed, trying to ward off the cuts with my
arm. "Anstruther, you're mad, I think! I never wished to supplant you.
It was the commander who would not let you go in the cutter, not I."

"Oh, was it?" said he, ironically, still laying on as hard as he could
with the rope's-end, which really stung me very much. "Well, as I can't
lick him, my joker, I shall lick you!"

"Will you?" I retorted; and, finding expostulation of no avail, I tried
retaliation, commencing now to hit out with my fists in return. "Two
can play at that game, old fellow; and as you force me to do it, take
that and that!"

My action followed suit to my words, as I gave him a smart "one, two"
with my left, which knocked him backwards against Mr Stormcock just as
the latter was coming out of the gunroom.

"Hullo, what is this?" cried the master's mate, as Ned Anstruther,
cannoned off his stomach, sending him flying across the deck from the
ship lurching. "Fighting again? By jingo, I never saw such a pack of
young gamecocks in my life. There was, cheeky little Tom Mills wanting
to peg into that swab Andrews last night, and now here are you two at it
hammer and tongs. Why, I thought you were chums and both of you in the
same watch, the very closest of friends."

"Of course we are," said I, laughing at the comicality of the situation,
which struck me all of a moment. "Anstruther and I are very good
friends. I'm sure I don't want to do him any harm."

"So I should think," replied Mr Stormcock, drily. "It looks uncommonly
like it, judging by the way you are slogging each other about! But come
now, I won't have any more of this. Shake hands and make it up at once,
do you hear, or I'll report you to the commander."

"Why," exclaimed my antagonist, rubbing his eye ruefully, "Commander
Nesbitt is the cause of it all!"

"Indeed!" said Mr Stormcock, with a whistle of surprise at this
extraordinary assertion. "How do you make that out?"

"Because he sent Jack Vernon in the first cutter in my place."

"Oh, you ass! It was for that, then, that you were fighting this poor
chap here, who I'm sure you ought to be grateful to for taking a very
nasty job off your hands. See, he's not