larboard side: as he passed, Jack shrunk under the lee of the deadeyes
and lanyards, hoping he might not be seen; but the first lieutenant,
having the clear horizon on the other side, perceived the line which
Jack had half hauled up, and, having an eye like a cat, makes out Jack
also.

"`I see you, sir--I see you, Mr Jervis, fishing again, sir. Very
well,' cried the first lieutenant, from the stern-sheets of the boat, as
he passed by. `You've your duty to do, and I've got mine.' `That's as
good as two dozen to-morrow morning at muster,' thought Jack, who cursed
his luck, and, in a very melancholy mood, began to haul up his line,
which, as soon as he had been discovered, he had let go down to the
bottom again. Now, it so happened that, as Old Duty went up the other
side, his foot slipped; and, how it was I can't tell, for they say he
wasn't the least groggy, but down he fell, between the boat's gunnel and
the ship's side, just like a deep-sea lead, and disappeared. There
being so few men on deck, there was not much of a bustle--there was a
dive or two for him with the boat-hook, but all in vain--Old Duty was
gone.

"In the meantime, Jack on the other side was slowly hauling up his line;
but he had not got it half-way up when he felt a heavy strain, and he
thought that a large conger eel had followed the bait up, as they do
sometimes, and he hauled and hauled with all his might. At last, who
should he bring to the surface of the water but Old Duty, who had been
sucked under the ship's bottom by the tide, and had been hooked by Jack,
as he was pulling up. When Jack saw it was the first lieutenant, as he
told me, his first idea was to let him down again; but that was only for
a moment. The words of the first lieutenant still rang in his ears,
`You've your duty to do, and I've got mine'--so Jack did his duty. He
hollows out that he had caught Old Duty, and the boat shifted round and
took him on board. The old fellow was quite senseless; but as he had
been but a short time in the water, he was put to bed, and resuscitated
by the surgeon. The next morning he was all just as if nothing had
happened, walking the deck with his right hand in his breast, and his
spy-glass under his left arm, as usual.

"Well, we all told Jack that he was safe this time, but Jack seemed to
think otherwise. He shook his head; and now you'll learn who was right.

"When the boys were all mustered next morning, towing a line, and
holdi