The Pirate of the Mediterranean | Page 3

never be fit for
anything. At last he believed that I was in earnest, and with a light heart
I turned my back upon Brook-green, and shipped on board the old
Rodney. But, I say, old fellow, what sort of a chap is our skipper? He
looks like a taut hand."
"There is not a better fellow afloat," was the answer. "He's none of your
milk-and-water chaps who'll let butter melt in their mouths, of that you
may be assured; but he knows what ought to be done, and what man
can do; and he makes them do it too. There's no shirking work or being
slack in stays when he carries on the duty, and there's not a smarter ship
in the service, nor a happier one either, though he won't allow an idler
on board. The fact is, my boy, both officers and men know that no one
can shirk their work, so it comes easy to all, and we have more leave
and less punishment than nearly any other vessel on the station.
"But, I say, Jack Raby, is it true, that he makes the midshipmen do the
duty of topmen?" asked the youngest of the two.
"I believe you, my boy," answered Jack Raby. "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."
"By jingo, he seems to be somewhat of a Tartar," exclaimed the
midshipman called Duff, with a half-doubtful expression of
countenance, as if his new shipmate was practising on his credulity.
"Not a bit of it," was the rejoinder. "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."
By this time they had reached an angle of the ramparts, where, jumping
up on the banquette, they could enjoy a good view up the harbour.
"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. "Isn't the
Ione a beauty now?"
"Yes, she is, indeed; and a fine craft, I dare say, in every respect,"
answered Duff.
"Oh, there's nothing can come up to her!" exclaimed Jack Raby,
warming with his subject. "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."
"Glorious!" exclaimed the other youth, catching the enthusiasm of his
companion. "It's a pity the war is over. I'm afraid there's no chance of
any fun of that sort."
"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."
Jack Raby was the speaker.

"How soon will that be?" asked his companion. "We might sail
to-morrow, I should have thought."
"Why, you see, there are more reasons than one for our not being
ready," observed Jack. "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