n chairs on the quay, watching their daughters fishing. There
are a dozen girls at least, with long rods and hooks, baited with all
sorts of odds and ends. And see what sort of fish they're after,--naval
officers--marine officers--and of all ranks, from an admiral down to a
young midshipman. And there's a stout dame--she can't be called a young
lady exactly--casting her hook towards a sturdy boatswain.

"`Look here,' one of them cries out, `mother, mother, I've got a bite.'

"`Play him, my dear,' cries the mother, `till you see what he is.'

"`Oh, mother, mother!' she cries out presently, `I've caught a
midshipman.'

"`Throw him in, my dear, he's no good,' answered the old lady.

"Presently another sings out, `Mother, I've got a bite. I'm sure it's
from a lieutenant, from the way he pulls.'

"`Let him hang on a little, my dear,' says the mother; `may be if you
see a commander or a post-captain swimming by, you may cast him off, and
hook one of the others instead.'

"Presently a fourth cries out, `Oh, mother, I've hooked a captain!'

"`Run, Jane, run, and help your sister to land him,' cries Mrs
Thingamebob; and just see the way they're doing it, so as not to
frighten him, and make him turn tail.

"At last another shouts, `Mother, I've hooked a master's mate.'

"`Then go and cut the line, Susan. Don't let Nancy land that brute, on
any account. He's the worst of the lot.'

"And so it goes on," exclaimed old Grumpus. "However, to my mind
they're all alike. Why, while we have been there a dozen officers from
different ships have been and got spliced. It's lucky for you fellows
that you were not there long, or you would have been and done it, and
repented it all your lives afterwards."

During the voyage old Grumpus brought out his sketch a score of times,
and repeated his story as often, with numerous variations, which
afforded us all much amusement. He had anecdotes of other descriptions
without end to tell, most of them hingeing on the bad way the junior
officers of the service were treated. He didn't say that most of those
junior officers were rough diamonds like himself, who would have been
much better off if they had not been placed on the quarter-deck.

We had a somewhat long and stormy passage, and were half frozen to death
before it was over, most of us who had been for years in the West Indies
being little prepared for cold weather. We should have been much worse
off, however, in a line-of