This gentleman now, after telling me he thought I should do very well, excused me from any lessons that day, it being the first I was on board. He then dismissed me to join my messmates, whom, he said, I would probably find below in the gunroom, as it was "close on the luncheon hour!" This reflection seemed to give him some inward satisfaction; for, he patted his waistcoat with a sort of pleasurable anticipation as I left him, asking the wardroom steward, who just then entered the cabin, whether there wasn't a veal and ham pie, I recollect. When I got down to the lower deck I had no need to inquire as to the whereabouts of the gunroom. Such a din and babel of voices proceeded from the after part of the ship that I was certain, from what Dad had let out to me of his former experiences at sea, the noise could only have been made by a batch of middies and naval cadets in their moments of relaxation from the stern discipline of the quarter-deck, when they were allowed to give their superabundance of animal spirits full play. I was positive I must be in the near vicinity of the gunroom, the "happy hunting ground" of my messmates. Luncheon was evidently either over or not yet begun; for, a crowd of youngsters, amongst whom I at once perceived my friend Tom Mills, were grouped together on the open deck in front of the gunroom, where, as I afterwards heard, their hammocks were slung at night. The lot were amusing themselves at some game I was not as yet acquainted with, but which evidently was one of the most boisterous character, a "rough and tumble" fight being nothing to it. "Hullo, Jack, here you are at last!" shouted out Tom Mills, on seeing me. "Come and join us, old fellow. We're playing at `piling the sacks.'" "Piling the sacks?" I repeated. "What game is that?" "Come along," cried he, "you'll soon learn it. Here's a new hand, Master Miller. Sacks to the mill! sacks to the mill!" Thereupon he and a couple of other fellows seized me by my arms and legs and put me on top of a pile of other johnnies, who were scrambling and struggling and yelling on the deck in a confused mass, like an animated roly-poly pudding just turned out of the pot! Another chap was then tossed on above me, and then another and another, till I was well-nigh suffocated; and then, when the pile had reached the top of the hatchway, the "Master Miller" toppled the lot of us over. On this, we all scrambled to our feet again, laughing and shouting in high glee; with collars torn and shirts crushed and the buttons wrenched off our jackets by the dozen. Only to begin the game again as before-- until, finally, the master-at-arms made his appearance below with the compliments of the first lieutenant to the "young gentlemen," and a polite request for them to "make less noise." It was a jolly game, though, I can tell you!