“‘Hurt me?’ roars Bill. ‘You! You ’urt me? You, you little bag o’ bones. Wait till I get you ashore by yourself for five minits, Ned Davis, and then you’ll know what ’urting means.’ “‘I don’t understand you, Bill,’ ses Ned; ‘you’re a mystery, that’s what you are; but I tell you plain when you go ashore you don’t have me for a companion.’ “It was a mystery to all of us, and it got worse and worse as time went on. Bill didn’t dare to call ’is soul ’is own, although Joe only hit ’im once the whole time, and then not very hard, and he excused ’is cowardice by telling us of a man Joe ’ad killed in a fight down in one o’ them West-end clubs. “Wot with Joe’s Sunday-school ways and Bill backing ’em up, we was all pretty glad by the time we got to Melbourne. It was like getting out o’ pris’n to get away from Joe for a little while. All but Bill, that is, and Joe took ’im to hear a dissolving views on John Bunyan. Bill said ’e’d be delighted to go, but the language he used about ’im on the quiet when he came back showed what ’e thought of it. I don’t know who John Bunyan is, or wot he’s done, but the things Bill said about ’im I wouldn’t soil my tongue by repeating. “Arter we’d been there two or three days we began to feel a’most sorry for Bill. Night arter night, when we was ashore, Joe would take ’im off and look arter ’im, and at last, partly for ’is sake, but more to see the fun, Tom Baker managed to think o’ something to put things straight. “‘You stay aboard to-night, Bill,’ he ses one morning, ‘and you’ll see something that ’ll startle you.’ “‘Worse than you?’ ses Bill, whose temper was getting worse and worse. “‘There’ll be an end o’ that bullying, Joe,’ ses Tom, taking ’im by the arm. ‘We’ve arranged to give ’im a lesson as’ll lay ’im up for a time.’ “‘Oh,’ ses Bill, looking ’ard at a boat wot was passing. “‘We’ve got Dodgy Pete coming to see us tonight,’ ses Tom, in a whisper; ‘there’ll only be the second officer aboard, and he’ll likely be asleep. Dodgy’s one o’ the best light-weights in Australia, and if ’e don’t fix up Mister Joe, it’ll be a pity.’ “‘You’re a fair treat, Tom,’ ses Bill, turning round; ‘that’s what you are. A fair treat.’ “‘I thought you’d be pleased, Bill,’ ses Tom. “Pleased ain’t no name for it, Tom,’ answers Bill. ‘You’ve took a load off my mind.’ “The fo’c’s’le was pretty full that evening, everybody giving each other a little grin on the quiet, and looking over to where Joe was sitting in ’is bunk putting a button or two on his coat. At about ha’-past six Dodgy comes aboard, and the fun begins to commence. “He was a nasty, low-looking little chap, was Dodgy, very fly-looking and very conceited. I didn’t like the look of ’im at all, and unbearable as Joe was, it didn’t seem to be quite the sort o’ thing to get a chap aboard to ’ammer a shipmate you couldn’t ’ammer yourself. “‘Nasty stuffy place you’ve got down ’ere,’ ses Dodgy, who was smoking a big cigar; ‘I can’t think ’ow you can stick it.’