and doing nothing but drill.

I partook, then, of the general feeling of dissatisfaction that morning;
and, feeling quite glum and vexed with myself, I leaned over the
taffrail and gazed down at the bright, clear water in search of fish.

"I wish I hadn't spoken as I did last night," I said to myself later on;
and I was going over the whole scene in the cabin, and thinking of what
a noodle I must have looked, when I heard my name uttered in the
captain's short, sharp voice.

I turned and saluted, to find that Mr Reardon had gone forward.

"I only want to repeat my caution to you, Mr Herrick," said the
captain. "You will not say a word to any one about your visit to me
last night."

"No, sir," I said.

"You have not spoken to your messmates?"

"No, sir; not a word."

"But they asked you why I summoned you to my cabin?"

"Yes, sir; but they think it was to snub--reprove me, sir, for making so
much of the Chinaman."

"Oh, I see. But snub would have done, Mr Herrick. Reprove sounds
pedantic. That will do, but bear in mind my wishes."

"Oh, there you are, Mr Herrick," said the first lieutenant, a few
minutes later. "I want you. Find that Chinaman and the ship's tailor,
and bring them both to my cabin."

"Yes, sir," I said, wondering; and I hunted them out, told them to
follow me, and led the way to Mr Reardon's cabin.

"Shut the door," he said sharply.

I obeyed, and the lieutenant consulted a scrap of paper upon which he
had pencilled a few memoranda.

"Now, tailor," he said, "you will have an order for a sufficiency of
white duck."

"Yes, sir."

"And by this time to-morrow I want twenty loose frocks cut and made
after the fashion of this man's blue cotton blouse thing."

"Couldn't be done, sir, in the time," said the tailor respectfully.

"They must be done, my man. I don't care how roughly they are made, nor
how badly sewn, but they must be cut to this pattern. Get as many men
as you require to sew, and begin work at once. I'll send this boy to
you soon, for you to get the pattern of his garment."

The tailor saluted, and went off wondering; while I wondered no less, as
I stood waiting with Ching for what was to come; but for some moments
Mr Reardon sat there studying his notes.

All at once he looked up sharply.

"Now, Ching," he said, "can you understand all I say?"

The Chinaman nodded.

"Then look here: I have ordered twenty duck-frocks, as you heard."

"Yes, sir. Velly like