us to the welfare of the men. Under his system the
sailors had good coffee for breakfast, instead of a horrible mixture
made of burnt biscuits cooked in foul water. He gave the men pea-soup
and rice instead of burgoo and the wretched oatmeal mess which was the
staple thing for breakfast. He saw to it that the meat was no longer a
hateful, repulsive mass, two-thirds bone and gristle, and before it
came into the cook's hands capable of being polished like mahogany. He
threatened the cook with punishment if he found the meals ill-cooked.

In all the journey to the West Indian seas there had been only three
formal floggings. His attitude was not that of the commander who
declared:

"I will see the man's backbone, by God!"

He wished to secure discipline without cruelty. His greatest difficulty,
at the start, was in making lieutenants. That he overcame by appointing
senior midshipmen before the Ariadne was out of the Channel. He offered
a lieutenancy to Ferens, who had the courage to decline it.

"Make me purser," remarked Ferens. "Make me purser, and I'll do the job
justly."

As the purser of the Ariadne had been sent to the sick-bay and was
likely to die (and did die subsequently), Ferens was put into his
uniform-three-cornered cocked hat, white knee-breeches, and white
stockings. The purser of a man-of-war was generally a friend of the
captain, going with him from ship to ship.

Of the common sailors, on the whole, Dyck had little doubt. He had
informed them that, whatever happened, they should not be in danger;
that the ship should not join the West Indian fleet unless every man
except himself received amnesty. If the amnesty was not granted, then
one of two things should happen--the ship must make for a South American
port, or she must fight. Fighting would not frighten these men.

It was rather among the midshipmen that Dyck looked for trouble.
Sometimes, with only two years' training at Gosport, a youngster became
a midshipman on first going to sea, and he could begin as early as
eleven years of age. A second-rate ship like the Ariadne carried
eighteen midshipmen; and as six lieutenants were appointed from them,
only twelve remained. From these twelve, in the dingy after-cockpit,
where the superficial area was not more than twelve square feet; where
the air was foul, and the bilges reeked with a pestilential stench;
where the purser's store-room near gave out the smell of rancid butter
and poisonous cheese; wh