t, some months previous to the master-at-arms'
disgrace, he had presented these articles to the Captain, with his best
love and compliments; and the Captain had received them, and seldom
went ashore without the cane, and never took snuff but out of that box.
With some Captains, a sense of propriety might have induced them to
return these presents, when the generous donor had proved himself
unworthy of having them retained; but it was not Captain Claret who
would inflict such a cutting wound upon any officer's sensibilities,
though long-established naval customs had habituated him to scourging
_the people_ upon an emergency.

Now had Captain Claret deemed himself constitutionally bound to decline
all presents from his subordinates, the sense of gratitude would not
have operated to the prejudice of justice. And, as some of the
subordinates of a man-of-war captain are apt to invoke his good wishes
and mollify his conscience by making him friendly gifts, it would
perhaps _have_ been an excellent thing for him to adopt the plan
pursued by the President of the United States, when he received a
present of lions and Arabian chargers from the Sultan of Muscat. Being
forbidden by his sovereign lords and masters, the imperial people, to
accept of any gifts from foreign powers, the President sent them to an
auctioneer, and the proceeds were deposited in the Treasury. In the
same manner, when Captain Claret received his snuff-box and cane, he
might have accepted them very kindly, and then sold them off to the
highest bidder, perhaps to the donor himself, who in that case would
never have tempted him again.

Upon his return home, Bland was paid off for his full term, not
deducting the period of his suspension. He again entered the service in
his old capacity.

As no further allusion will be made to this affair, it may as well be
stated now that, for the very brief period elapsing between his
restoration and being paid off in port by the Purser, the
master-at-arms conducted himself with infinite discretion, artfully
steering between any relaxation of discipline--which would have
awakened the displeasure of the officers--and any unwise
severity--which would have revived, in tenfold force, all the old
grudges of the seamen under his command.

Never did he show so much talent and tact as when vibrating in this his
most delicate predicament; and plenty of cause was there for the
exercise of his cunningest abilities; for, upon the dis