human
But, I say, Jack Raby, is it true, that he makes the midshipmen do the duty of topmen?
gpt
I believe you, my boy, answered Jack Raby.
human
He makes all the youngsters lie out in the topsail-yards, and hand the canvas in fine style, ay, and black down the rigging at times too. By Jove, he's the fellow to make your kid-glove-wearing gentlemen dip their hands in the tar-bucket, and keep them there, if he sees they are in any way squeamish about it.
gpt
By jingo, he seems to be somewhat of a Tartar,
human
Not a bit of it, was the rejoinder.
gpt
Let me tell you, that you'll soon find that your slack captains are the worst to sail with. They let every one do as they like till all hands begin to take liberties, and the hard work falls on the most willing, and they then suddenly haul up, and there is six times more flogging and desertion than in a strict ship, and she soon becomes a regular hell afloat. I hate your honey-mouthed, easy-going skippers, who simper out, `Please, my good men, have the goodness to brace round the foreyard when the ship's taken aback.' No, no--give me a man who knows how to command men. Depend on it. Duff, you'll like Captain Fleetwood before you've sailed with him a week, if you are worth your salt, mind you, though.
human
There, exclaimed Raby, pointing to a fine man-of-war brig, which lay at the mouth of the dockyard creek just off Fort Saint Angelo.
gpt
Isn't the _Ione_ a beauty now?
human
Yes, she is, indeed; and a fine craft, I dare say, in every respect,
gpt
Oh, there's nothing can come up to her! exclaimed Jack Raby, warming with his subject.
human
She'll sail round almost any ship in the fleet; and I only wish, with Charlie Fleetwood to command her, and her present crew, we could fall in with an enemy twice her size. We should thrash him, I'd stake my existence on it, and bring him in as a prize before long.
gpt
Glorious! exclaimed the other youth, catching the enthusiasm of his companion.
human
It's a pity the war is over. I'm afraid there's no chance of any fun of that sort.
gpt
Oh, you don't know--something may come out of this row between the Greeks and the Turks; and we, at all events, shall have some amusement in looking after them, and cruising up the Archipelago--where I hear we are to be sent, as soon as we are ready for sea.
human
How soon will that be? asked his companion.
gpt
We might sail to-morrow, I should have thought.
human
Why, you see, there are more reasons than one for our not being ready, observed Jack.
gpt
And I suspect the skipper himself is in no hurry to get away; for, don't you go and talk about it now, but the fact is, he has been and fallen desperately in love with a sweetly pretty girl, who, from what I can observe, likes him not a little in return, so he'll be very sorry to get out of sight of her smiles; at least, I know that I should be loath to be beyond hailing distance if I were in his place. Let me give you a piece of advice, Duff; don't go and fall in love. It is a very inconvenient condition for a midshipman to be in, let me tell you.
human
Not if I can help it, said Duff.
gpt
At least, till I am a lieutenant. However, I felt rather queer about the region of the brisket the other night, when I was dancing with that pretty little Maltese girl, with the black eyes, and cherry lips, though we neither of us could understand a word the other said, and I didn't know what was to come of it. Fortunately, next morning, the sensation had gone off again, and I got out of the scrape. But the fact is, since I grew up (the rogue was scarcely fifteen), I have been so little on shore, that I have had no time to lose my heart.
human
But I say, old fellow, without any more humbug about love and such like bosh, just look at the dear old craft! how beautifully she sits on the water-- what a graceful sheer she has--and how well her sixteen guns look run out, like dogs from their kennels, all ready to bite. You should see her under weigh though, and how beautiful she looks with her canvas spread! You'd know her for a man-of-war twenty miles off by the cut of her royals. See, what square yards she's got! and how well her masts stand. How light she looks aloft--and yet everything that is required-- not a block too large--and yet everything works as easy as possible. On deck, too, you'll find there's no jim-crack nonsense about her-- everything is for service, and intended to last; and yet, where there is any brass or varnished wood, it's kept as bright and clean as can be. There isn't a ship on the station can come up to us in reefing or furling; and, let them say what they like in other ships, there isn't a happier berth, or a better set of fellows to be found, on board any of them--take my word for it, Duff.
gpt
Well, from all you say, I haven't a doubt but that I shall like the little _Ione_ very much, observed the other.
human
And, at all events, I wouldn't mind a worse ship, for the sake of being with you. But, I say, who is the young lady your skipper--I may now, though, call him our skipper--has fallen in love with?
gpt
A Miss Garden. She is very young, and very fair, and very bright and lively. I'm not surprised at any one's admiring her! it's much more wonderful that everybody doesn't fall in love with her over head and ears: for my part, though I've only seen her two or three times, I'm ready to fight and die for her, too, if it were necessary.
human
Oh, of course! that we should all be ready to do, as in duty bound, for our skipper's wife, and much more for the lady of his love, observed Duff;
gpt
I was going to tell you. She has no father nor mother; and her only living relation, that I know of, is an old colonel Gauntlett, on whose protection she is entirely thrown. He is rather a grumpy old chap, they say--but she has no help for it; and he takes her about wherever he goes. He has got some money--but he hates the navy, and swears she shall never marry a sailor, or if she does he'll cut her off with a farthing. He came out here some months ago, and has never let any one with a blue jacket come inside his door; but, somehow or other, Captain Fleetwood got introduced to her, and as he was in mufti, the old chap didn't know he was in the navy, and told him he should be happy to make his acquaintance. He did not find out his mistake for some time; and when he did--my eyes, what a rage he was in! He did not mind it so much, though, afterwards, as he is going away in a few days, and thought the captain and his niece were not likely to meet again; but the skipper, you see, is not the man to let the grass grow under his feet in making love, more than in anything else, and in the mean time he had managed to come it pretty strong with Miss Garden. How it will end I can't say--I only know that our captain is the last man in the world to yield up a lady if he loves her, and believes she loves him--he'd as soon think of striking his flag to an enemy while he had got a shot in the locker; so, I suppose, he'll either win over the old cove, or run off with her, and snap his fingers at him--he doesn't care for his money;--and, to my idea, that would be the best way to settle it.
human
So I think, observed the other youngster.
gpt
I've made up my mind, when I want to marry, if I cannot get the old one's consent, to take French leave, and settle the matter in an offhand way. But where do you say the grumpy colonel and his pretty niece are going to; for the captain must look sharp after her, or he'll be carrying her away somewhere inland, out of sight of salt water, where he can't get at her.
human
No fear of that; the old dragon has too great an opinion of his own soldiership not to fancy that he can keep guard over his ward, observed Raby.
gpt
But we'll see if a sailor can't weather on him. Nothing I should like so much as to help the skipper, and I only hope he may ask me. He hasn't much time to lose, either; for we heard that the colonel and his niece were bound shortly for Cephalonia, or one of the Ionian Islands, where he has got an appointment. If we were ordered there also, we might find an opportunity; but, you see, the captain won't have the chances of meeting her without being observed, which he has here, and a hundred to one the uncle claps half a dozen lobsters as sentries over her, if he sees the _Ione_ come off the place.
human
Then I should be for carrying her off at once, if I were the captain, and letting the old lion growl away without her,