"Come along, boys; look sharp! Here's old Dishy coming."
"Hang old Dishipline; he's always coming when he isn't wanted. Tumble
over."
We three lads, midshipmen on board HM clipper gunboat the _Teaser_, did
"tumble over"--in other words, made our way down into the boat
alongside--but not so quickly that the first lieutenant, Mr Reardon,
who, from his slightly Hibernian pronunciation of the word discipline
and constant references thereto had earned for himself among us the
sobriquet of "Dishy," did catch sight of us, come to the gangway and
look down just as Double B had given the order to shove off, and was
settling the strap of the large telescope he carried over his shoulder.
I ought to tell you our names, though, in order of seniority; and it
will make matters more easy in this log if I add our second handles or
nicknames, for it was a habit among us that if a fellow could by any
possibility be furnished with an alias, that furnishing took place.
For instance, Bruce Barkins always went by the name of "Double B," when,
in allusion to the Bark in his family name, he was not called the
"Little Tanner," or "Tanner" alone; Harry Smith, being a swarthy,
dark-haired fellow, was "Blacksmith;" and I, Nathaniel Herrick, was
dubbed the first day "Poet"--I, who had never made a line in my life--
and later on, as I was rather diminutive, the "Gnat."
One can't start fair upon any voyage without preparations, so I must put
in another word or two to tell you that there were two logs kept on
board the good ship _Teaser_--one by the chief officer, and in which the
captain often put down his opinion. This is not that, but my own
private log; and I'm afraid that if the skipper or Lieutenant Reardon
had ever seen it he would have had a few words of a sort to say to me--
words which I would rather not have heard.
It was a gloriously fine morning. We had been dodging about the coast
on and off for a month on the look-out for piratical junks and lorchas,
had found none, and were now lying at anchor in the mouth of the Nyho
river, opposite the busy city of that name. Lastly, we three had leave
to go ashore for the day, and were just off when the first lieutenant
came and stood in the gangway, just as I have said, and the Tanner had
told the coxswain to shove off.
"Stop!" cried our tyrant loudly; and the oars which were being dropped
into the pea-soupy water were tossed up again and held in a row.
"Oh my!" groaned Barkins.
"Eh?" cried the first lieutenant sharply. "What say?" and he looked
hard at me.
"I didn't speak, sir."
"Oh, I thought you did. Well, young gentlemen, you are going ashore for
the day. Not by my wish, I can assure you."
"No, sir," said Smith, and he received a furious look.
"Was that meant for impertinence, sir?"
"I beg pardon, sir; no, sir."
"Oh, I'm very glad it was not. I was saying it was not by my wish that
you are going ashore, for I think you would be all better employed in
your cabin studying navigation."
"Haven't had a holiday for months, sir," said Barkins, in a tone of
remonstrance.
"Well, sir, what of that? Neither have I. Do you suppose that the
discipline of Her Majesty's ships is to be kept up by officers thinking
of nothing else but holidays? Now, listen to me--As you are going--
recollect that you are officers and gentlemen, and that it is your duty
to bear yourselves so as to secure respect from the Chinese inhabitants
of the town."
"Yes, sir," we said in chorus.
"You will be very careful not to get into any scrapes."
"Of course, sir."
"And you will bear in mind that you are only barbarians--"
"And foreign devils, sir."
"Thank you, Mr Smith," said the lieutenant sarcastically. "You need
not take the words out of my mouth. I was going to say foreign
devils--"
"I beg pardon, sir."
"--In the eyes of these self-satisfied, almond-eyed Celestials. They
would only be too glad of an excuse to mob you or to declare that you
had insulted them, so be careful."
"Certainly, sir."
"Perhaps you had better not visit their temples."
Smith kicked me.
"Or their public buildings."
Barkins trod on my toe.
"In short, I should be extremely guarded; and I think, on further
consideration, I will go to the captain and suggest that you have
half-a-dozen marines with you."
"Captain's ashore, sir."
"Thank you, Mr Herrick. You need not be so fond of correcting me."