Old Keeling was pacing the deck with studdingsails out on both sides, as Jack says, that is to say, with a lady on either arm. Other figures moved here and there; and Mr. Cocker, who had charge of the deck, walked to and fro from rail to rail with the young fourth officer by his side, regularly pausing, ere swinging round for the stump back, to take a peep under the foot of the mainsail or to send a long look into the weather horizon. Little Mr. Saunders came up to me, spoke of the beauty of the evening, and asked me to walk. He was a very intelligent little chap, and had written several works on the superstitions of various peoples in relation to their treatment of diseases. He was wonderfully in earnest in all he said, and would again and again in his enthusiasm come to a stand, raise his arm to catch hold of a button of my coat, as if to detain me, meanwhile standing on the tips of his toes and peering up into my face. On the other side of the deck walked my friend Colledge between Miss Temple and her aunt. Three of the Civil Service gentlemen were in tow of Mrs. Brookes and her daughters; and right aft, leaning in picturesque attitude against one of the guns, was Mr. Sylvanus Johnson airily and in a gallant tone of voice explaining to Mrs. and Miss Hudson how it was that the sun and moon were sometimes to be seen shining together. Down in the cuddy, directly under the after-skylight, sat Colonel Bannister playing whist with his wife, Mr. Hodder, and Mr. Adams; and almost every time I passed I could hear the military man’s voice remonstrating with one or the other of them for having played such or such a card: ‘You should have led the knave, sir. What on earth, my dear, made you trump spades? No, no; I was right! I believe I am not to be taught whist at my time of life, sir;’ and so on, and so on. By-and-by a bell rang to summon the passengers below to such refreshments of wine and biscuits and strong waters as they chose to partake of. The promenaders in shadowy forms melted down the companion hatchway, and two or three of us only remained on deck. Mr. Colledge was one of them. He came over to me, staring in my face, to make sure of me, and exclaimed: ‘I wish they would allow a man to smoke up here. What is the evil in a pipe of tobacco or a cheroot, that you must go and sneak into a dark corner to light it?’ ‘How is it that you are not below with Miss Temple?’ said I. ‘Oh,’ said he, laughing, ‘I want to make her last me out the voyage, and that won’t be done, you know, if we see too much of each other.’ ‘You are to be congratulated,’ said I, ‘on the compliment she pays you: Favours to none, to none she smiles extends; Oft she rejects, and oftener still offends. That’s not exactly how the poet puts it, but it is apter than the original.’