"'_Si j'etais Dieu_,'" he murmured, following some train of thought and musing aloud as was his habit. Then, still in a brown study, he opened the roll-topped desk and pressed a bell. "Tell Mr. Gerrard I'll sign papers," he said to the marine sentry who appeared in the doorway. "Double-O" Gerrard (so called because he wore glasses with circular lenses and his name made you think of telephones) answered the summons, carrying a sheaf of papers. He was the Captain's Clerk: that is to say, the junior accountant officer, detailed by the Captain to conduct his official correspondence and perform secretarial work generally. The position is not one commonly sought after, but Double-O Gerrard appeared to enjoy his duties, and as a badge of office carried a perpetual inkstain on the forefinger-tip of his right hand. The Captain sat down at his desk with a little sigh. If the truth be known, he had small relish for this business of "papers." He picked up his pen and examined the nib. "Do you ever use your pen to clean a pipe out?" he asked his Clerk. "Oh no, sir." "I suppose it depends on the nib one uses whether it suffers much." With a piece of blotting paper the Captain removed fragments of tobacco ash and nicotine from the nib, and dipped it in the ink. "It doesn't seem to hurt mine. Now then, what have we got here?" A quarter of an hour later he pushed aside the last of the pile of documents and lit a cigarette with the air of a man who had earned a smoke. "Any defaulters?" "No, sir, none for you to-day." "Humph! Tell the Commander I'll buy him a pair of white kid gloves when I go ashore. Request-men?" His Clerk placed a book upon the desk open at a list of names. The Captain ran down them with a pencil. "Badges, all entitled? . . . Stop allotment--who does he allot to? Mother? . . . Restoration to first class for leave. . . . To be rated Leading Seaman--Jones. Jones? Oh, yes, I know: youngster in the quarter-deck division with a broken nose. The Commander spoke to me about him." The pencil slowly descended to the bottom of the page, ticking off each man's request as it was gone into and explained. He stopped at the last one. "'To see Captain about private affairs.' What's his trouble?" "I don't know, sir. He put in his request to see you through the Master-at-Arms. He didn't say what it was about." The Captain closed the book. "All seamen, eh? No Marine request-men?" "No, sir." "Right. I'll see 'em at eleven." The Clerk gathered the papers together and departed. As he went out there was a tap at the door. The Captain frowned. The tap was repeated. "Don't knock," he called out. "If you've got anything to report, come in and report it." The Chief Yeoman of Signals entered with an embarrassed air. He was new to the ship, and, as everyone knows, all captains have their little peculiarities. Here he was up against one right away. He'd never had much luck.