A few days before the Stinger left the China station the P. and O. steamer Jowra arrived in harbour, and within an hour of her coming to anchor it was rumoured through the fleet that Captain Woodward and Lieutenant Russell were promoted. This news was received with great demonstration of delight by the Stingers; but when they heard that their good commander was to go home by the overland route, and that their first lieutenant had orders to take charge of H. M. S. Polecat, which had just arrived on the station, their pleasure gave way to regret. Woodward was exceedingly sorry to leave his men, but he wished to see his family, and a son and heir, born about two weeks after his departure from home, so he gave his steward orders to pack his clothes, and within six hours after he received the news was on his way to Singapore in the return P. and O. steamer. By this time a morose-looking individual, named Tortle, had read his commission, and taken charge of the Stinger.

As Woodward left the ship the men clustered round to bid him good-bye, and the tears trickled down some of their faces, when he stood up at the gangway, and exclaimed, "Good-bye, my brave fellows! God bless you all."

"There goes the best captain in the service, and it\'s a black day for us."

"Why?"

"Why, indeed! I knows, worse luck. We\'ve been free under that gentleman, but bully Tortle will have the gratings rigged afore we have been at sea a week, see if he don\'t."

"Do you know him?"

"Don\'t I? I sailed in the old Spider with him, and a worse tempered man never wore uniform. He\'s all honey one day, and winneger the next."

Captain Tortle was what is called in the navy a disappointed man, never having been lucky enough to get promoted, according to what he considered his merits, and had done all sorts of naval drudgery for some years, but being ordered out to China as commander of the Stinger, was promised promotion upon his return in that ship; so his only object was to get home as quickly as possible. Ill-natured people said he drank secretly; and if an inflamed visage and generally bloated appearance are criterions, it may safely be said they were not far wrong in their assertions. Upon joining the ship he read his commission, said he was glad to see the ship was ready for sea, and then ordered the acting boatswain to pipe down.

Upon the following day Lieutenant Russell left the ship, and to the surprise of the officers and crew, "Nosey" Cravan made his appearance on board, and announced his appointment as first lieutenant.

After a few days\' delay, during which about twenty of the best men in the ship volunteered to remain out upon the station, provided they were allowed to exchange into Captain Russell\'s vessel, which offer was at once accepted, and the same number of indifferent hands transferred to the Stinger, Captain Tortle received instructions to proceed to sea; and upon the first of August the ship steamed slowly out of the harbour, amid hearty cheers from the crews of the ships at anchor. As they passed H. M. S. Polecat, their late first lieutenant stood upon the bridge and waved his cap, [Pg 195]exclaiming, "There go the happy fellows; what a nice voyage they will have," little thinking how miserable they really were, and forgetting it was his humanity and Woodward\'s generous example which had raised them to what they were when he left the ship. The Stingers were sad at heart when they bade adieu to Hong-Kong, and the voyage which all had looked forward to as one of the happiest they could imagine, now seemed fraught with trouble and discomfort.

Cravan did not mince matters, but let the men know they were once more under the command of a tyrant, and all Russell\'s improvements and plans for their benefit were ruthlessly abolished. Three days after they left the harbour it came on to blow, and in directing part of the watch to perform some duty, upon their failing to carry out the order to his satisfaction, the first lieutenant swore at them so brutally, that the men, who were old hands on board, determined to wait upon the commander and endeavour to prevent such language being used towards them for the remainder of the voyage. So the next day the sailors who had been abused went aft, and respectfully submitted their case to Tortle, who was steadying himself against the capstan, evidently slightly the worse for liquor.

"What do you want, my men?"

"If you please, sir," said the spokesman, respectfully removing his cap, "yesterday the first lieutenant swore at us, and abused us in a way as we hasn\'t been used to: our last captain wouldn\'t allow no bad language, and we have kind of dropped it. Now, sir, will you be so kind as to speak to the first lieutenant, so as to prewent this in future? We are all ready and willin\' to do our duty, but beg to be treated like men."

Now, the articles of war are very definite upon the matter of swearing, and they provide that any officer, seaman, or marine who shall be guilty of using profane language, shall be duly punished for the same; but, like many other admirable naval regulations, this only refers to officers upon paper, and is virtually a dead letter as far as they are concerned; so when the captain heard what the men had to say, he stared at them, and replied,

"You complain of Lieutenant Cravan swearing at you, do you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very well, that will do. You can go forward."

Tortle laughed until the tears trickled down his cheeks. "Oh, ha, ha, ha! Here\'s a crew—can\'t be sworn at. Oh, ha, ha, ha! I\'m—ha, ha,—hanged—!" At that moment Cravan came up; and, seeing the commander laughing, joined in the merriment.

