Not many months after our smashing up the Arabs and driving the Somalis
out of the British protectorate back to their own inhospitable country,
the _Mermaid's_ commission expired; when, instead of the cruiser going
home to be paid off, a new crew was sent out to us from England, she
still remaining on the station, in accordance with the routine at
present in vogue.
The old _Dromedary_, that brought out our relief, which has cruised more
thousands of miles, I believe, on such fetching and carrying work than
have ever been covered by the oldest ship in the Navy, took us back home
in her; and she called in at Simons Bay, en route, to fill up with
supernumeraries and other paid-off crews from ships belonging to the
Cape station.
Amongst those that came on board here were the officers and men of the
_Grampus_, including none others than Captain Sackville, who had quite
recovered from his wounds, Mick Donovan, and `Gyp.'
I need hardly say what a jolly passage home we all had; Larrikins and
Mick and I, with some other old shipmates of the _Saint Vincent_,
yarning all the way from morning till night, not much work being wanted
of us as we had fine weather throughout; while `Gyp,' who still retained
his affection for me, exhibited his old bias for lower deck company and
could not be kept away from the fo'c's'le where we were.
Captain Sackville, of course, noticed this, but he was not a bit angry
at it; and, on our leaving the old _Dromedary_ at Portsmouth, where we
finally arrived safe and sound after a pretty speedy passage for such an
old tub, he gladdened my heart when saying farewell by making me a
present of `Gyp.'
"Begorrah," as Mick related to Larrikins subsequently, when we returned
to the depot, after our customary payoff leave ashore, "ye nivver sayd
sich a coomin' home, sure, ez Tom hed, an' me too, bedad, whin we got up
to the owld cottage at Bonfoire Corner. Sure, there wor Tom's faither
a-sottin' in the garden in his owld armchair under the mulberry-tree,
faith, afther Miss Jenny resayved us at the door--"
"Ah," interposed Larrikins at this point, with a knowing wink. "But,
what o' Tom's sister? Yer ain't told us about her at all, chummy. Did
she give ye a kiss, now?"
"Git away wid ye," cried Mick, giving him a dig in his ribs, and
grinning the while all over his face at the recollection of something
about which I might have told a tale if I had liked, before proceeding
to go on with his story of the warm reception we had met with.
"Well, thin, Tom's fayther wor a-sottin' in the armchair, ez I wor a-
sayin' whin you put me off me coorse, Larry, ye baste. Tom wor goin' on
ahid, wid `Gyp' a-kapin' behoind him, an' Oi, sure, behoind him agin wid
Miss Jenny, whin the monkey Jocko, who wor alongside of Tom's fayther,
catches sight of `Gyp,' and makes for the to'-gallant crosstrees ov the
mulberry-tree, faith. Now, Larry, ye moost rimimber the owld cockatoo
`Ally Sloper' wor alriddy oop there aloft; an' whin the burrd says Jocko
makin' fur him, he oop stick, or rayther oop wid his crist an' flies
down roight atop ov Tom's hid, shraykin' out, `Say-rah, Say-rah!' as
loud as the divvle could bawl. `Gyp' on this starts barkin' loike mad
at the blissid cockatoo; whin down cooms Masther Jocko fur to have his
share in the foight. Begorrah, ye nivver sayd sich a rumpus in yer
loife, Larry, 'specially whin Tom's fayther got overturned in his
armchair an' Misthress Bowlin' came out fur to say wot all the row was
about; whoile Miss Jenny an' Tom an' me, sure, wor all a-dyin' wid
larfin', bedad!"
I may add, in conclusion, that Mick and I went from the depot to the
_Excellent_, to go through a regular course of gunnery, preparatory to
our aspiring to the grade of `petty officer'; and I hope, as my old
friend the `Jaunty' of the _Saint Vincent_ prophesied, to rise bye-and-
bye to the rank of `warrant.'
It is a pity, though, that no chance is yet afforded in our service in
the present day, as used to be the case in the past, when many an
admiral `crept through the hawsehole,' as the saying was, for
respectable young fellows of good education and bright abilities to look
any higher; but, it is to be hoped that the day will come, as father's
old friend Captain Mordaunt said only the other day when talking to us
both under the old mulberry-tree in our garden, when this state of
things will be changed, and a boy who enters the service as I did on
board one of our training-ships, will, as Bonaparte said the conscript
carried a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack, keep snugly stowed away
an admiral's cocked hat in his ditty box!
However, be that as it may, and whether I ever rise to quarter-deck rank
or not, I have not a single regret at having ever joined the Navy; for,
no one glories more than I in serving our Queen and country under the
grand old flag that floats supreme over every sea where ship may sail.
Aye, and my proud boast is that I am still `Young Tom Bowling,' my dear
old father being yet alive; and that I am one of `the Boys of the
British Navy.'