We, of course, were all in the joke, and watched Mr Brown with great glee as he stole stealthily up to Mick's hammock and let fly a shower of blows on the supposed intruder's body, accompanying the caning with some pertinent remarks of a very forcible nature anent the offender's want of manners and unneighbourliness towards a brother shipmate; whereupon we all burst into a regular guffaw, and Mick sought refuge in flight on the exposure of his little plot before Mr Brown could pay him out. The corporal, though, took it in very good part, and did not bear my chum any subsequent ill-will for thus taking him in; albeit, he was wary enough to be on his guard against Mick hoaxing him a second time. Jokes like these came as little interludes, so to speak, to `ease the wheels' of our duties, which, however, were to me, at all events, more of a pleasure than so many tasks; that is, after I had gone through the initiatory instructions and drills, and was able to hold my own with the smartest of my shipmates. I cannot say, though, that I cared much for the schooling, seven months of which every second-class boy on board the _Saint Vincent_ has to undergo before he can gain the first rank. Equally as certainly, however, I must allow that the teaching I gained, watch and watch about, in that big schoolroom astern on the lower deck turned out of considerable assistance to me, not only in my subsequent experience afloat in the navy, especially when serving abroad, but ashore too; for I there learnt the art of learning things, which is the great secret of education to man or boy, though we youngsters do not realise this when we have the chance of getting hold of it. But it was the seamanship instruction that I went in for with the greatest zest; and, from knotting and splicing up to compass, and helm, and signalling, I don't think I fell far short of what Captain Mordaunt said when he persuaded father to let me go to sea and join the training- ship--that I was a born sailor and a regular `chip of the old block.' In connection with this, I may state, that of all the practical lessons I learnt in sailoring on board the _Saint Vincent_, the going aloft for sail-drill used to please me best. Every morning at eight o'clock we used to go up the rigging and practise loosing and furling the sails, crossing the royal-yards, and making all things snug before coming down on deck to our usual divisional instruction. On Mondays the whole forenoon was devoted to these evolutions, the sails being set one after the other, topsails, topgallants, royals, and even stu'nsails sometimes, besides the courses and headsails below; until, often, the whole ship was piled with canvas as if she were fetching down Channel on a cruise, her spars quivering with the strain frequently, when we had the wind abeam from the southward and east'ard, and every rope as taut as a bar of iron!