methin' like this.

"I'd recommend ye to send for Bledsoe, the gunner, and ordher him to
tell off crews to every one of these guns. Then let him explain to the
captain of each gun how the thing works; and afther he has done that,
send him down to the magazine and let him sort out a few rounds of
ammunition for each gun and have them handy to send up on deck. Also
let each gun be loaded, ready in case of need. If not needed, the
charges can easily be withdrawn and sent below again to-morrow, while,
if they are, they'll be ready. Also, it might be quite worth while to
have the small arms ready for servin' out at a moment's notice."

"My!" exclaimed Mrs Vansittart, "are you quite serious, Mr Kennedy?
Because, if you are, it sounds as though we might be in for a real big
fight. What do you think, Mr Leigh?"

"I fully agree with Mr Kennedy, madam," said I; "not so much because I
anticipate an attack upon the ship, as that I clearly see the force of
his argument as to the advantage of preparedness."

"Yes," agreed Mrs Vansittart; "I guess you are both right, and I will
act upon your advice, Mr Kennedy. Please send for the gunner and tell
him what to do. I had something of this sort in my mind when I gave the
order for those guns to be put on board."

By the promptitude with which Kennedy sent for the gunner, and, when he
arrived, mustered the crew, I could clearly see that the good man was
distinctly anxious, although I did not believe he had much cause to be
so. Still, I quite agreed with him that the wise and proper thing was
to be prepared for every possible contingency, and I cheerfully did my
share of the work. Fortunately, Bledsoe was an ex-man-o'-war's-man, and
had held a gunner's warrant in the United States navy; he therefore knew
his business from A to Z, and gave us all the help that we needed.

First, all hands were mustered and paraded; then a crew was told off to
each gun, including the Hotchkisses and Maxims--Kennedy undertaking the
supervision of the Hotchkisses, and I that of the Maxims. Bledsoe next
took each gun's crew separately in hand, showed one how to work their
weapon, and left them to practise the movements of loading, sighting,
firing, and sponging, while he passed on to the next, until both
batteries were assiduously engaged in repeating the several motions time
after time. Finally he worked his way round to me, explained the
mechanism of the Maxim, and showed how the belts of cartr