what he had to say for himself, 'Lucky Bag' said he didn't realize the
time. The skipper could hardly keep his face straight. 'Four hours,' he
said, and that was all there was to it."

"Poor 'Lucky Bag,'" came from all sides as "Stump" paused to take
breath.

"Then there was 'Big Bill,' the water tender," continued "Stump." "He
was hauled up for appearing on the spar deck without a uniform. When the
skipper asked him what he had to say for himself, 'Big Bill' cleared his
throat with a _woof_--you know how it sounds: the ship shakes and
trembles when he does it--and the 'old man' fairly tottered under the
blast. 'Big Bill' explained that he could not get a uniform big enough
for him, because the paymaster could not fit him out. The captain
almost grinned when he heard the excuse, and 'Big Bill'--well, he
enjoyed the situation, I'll bet a month's pay."

There was a little pause here, and we heard a great voice rumbling from
below. Then we knew that "Big Bill" was telling his intimates all about
it, embellishing the story as only he could do.

We laughed sympathetically as the shouts of glee rose to our ears. We
had all enjoyed his good-humored Irish wit.

"Well, who else was in trouble this afternoon, 'Stump'?" said "Mourner,"
the inquisitive.

"Oh, a lot of unfortunate duffers. Several who were put on the report
for being slow in lashing up their hammocks got a couple of hours extra
duty each. One or two were there because they had clothes in the 'lucky