`Old Hankey Pankey,' though, as he was called on the lower deck--sailors having always a nickname for their officers, whether they like them or dislike them--possessed the rare art of managing those under his command to such a degree that he would have turned out a likely enough crew from much worse material; while he `got to win'ard' of the engineers so cleverly that they never grumbled at any orders he gave--unlike those gentry in general--thus enabling us to pile on steam and make the passage out from England in far less time than we expected, there being no complaints from the stokehold of `leaking tubes' and `priming' boilers necessitating our having to `slow down.' After passing through the Gut of Gibraltar, we made for Malta; which place seems to have such a magnetic attraction for our men-of-war, both homeward and outward bound, that none by any chance ever gives it the go-by, there being always some little defect to `make good,' or despatches to wait for, or letters to post, or something that obliges them to cast anchor in Valetta harbour, if they are only allowed to remain an hour or two! We fortunately stopped here for three days; and, though the men generally were not given leave ashore, Larrikins and I, being both in the first cutter, we had the chance of landing more than once. We had a bit of fun, too, on one of these occasions when going up the Nix Mangiare stairs, leading up from the place where the men-of-war boats put in to the town above. These stairs are so named, it may be explained for the benefit of those who have not been there, from being the haunt of a number of beggars who frequent the steep ascent, demanding alms of all bluejackets and others that may chance to pass up or down, their whining plea being that they have nothing to eat-- "Nix mangiare, buono Johnny, nix mangiare!" We had already been accosted by three or four of these chaps, to each of whom we had given a trifle, moved by their poverty-stricken appearance and Maltese whine; when, on reaching the top of the steps, an old fellow, who from his venerable look seemed above that sort of thing, repeated a like request to his compeers lower down the stairs, holding out the palm of a lean clawlike hand resembling one of Jocko's paws. "No, no, that won't wash," said Larrikins, in a chaffy way, catching hold of a fine-looking malacca cane the old fellow was leaning on, and which seemed more fit for a grand seignior than a beggar. "None of your bono johnnies with me, you old reprobate. Yer oughter be ashamed on yerself, yer ought, axing fur charity from poor sailors like we--you with this fine walkin'-stick here, good enough for `old Hankey Pankey' hisself!" With that, Larrikins, wrenching the malacca from the unwilling hands of the old fellow, gave it a shake in the air as if he were going to apply it to the shoulders of its owner. "By jingo," I cried out, "there's something chinking in it that sounds like money, Larry!"