ed again, after a pause, during which
the rush of water became more alarming, sundry gasps and much hard
breathing being mingled with it,--`Mag-nificent,' continued Firebrand
in the low calm tone of a contemplative connoisseur; `couldn't have
believed it if I hadn't seen it. Quite Herculean!'

"From all this I came gradually to understand that some of the
officers were performing their morning ablutions with sponge and
towel, while Firebrand was looking languidly over the edge of his
hammock, indulging in a critical commentary.

"Just then I was surprised to hear a muffled thunderous bang! It was
the big drum, and, next moment, the ship's band announced itself with
a single bar, excellently played, of `God Save the Queen.'

"Every Sunday, I found, was begun by a careful and minute inspection
of the crew and ship. After breakfast the captain, followed by all
his chief officers, went through every hole and corner of the mighty
iron fabric. I followed in his wake. At first the thought did not
occur to me, but after all was over it struck me that this act was
somewhat appropriate to the day. The great _Thunderer_ had, as it
were, gone into a condition of introspection.

"It was a species of self-examination on the part of the great
war-ship, through the medium of its mind--the captain. Here was the
father of a tremendously large family going the rounds on Sunday
morning to observe whether his moral precepts and personal example
during the week had been attended with appropriate results--to see
that his `boys' were neat and clean, and ready for church, and that
they had arranged their rooms before breakfast.

"First of all, the men were mustered (by bugle) on the upper deck,--
marines on one side, blue-jackets on the other. Then we walked slowly
along the front ranks and down the rear, with critical eyes. I
observed a crooked collar; the captain observed it too, and put it
straight: I saw an ill-put-on belt; the captain also saw it, pointed
and referred to it in an undertone. A hole in a pair of trousers I
did not observe, but the captain saw it, and commented on it in a
somewhat severer manner. Nothing was passed over. Every brawny,
powerful, broad-shouldered blue-jacket there was, in nautical
phraseology, overhauled from stem to stern. A comment here, a word of
approval there, or a quiet reprimand, was all that passed, but, being
ut