"What do you think, Cravan? Oh, ha, ha, ha! Those precious saints of Woodward\'s have actually had the cheek to come aft and—Oh, it\'s too much for me—to request I will be kind enough to ask you—Oh, ha, ha, ha!—it\'s too ridiculous—to leave off swearing."

"What did you tell them, sir?"

"What did I say? Why, I said—ha, ha!—go forward, which meant—go to the devil! I wonder what next. Why, they\'ll want to hold prayer-meetings, bless them!"

After this there was a marked difference in the behaviour of the crew, who exhibited a sullen, dogged manner, when going about their duty; and by the time they reached Singapore more than one man was reported for punishment; but, in spite of Cravan\'s endeavours, the commander did not flog them.

[Pg 196]

"I think that fellow deserves it, if ever a man did," observed the first lieutenant to Tortle, speaking of a fore-topman whom he had reported for some trivial offence.

"No doubt he does; all of them do, more or less. But the regulations are getting more severe; and if you flog for any less crime than mutiny you get a lot of bothering letters inquiring for particulars, and the newspapers take the matter up. I cannot flog the brutes for mere ordinary crimes; that time has passed, I am sorry to say. But if they only raise their voices in mutiny, I\'ll give them all they ask for—with the cat."

"You see, sir, Captain Woodward has spoilt the crew: taught them to believe they were of some importance, and given them ideas far above their position. It will be a very difficult matter to convince them they are liable to the lash now. Why, some of the fellows actually think, because you have not flogged the men I have reported to you within the last few days, that you have no power to punish them without a court-martial."

"Do they?" chuckled the captain, cracking the joints of his fingers as he passed one hand over the other. "Do they? Only let them mutiny, Mr. Cravan, then they will find out if the lash is abolished. It never will be until there\'s an Act of Parliament passed for that purpose, as we can always find reasons enough for its use; and if we do not choose to give any explanation, who can interfere with us as long as we only use it to suppress mutiny?"

"But these are such a psalm-singing lot, that they won\'t mutiny."

"Then we wont flog them. Ha! ha! ha! Please, Cravan, don\'t swear at them. Have some regard for their feelings in future."

One night, when Thompson had retired to bed, he was suddenly awakened by the sick-bay man, who informed him that Tom Clare was in a fit, and in a few moments he was by the side of his friend, whom he found in a state of great prostration.

"What\'s the matter, Tom?"

Evidently the sufferer did not know who it was that addressed him, and soon after Thompson saw the poor fellow\'s head fall upon his chest, and he seemed to all appearance dead.

"Take him into my cabin! I\'ll look after him," said the acting boatswain, and the inanimate form of poor Clare was conveyed into Thompson\'s cabin, where the doctor did his best to bring him to consciousness.

As the surgeon stood by the man, with his fingers on his pulse, he observed, "It\'s one of his old attacks, Mr. Thompson. Don\'t you remember he has suffered from them about this time every year?"

"God bless us. What day of the month is this, sir?"

"The sixteenth of August—sure enough it\'s what he used to call his wife\'s day. Poor fellow, he won\'t enjoy her society long, his constitution is too much impaired."

"Don\'t you think it\'s flogging has brought this on, sir?"

"I cannot express an opinion, Thompson," the little doctor replied; but he knew full well that the lash was the cause of the poor fellow\'s trouble, although he could not say so.

"He ain\'t never been the same man since that cruel sentence was executed on him, sir. That and being separated from his wife has done it. See, he\'s reviving."

After a time he became sensible, and spoke quite rationally to those near him, but he steadily refused to speak about what he had seen.

"It\'s a horrid dream, a kind of nightmare, and I know it ain\'t real. Please, Jerry, don\'t ask me nothing more about it."

When the first lieutenant went his rounds the next morning, he observed Clare lying upon the bed in the acting boatswain\'s cabin, seeing which he sent for Mr. Thompson,[Pg 197] and sneeringly remarked that he did not approve of the warrant-officers\' cabins being turned into hospitals.

"If you please, sir, may poor Clare remain there for a day or two? I don\'t think he will last long anyhow."

"No, sir; let him go into the sick-bay, along with the rest of the men. It won\'t do to show favour. Why, they will want me to turn out of my cabin next."

"Never fear, sir."

"What do you mean by that reply, Mr. Thompson?" angrily demanded the bully.

"What I said, sir! No foremast hand would think of axing such a thing," coolly replied Jerry.

