was provided.

It was great fun.

The boys in turn detailed to act as crews of the guns used to be
numbered off in regular fashion, according to the custom of the service,
just as if they were grown men and working on board a ship going into
action.

Number 1, who was the captain of the gun, stood in the rear; Number 2,
on the right of the former, but clear of the recoil, as if to teach one
that prominent and distinguished positions have their drawbacks as well
as their advantages; Number 3 stood close up to the ship's side, by the
breeching of the gun on the left; and Number 4 occupied a similar post
on the right, while Numbers 5 and 6 stood in the rear of 3 and 4, and so
on.

Through the energetic instructions of Mr Gadgett, who was a most
painstaking officer, and spared no trouble to teach us our duties
properly, we had learnt when ashore on our drill-ground at Haslar to
master all the necessary manipulation of our `little barkers,' as the
gunner used to call them, learning how to cast them loose from their
lashings, run them back for loading, and prepare them for firing, all in
similar dumb-show fashion to our sail-drill experiences in the old ship;
and now, when we were able to load with real powder and shot, and make
Mr Gadgett's `barkers' bark in earnest, the interest of our gunnery
drill was increased tenfold.

It was splendid work; and from the first order, `Cast loose!' to the
last, `Fire!' it was exciting to the last degree, all of us sponging,
loading, and running out the little guns in the highest of spirits, as
if we were fighting the Battle of Trafalgar over again, and throwing
shot and shell into any number of French and Spanish three-deckers
alongside!

We had hard work sometimes to check ourselves from uttering a wild cheer
when the order was given to pull the trigger and the gun went off with a
grand `Bang!' sending a cloud of white smoke inboard from its muzzle as
its fiery iron messenger leaped forwards and splashed into the sea,
either ahead or abeam as the case might be, throwing up a tall column of
water on its first plunge that was like a sort of fountain, while it
skipped onward, playing `ducks and drakes' on the top of the waves,
until it sank out of sight in the distance, its energy exhausted.

We often used to rig out a target, made up out of an old rum puncheon,
fixed on a raft of spars, which we fired at as at a mark, making very
good practice, too, after a bit.

Mick soon becam