served in the navy before. Presently we saw him lay his jumper flat on
the deck, wet it thoroughly with water from the hose, then rub it with
salt-water soap. Then he fished out a stiff scrubbing brush and began to
scrub the jumper as if it was a floor. We then understood the
significance of the order _scrub_ and wash clothes. In salt water the
clothes have not only to be washed, but scrubbed as well.

The "Kid" remarked, "Well, I'll be switched," and forthwith fell on his
knees and proceeded to follow "Patt's" example.

Though we scrubbed manfully, "putting our backs into it" and "using
plenty of elbow grease," as instructed, still the result was hardly up
to our expectations. The navigator remarked, as we were "stopping" the
clothes on the line, "You heroes might scrub those clothes a little bit;
it does not take a college education to learn how to wash clothes."

I agreed with the "Kid" that, though cleanliness was next to Godliness,
cleanliness, like Godliness, was often a difficult virtue to acquire. We
found it almost impossible to be cleanly without the aid of fresh water,
so the schemes devised to avoid the executive's order and get it were
many and ingenious.

One man would go to the ship's galley, where the fresh water hand-pump
was, and, without further ado, begin to fill his bucket, remarking, if
the cook attempted to interfere, that he had to scrub paint work or he
had orders from the doctor to bathe in fresh water. These excuses would
be successful till too many men came in with buckets and plausible
excuses, when the cook would shut down on the scheme for the time. The
man with fresh water was the envy of his fellows, and must needs be
vigilant, or bucket and water would disappear mysteriously.