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Our rest was soon interrupted by the scrunching of heavy boots upon the shingle, and Jamieson, the old man-o'-war's man whom I have already had occasion to mention, made his appearance, with the flat, circular net upon his back which he used for shrimp-catching.
The crew were by this time assembled on deck, and a very disconcerted and disgusted-looking set of men they were; they had submitted to weeks of voluntary imprisonment in crimps' houses for the sole purpose of escaping impressment into the navy, and now, when their voyage had actually begun, here was a man-o'-war's boat alongside, to force them into the service they regarded with so great an abhorrence.
"You were evidently born to become a man-o'-war's man, my fine fellow; get your traps together and pass them and yourself into the boat alongside as soon as you have received your wages." "Excuse me," said George, "I really must ask you not to take that man; he is my second mate." "Your second mate!" exclaimed the officer with well-feigned astonishment.
But Aleck was saved the necessity of replying to the question by the big fisherman, who spoke out in a grimly good-humoured way, as he cast his eyes up and down the dwarfed man-o'-war's man: "Lookye here, Tom, mate," he said, good-humouredly, "I don't know so much about never doing you no harm, old chap." "What d'yer mean?" growled the sailor.
Otherwise it was so silent that they could hear whispers away to their right, followed by a softly given order, which was followed by the dip, dip, dip, dip of oars, and they glided so closely by the rowers that Aleck fancied he could see the man-o'-war's boat.
The boats had, up to this time, been paddling quietly and composedly along, the men evidently husbanding their strength for a final effort; but now, in response to a shout from Mendouca, they bent to their work, and sent the boats foaming along in a style for which I certainly should never have given them credit; they could scarcely have done better had they been the British man-o'-war's men that they had pretended to be; the oars bent, the water was churned into foam, and a miniature surge gathered under each boat's bow as the little craft was suddenly urged to racing speed.
The Red Dog "Sentinel," in commenting on the death of "Haulbowline Tom," a drunken English man-o'-war's man, said: "It may not be generally known that our regretted fellow citizen, while serving on H. M. S. Boxer, was secretly married to Queen Kikalu of the Friendly Group; but, unlike some of our prosperous neighbors, he never boasted of his royal alliance, and resisted with steady British pluck any invitation to share the throne.
The coastguardman received his promotion soon afterwards, and he continued to express his contempt for man-o'-war's men and smugglers till he arrived at a very old age. A tall girl used to wander about from village to village down the coast. Strangers did not know what was the matter with her, but all the people who lived round the bay knew that she was out of her mind.
And besides, sir, I'm an old salt, an old man-o'-war's man, and I've been all round the world, sir; and I ha' been in all sorts o' company, pirates and all, sir; and I aint a bit frightened of a parson. No; I love a parson, sir. And I'll tell you for why, sir. He's got a good telescope, and he gits to the masthead, and he looks out.
"But if you're needing a hand," I continued, thinking just then of Willie Hercus, "I can get you a lad that knows just about as much of the Orkneys as I do, one that has always wished to be a man-o'-war's man." "I'd rather have yourself, Ericson," said the officer. "Just think about it, will you?
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