“Everything’s the matter. Captain, with his nose in the air, and trusting all round to his officers. First officer, no good--never any use since they poured the coal on him. Purser, ought to be on a Chinese junk. Second, third, fourth officers, first-rate chaps, but so-so sailors. Doctor, frivolling with a lovely filly, pedigree not known. Why, confound it! nobody takes this business seriously except the captain, and he sits on a golden throne. He doesn’t know that in any real danger this swagger craft would be filled with foolishness. There isn’t more than one good boat’s crew on board--sailors, lascars, stewards, and all. As for the officers, if the surgeon would leave the lovely ladies to themselves, he’d find cases worth treating, and duties worth doing. He should keep himself fit for shocks. And he can take my word for it--for I’ve been at sea since I was a kid, worse luck!--that a man with anything to do on a ship ought to travel every day nose out for shipwreck next day, and so on, port to port. Ship-surgeons, as well as all other officers, weren’t ordained to follow after cambric skirts and lace handkerchiefs at sea. Believe me or not as you like, but, for a man having work to do, woman, lovely woman, is rocks. Now, I suppose you’ll think I’m insolent, for I’m younger than you are, Marmion, but you know what a rough-and-tumble fellow I am, and you’ll not mind.” “Well, Hungerford,” I said, “to what does this lead?” “To Number 116 Intermediate, for one thing. It’s letting off steam for another. I tell you, Marmion, these big ships are too big. There are those canvas boats. They won’t work; you can’t get them together. You couldn’t launch one in an hour. And as for the use of the others, the lascars would melt like snow in any real danger. There’s about one decent boat’s crew on the ship, that’s all. There! I’ve unburdened myself; I feel better.” Presently he added, with a shake of the head: “See here: now-a-days we trust too much to machinery and chance, and not enough to skill of hand and brain stuff. I’d like to show you some of the crews I’ve had in the Pacific and the China Sea--but I’m at it again! I’ll now come, Marmion, to the real reason why I brought you here.... Number 116 Intermediate is under the weather; I found him fainting in the passage. I helped him into his cabin. He said he’d been to you to get medicine, and you’d given him some. Now, the strange part of the business is, I know him. He didn’t remember me, however--perhaps because he didn’t get a good look at me. Coincidence is a strange thing. I can point to a dozen in my short life, every one as remarkable, if not as startling, as this. Here, I’ll spin you a yarn: