‘ “Now we shall see what you are made of,” he cried. And he held me off by the shoulders and punched my ribs and hustled me into his berth. “Sit down, Ned. I am glad of the chance of having you with me. I’ll put the finishing touch to you, my young officer, providing you’re worth the trouble. And, first of all, get it well into your head that we are not going to let this brute kill anybody this voyage. We’ll stop her racket.”

‘I perceived he was in dead earnest about it. He talked grimly of the ship, and how we must be careful and allow no carelessness of any sort: take no chances, and look after the men as if they were five-year- old kids. And we must never allow this ugly beast to catch us napping with any of her damned tricks.

‘He gave me a regular lecture on special seamanship for the use of the Apse Family; then, changing his tone, he began to talk at large, rattling off the widest, funniest nonsense, till my sides ached with laughing. I could see very well he was a bit above himself with high spirits. It couldn’t be because of my coming—not to that extent. But, of course, I wouldn’t have dreamt of asking what was the matter. I had a proper respect for my big brother, I can tell you. But it was all made plain enough a day or two afterwards when I heard that Miss Maggie Colchester was coming for the voyage. Uncle was giving her a sea trip for her health.

‘I don’t know what could have been wrong with her health. She had a beautiful colour and a deuce of a lot of fair hair. She didn’t care a rap for wind or rain, or spray, or sun, or green seas, or anything. She was a jolly girl of the very best sort, but the way she cheeked my big brother used to frighten me. I always expected it to end in an awful row. However, nothing decisive happened till after we had been in Sydney for a week. One day, in the men’s dinner-hour, Charley put his head into my cabin. I was stretched out on my back on the settee, smoking in peace.

‘ “Come along ashore with me, Ned,” he says in his curt way.

‘I jumped up, of course, and away after him down the gangway and up George Street. He strode along like a giant, and I at his elbow, panting. It was confoundedly hot. “Where on earth are you rushing me to, Charley?” I made bold to ask.

‘ “Here,” he says.

‘It was a jeweller’s. I couldn’t imagine what he could want there. It seemed a sort of mad freak. He thrust under my nose three rings which looked very tiny on his big brown palm, growling out:

‘ “For Maggie. … Which?”

‘I got a kind of scare at this. I couldn’t make a sound, but I pointed at the one that sparkled white and blue. He put it in his waistcoat pocket, paid for it, and bolted out. When we got back on board I was quite out of breath. “Shake hands, old chap!” I gasped out. He gave me a thump on the back. “Give what orders you like to the boatswain when the hands turn to,” says he. “I am off duty this afternoon.”

‘Then he vanished from the deck for a while, but presently he came out of the cabin with Maggie, and those two went over the gangway publicly, before all hands, going for a walk together on that awful blazing hot day with clouds of dust flying about. They came back after a few hours, looking very staid, but didn’t seem to have the slightest idea where they had been. Anyway, that’s the answer they both made to Mrs Colchester’s question at tea-time.

‘And didn’t she turn upon Charley with her voice like an old night cabman’s: “Rubbish! Don’t know where you’ve been! Stuff and nonsense! You’ve walked the girl off her legs. Don’t do it again.”

‘It’s surprising how meek Charley could be with that old woman. Only on one occasion he whispered to me, “I’m jolly glad she isn’t Maggie’s aunt, except by marriage. That’s no sort of relationship.” But I