*CAPTAINS ALL* _By_ W. W. JACOBS 1911 ―――― CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS CAPTAINS ALL THE BOATSWAIN'S MATE THE NEST EGG THE CONSTABLE'S MOVE BOB'S REDEMPTION OVER THE SIDE THE FOUR PIGEONS THE TEMPTATION OF SAMUEL BURGE THE MADNESS OF MR. LISTER THE WHITE CAT ―――― ―――― ILLUSTRATIONS Old Sam crept back 'ome like a man in a dream, with a bag of oranges he didn't want. Captains all The boatswain's mate “I gives you the two quid afore you go into the house,” continued the boatswain. The nest egg He said it was a bad road and a little shop, and 'ad got a look about it he didn't like. The constable's move Mr. Grummit, suddenly remembering himself, stopped short and attacked the bed with extraordinary fury. Bob's redemption Afore George had settled with the cabman, there was a policeman moving the crowd on. Over the side Four pigeons The fust Bob Pretty 'eard of it was up at the _Cauliflower_ at eight o'clock that evening. The temptation of Samuel Burge The madness of Mr. Lister A friendship sprang up between the two men which puzzled the remainder of the crew not a little. The white cat He 'ad a little collar and chain made for it, and took it out for a walk. CAPTAINS ALL Every sailorman grumbles about the sea, said the night-watchman, thoughtfully. It's human nature to grumble, and I s'pose they keep on grumbling and sticking to it because there ain't much else they can do. There's not many shore-going berths that a sailorman is fit for, and those that they are—such as a night-watchman's, for instance—wants such a good character that there's few as are to equal it. Sometimes they get things to do ashore. I knew one man that took up butchering, and 'e did very well at it till the police took _him_ up. Another man I knew gave up the sea to marry a washerwoman, and they hadn't been married six months afore she died, and back he 'ad to go to sea agin, pore chap. A man who used to grumble awful about the sea was old Sam Small—a man I've spoke of to you before. To hear 'im go on about the sea, arter he 'ad spent four or five months' money in a fortnight, was 'artbreaking. He used to ask us wot was going to happen to 'im in his old age, and when we pointed out that he wouldn't be likely to 'ave any old age if he wasn't more careful of 'imself he used to fly into a temper and call us everything 'e could lay his tongue to.