nstrued. They, I
think, had an unacknowledged feeling that while under school-boy, or
collegiate, discipline as to times or manners, some relaxation of
strict official correctness must be endured. Larking, sometimes
uproarious, met with personal sympathy, if official condemnation. Nor
did we resent being detected by what we regarded as fair means; to
which we perhaps gave a pretty wide interpretation. The exceptional
man, who inspected at unaccustomed hours, which we considered our own
prescriptive right--though not by rules--who came upon us unawares,
was apt to be credited with rather unofficer-like ideas of what was
becoming, and suspected of the not very gentlemanly practice of
wearing noiseless rubber shoes. That intimation of his approach was
conveyed by us from room to room by concerted taps on the gas-pipes
was fair war; nor did our opponents seem to mind what they could not
but clearly hear. Indeed, I think most of them were rather glad to
find evidences of order and propriety prevailing, where possibly but
for those kindly signals they might have detected matter for report.

There was one lieutenant, however, the memory of whom was still green
as a bay-tree in my day, though it would have been blasted indeed
could cursing have blighted it, to whom the game of detective seemed
to possess the fascination of the chase; and so successful was he that
his baffled opponents could not view the matter dispassionately, nor
accept their defeat in sportsman-like spirit. I knew him later; he had
a saturnine appearance, not calculated to conciliate a victim, but he
liked a joke, especially of the practical kind, and for the sake of
one successfully achieved could forgive an offender. Night surprises,
inroads on the enemy's country, at the hours when we were mistakenly
supposed to be safe in bed, and regulations so required, were favorite
stratagems with him. On one occasion, so tradition ran, some
half-dozen midshipmen had congregated in a room "after taps," and,
with windows carefully darkened, had contrived an extempore kitchen to
fry themselves a mess of oysters. The process was slow, owing to the
number of oysters the pan could take at once and the largeness of the
expectant appetites; but it had progressed nearly to completion, when
without premonition the door opened and ---- appeared. He asked no
questions and offered no comments, but, walking to the platter, seized
it and threw out of the window the accumulated resu