"You think that everyone should stick to his last, Sandy," Dick said
with a laugh. "Well, I only wish there were more on board of your
opinion, for that would give more chances to us who like to stretch our
legs ashore for a change."

"I can stretch my legs here if I want to," the Scotchman said quietly,
"and am not anxious to do more. I suppose, if there are expeditions
against the Malays, I shall have to go with them; but the fewer of them
there are the better I shall be pleased."

The talk was more serious aft, where the doctor and first lieutenant
were dining with the captain. It ended by the latter saying, "Well,
Doctor, if what your friend Hassan said be true, we are likely enough to
have our hands pretty full, and shall have to watch this fellow Sehi as
sharply as we do his neighbors. He is not under our protection yet, and
if he sends his prahus down the river to plunder on the coast, as Hassan
says, he is not the sort of character likely to do us credit, and
the position of a British Resident with him would be the reverse of a
pleasant one. However, we must hope that he is not as black as he is
painted. He has evidently put the other chiefs' backs up, and we must
receive their reports of him with some doubt. However, I have no doubt
that, if he turns out badly, we shall be able to give him a lesson that
will be of benefit to him."

The first day's voyage up the river by no means came up to the
anticipations of the midshipmen as to the country through which they
were to pass. The width of the river varied from a quarter of a mile to
three hundred yards; the banks on each side were lined with mangroves,
presenting a dreary and monotonous aspect. Progress was slow, the steam
launch going ahead and sounding the depth of water, the captain having
but little faith in the assertion of the native pilot that he was
perfectly acquainted with every bank and shallow. Being now the dry
season, the tops of many of these shoals were dry, and numbers of
alligators were lying half in and half out of the water, basking in the
sun.

Several of the officers who possessed rifles amused themselves by
shooting at these creatures, but it was very rarely that any attention
was paid to their firing, the balls glancing off the scaly armor without
the alligators appearing to be conscious of anything unusual. There was
more amusement in watching how, when the swell of the steamer rushed
through the shallow water and broke on the sh