ur
of lookout duty on the starboard end of the bridge.

He went forward, swaying with the motion of the ship, his oilskin
trousers making a queer, grating noise as one leg rubbed against the
other, and "Stump" said, "I'll bet he won't stay with us long; he talks
too much." A prophetic remark, as future events proved.

The group broke up after this. Some who were not actually on lookout
duty went into the hot fire room, and after taking off their outer
clothing, tried to snatch a few winks of sleep. The "watch on deck" was
not allowed to go below at night, so the only shelter allowed us was the
fire room and the main companion-way. The latter could hold but a few
men, and the only alternative was the fire or "drum" room, into which
the heat and gas from the furnaces ascended from the bowels of the ship,
making it impossible for a man to breathe the atmosphere there for more
than half an hour at a time. The after wheel-house was sometimes taken
advantage of by the more venturesome of the boys, but the risk was
great, for "Cutlets" was continually prowling around, and the man found
taking shelter there would receive tongue lashings hard to bear, with
abuse entirely out of proportion to the offence.

A little before twelve o'clock we heard the boatswain's pipe, and the
long drawn shout, "On deck all the starboard watch," and "All the
starboard watch to muster." So we knew that we would soon be relieved,
and would be able to take the much-needed four hours' sleep in our
"sleeping bags," as "Hay" called them. The starboard men came slowly up,
rubbing their eyes, buttoning their oilskins, and tying their
sou'westers on by a string under their chins as they walked.

"Hurry up there, will you?" calls out a port watch man, as the men of
the other watch sleepily climb the ladder. "Get a move on and give us a
chance to get out of this beastly wet." A sharp retort is given, and the
men move on in the same leisurely way. The men of both watches are
hardly in the best of humors. It is not pleasant to be waked up at
midnight to stand a four hours' watch in the rain and fog, nor is it the
most enjoyable thing in life to be delayed, after standing a four hours'
watch in the rain, realizing all the time that each minute of waiting
takes that precious time from the scant four hours' sleep.

But finally "all the watch" is piped, and we go below and flop into our
hammocks, to sleep as soundly and dreamlessly as babies. A sailor will
sle