Poole took a little canvas bag from the hook from which it hung and turned out a very decent set of black and white pieces. "You didn't make those?" "Yes, I did." "How did you get them so round?" "Oh, I didn't do that. Chips lent me his little tenon-saw, and I cut them all off a roller; he helped me to finish them up with sandpaper, and told me what to soak half of them in to make them black." The invalid began to be more and more interested in the neat set of draughtsmen. "What did you soak them in--ink?" he asked. "No; guess again." "Oh, I can't guess. Ship's paint, perhaps, or tar." "No; they wouldn't have looked neat like that. Vitriol--sulphuric acid." "What, had you got that sort of stuff on board the schooner?" "The governor has in his big medicine-chest." "And did that turn them black like this?" "Yes; you just paint them over with it, and hold them to the galley fire. I suppose it burns them. They all come black like that, and you polish them up with a little beeswax, and there you are." "Well, it was rather clever for a rough chap like you," said Fitz grudgingly. "Can you play?" "Oh, just a little--for a rough chap like me. One has so much time out at sea." "Oh, well, we'll have just one game. How many pieces shall I give you?" "Oh, I should think you ought to give me half," was the reply. "Very well," said Fitz cavalierly; "take half. I used to be a pretty good fist at this at school. Where's your board?" Poole thrust his hand under the cabin-table and turned a couple of buttons, setting free a stiff piece of mill-board upon which a sheet of white paper had been pasted and the squares neatly marked out and blacked. The pieces were placed, and the game began, with Fitz, after his bandage had been re-moistened, supporting himself upon his left elbow to move his pieces with his right hand, which somehow seemed to have forgotten its cunning, for with double the draughts his cool matter-of-fact adversary beat him easily. "Yes," said Fitz, rather pettishly; "I'm a bit out of practice, and my head feels thick." "Sure to," said Poole, "knocked about as you were. Have some more pieces this time." "Oh no!" said Fitz, "I can beat you easily like this if I take more care." The pieces were set once more, and Fitz played his best, but he once more lost. "Have some more pieces this time," said Poole. "Nonsense!" was snapped out. "I tell you I can beat you this way, and I will." The third game was played, one which took three times as long as the last, and as he was beaten the middy let himself sink back on his pillow with a gesture full of impatience. "Yes," he said; "I know where I went wrong there. My head burns so, and I wasn't thinking." "Yes, I saw where you made that slip. You might as well have given up at once." "Oh, might I?" was snapped out. "Here, let me give that handkerchief a good soaking before we begin another." "Yes, you didn't half wet it last time. Don't wring it out so much."