"Oh, very good. You must mind what you say. It will depend on me whether you are confirmed as boatswain or not, as Captain Tortle will be guided by my advice when he makes his report about you."

"I\'ll do my best to do my duty, sir; but maybe I shall never be a confirmed boatswain. I don\'t want to get it by unfair means, and I didn\'t ask for the rate, as you knows."

"Well, that will do, Thompson. I wish you well; but take my advice—don\'t show too much sympathy for your old associates. The time may soon come when you may be called upon to do your duty towards some of them, and it wont do to be too tender-hearted."

"You brute!" observed the acting warrant-officer, as the lieutenant vanished up the hatchway, "so that\'s your little game, is it? Well, if ever I lays a cat across a fellow-creature\'s back, may I never be happy afterward. Them\'s my sentiments;" saying which he walked aft to the doctor, and told him what the first lieutenant had said.

Clare was moved into the sick-bay, where he had a better chance of recovery than in the boatswain\'s cabin, that place being somewhat close and uncomfortable; but still to offer it showed Thompson\'s generous nature, and how willing he was to sacrifice any comfort to serve his friend. Tom mended apace, and when they left Singapore was able to get about; but the doctor kept him upon the sick-list, knowing that the slightest excitement might prove fatal to him.

Many of the crew returned to their old habits, and began to use bad language, doubtless encouraged by the example of Cravan, who worried and harrassed them nearly out of their senses.

One evening, when the watch below were as usual indulging in a song, he sent forward and ordered them to desist. Now, under ordinary circumstances the command would have been obeyed, but as this was the last of many petty vexatious orders, some of the men rebelled, and one of them continued singing. Upon hearing this Cravan put on his sword, and going forward, attempted to pull the man out from their midst; seeing which his shipmates threw a number of articles at the lieutenant, and compelled him to retreat aft.

"Come, chaps, let\'s rise and free ourselves," cried the excited sailor; and in a few moments several of the men had secured arms from the steerage, and were collected forward behind a barricade of clothes bags, &c., awaiting the return of the first lieutenant. At this time the watch on deck were at their duty, quite unconscious of the riot below, and, in spite of the bad treatment they had received, few of the original crew joined the disaffected party, although repeatedly urged to do so, and even being threatened when they refused to comply.

Cravan walked down to the captain\'s cabin, and found Tortle snoring upon a sofa.

"Captain Tortle, the men have mutinied."

[Pg 198]

"All right—let—\'em—flog \'em—I\'ll do it," grunted the drowsy commander.

"But, sir, what shall I do?"

"Fire among \'em! put down the mutiny! Don\'t bother me, sir, I\'m sick," observed the captain in a dignified manner.

Finding he could not obtain the support of his superior, Cravan entered the ward-room and consulted with his brother officers, who advised him to reason with the men, when, as they were speaking, they heard the derisive cheers of the mutineers, who had succeeded in obtaining the arms belonging to the Royal Marines, and were shouting to them to come and take them back if they dared.

As matters were becoming serious, the first lieutenant requested the officers to put on their swords and go forward with him. When the mutineers saw Cravan they howled with rage, and swore they would serve him out.

Thompson arrived from the upper deck just then; and seeing how matters stood, was stepping forward to speak to the foolish fellows, when a marline-spike, thrown by one of the malcontents, struck him, causing his right arm to drop powerless by his side. Without noticing this, the now disgusted acting boatswain rushed forward, and before the mutineers could understand what he was about, had seized the ringleader with his left hand, and dragged him aft to where the officers were standing, upon seeing which the rest of the men gave in, and sued for quarter.

"Put \'em all in irons, Mr. Thompson. You have behaved nobly, sir."

By the time five of the most prominent mutineers were secured, the others, who could not be readily identified, had mingled with their shipmates, and it was deemed best to let them alone. When the last of the malcontents was secured, Mr. Thompson repaired to the surgery, where the doctor examined his arm and pronounced it broken.

"How did you contrive to seize that big fellow with only one hand?" demanded the surgeon.

"Well, doctor, you see I felt so mad with the fools, knowing they would never get their rights that way, and the sooner they come to their senses the better, that I rushes in and collars big Dick Henston, and afore I knew how much I was hurt, I had hustled him out; but my arm\'s mighty painful now, I can tell ye, sir."

"You won\'t be able to punish the men when they are flogged," slyly observed the doctor.

"Thank goodness for that! I\'d rather have both my arms broken than use their strength in that way. I\'m on the list, ain\'t I, sir?"

"Yes; you had better keep in your cabin for a day or two."

Thompson felt quite thankful for having been crippled by the mutineers, as he would most assur............