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4. CHAPTER IV.

As we sat together in the cockpit, picking the
weevils out of our biscuit, Briggs consoled me for my
late mishap, adding that the “naval salute,” as a custom,
seemed just then to be honored more in the
breach than the observance. I joined in the hilarity
occasioned by the witticism, and in a few moments
we were all friends. Presently Swizzle turned to me:

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95

“We have been just planing how to confiscate a
keg of claret, which Nips, the purser, keeps under
his bunk. The old nipcheese lies there drunk half
the day, and there's no getting at it.”

“Let's get beneath the stateroom and bore through
the deck, and so tap it,” said Lankey.

The proposition was received with a shout of applause.
A long half-inch auger and bit was procured
from Chips, the carpenter's mate, and Swizzle, after a
careful examination of the timbers beneath the wardroom,
commenced operations. The auger at last disappeared,
when suddenly there was a slight disturbance
on the deck above. Swizzle withdrew the
auger hurriedly; from its point a few bright red
drops trickled.

“Huzza! send her up again!” cried Lankey.

The auger was again applied. This time a shriek
was heard from the purser's cabin. Instantly the
light was doused, and the party retreated hurriedly
to the cockpit. A sound of snoring was heard as
the sentry stuck his head into the door. “All right,
sir,” he replied in answer to the voice of the officer
of the deck.

The next morning we heard that Nips was in the
surgeon's hands, with a bad wound in the fleshy part
of his leg, and that the auger had not struck claret.