I thanked her, earnestly hoping that the hour would fit in with my duties. Before she returned the cook was ready for me. I went toward the cuddy, and as I passed the booby-hatch the soldier’s wife came up. ‘You’re welcome to step below whenever you please,’ said she. ‘The sergeant’s got an eye upon you and wants to ’list you,’ she added, laughing. ‘And a sweet young soldier you’d make--a heart-breaker, indeed,’ said she, looking at me with a shake of the head. ‘Dick’s on sentry at twelve. If that’ll suit, come then. He’ll take no notice whilst you look.’ Twelve was the very hour I would have named. It was my dinner-hour, and I had a clear half-hour at the very least before helping to prepare the cuddy luncheon. When eight bells struck I came to the hatch, but warily. The doctor was talking to the captain at the after-end of the cuddy, and I did not mean that either of them should see where I was going. It still blew hard, and was very thick, and the officers were unable to get an observation of the sun. I stooped, that the two men in the cuddy might lose sight of me. By the looks of the sentry at the quarter-deck barricade I guessed he knew that I was going to pay his quarters a visit, and that it was all right. But I cared not who saw me descend unless it were the officers of the ship and guard. I put my foot over and easily went down an almost perpendicular ladder. I found myself in a somewhat strange interior. On the right, or starboard, hand was a long cabin, which Will afterwards told me had been designed for a midshipman’s berth. This cabin was occupied by the unmarried soldiers. On the left-hand side were a number of rough whitewood cabins, rudely erected--such cabins as are put together for the use of poor emigrants. The married couples and children slept in them. Light descended through the booby-hatch, but the day was very scowling, as you know, and it needed some use to see well. A couple of tables were cleated athwartships, and two or three of the women were preparing them for dinner. A few soldiers were sitting about reading or talking. In one of the berths a baby was crying loudly, and several children sat in a group in a corner playing.