the blankets. "I never seed a chap go down so
suddink. Lor'! Yer must hev made a slippery hitch when yer fastened up
the end on yer lanyard to the hook. Lor', I am that orful sorry!"

"Oh yes," said I, shaking myself free from the last of my encumbrances
and standing up erect, "you can just tell that to the marines!"

I was not, however, at all out of temper, having learnt long since from
my father, even were I not fond of a bit of practical-joking myself, not
to take umbrage at the skylarking of any of my comrades on board ship
where no malice was really intended. As he told me, the more a fellow
shows he's `riled,' the more his shipmates ever will tease him.

"If you want to have a happy life at sea, Tom," said he, "you must
always bear everything good-humouredly--everything; aye, should you
tumble from aloft and risk losing the number of your mess into the
bargain!"

Hearing the row and the sound of our talking after `lights out!' had
been called, one of the ship's corporals came up with a lantern to see
what was the matter; and he at once spotted Master Larrikins.

"Hi, young feller!" said he to that arch-conspirator; "what are you
doing here? How's it you haven't turned in on the lower deck, in your
proper billet?"

"The master-at-arms told me, sir, as how I wer fur to see as these
novices wos slung their hammicks propingly," replied Larrikins glibly.
"An' I wer jist a-seein' to do it, sir."

"Aye, and a precious fine way you have done it, too!" rejoined the
ship's corporal, whose face I could clearly see by the light of his own
lantern had a broad and beaming grin on it, as he proceeded to inspect
the lashings now of my hammock, the foot-end of which was still attached
to its hook in the deck beam. "Why, you've been and activally gone and
triced the poor beggar up with a bit of spunyarn. No wonder he come
down all standing on his cocoanut!"

The other fellows near me had wakened up by this, and there was a good
snigger all round; until the ship's corporal, having rigged up my
hammock again in the way it should have been rightly done at first, with
a double turn of the lanyard round the hook, shoved me in and kindly
tucked my blankets round me, before going off to complete his rounds;
telling us, as he disappeared forwards in the darkness, that if we did
not "keep quiet for the rest of the night we'd each get `four dozen' on
the quarter-deck next day, besides being spread-eagled in the weather
rig