I, and not to an unsympathetic public. Well, Bobby after much
indulgence had been retired from active service by that convulsive
effort at re-establishment known as the Retiring Board of 1854-55, to
which I am coming if ever I see daylight through this thicket of
recollections that seems to close round me as I proceed, instead of
getting clearer. The action of that board was afterwards extensively
reviewed, and among the data brought before the reviewers was a letter
from a commander, who presumably should have known better, warmly
endorsing Bobby. In consequence of this, and perhaps other
circumstances, Bobby was restored to an admiring service; but the
Department, probably through some officer who appreciated the
situation, sent him to his advocate as first lieutenant--that is, as
general manager and right-hand man. The joke was somewhat grim, and
grimly resented. It fell to me a little later to see the commander on
a matter of duty. He received me in his cabin, his feet swathed on a
chair, his hands gnarled and knotted with gout or rheumatism, from
which he was a great sufferer. Business despatched, we drifted into
talk, and got on the subject of Bobby. His face became distorted. "I
suppose the Department thinks it has done a very funny thing in
sending me him as first lieutenant; but I tell you, Mr. Mahan, every
word I wrote was perfectly true. There is nothing about a ship from
her hold to her trucks that Bobby don't know; but--" here fury took
possession of him, and he vociferated--"put him on deck, handling men,
he is the d----dest fool that ever man laid eyes on." How far his
sense of injury biassed his judgments as to the acquirements of his
protege, I cannot say; but a cruise or two before I had happened to
hear from eye-witnesses of Bobby's appearance in public after his
restoration as first lieutenant in charge of the deck. On the
occasion in question he was to exercise the whole crew at some
particular manoeuvre. Taking his stand on the hawse-block, he
drew from his pocket a small note-book, cast upon it his eye and
announced--doubtless through the trumpet--"Man the fore-royal braces!"
Again a pause, and further reference. "Man the main-royal braces!"
Again a pause: "Man the mizzen-royal braces--Man _all_ the royal
braces." It is quite true, however, that there may be plenty of
knowledge with lack of power to apply it professionally--a fact
observable in all callings, but one which examination alone will no