The Long Trick

e east where a broad band of lig

to the quarterdeck. There he stood shivering, looking about him as if he found the universe at this hour a grossly over-rated place. After a few minutes' contemplation of it thus, he turned up the collar of his great coat, pulled his cap do

her was standing. "Fine morning for a pull," he observed, throwing his nose into the air and sniffing like a pointer. "Smell the

ned a gamboge-tinted

" he sai

to-the-slack the first morning of the training season. You're too easy going for a cox, by a long chalk, my lad. You

" was th

vocabulary-those were the essentials of the cox of a racing boat

a sudden access of bitterness. "Look here, Tweedledee, what about this bloomi

members of the galley's crew were casting off the

weaters, with a bright red cushion under his arm, stood gazing in the direction of the lower boom. "Well, I'm blowed," he said, "not alongside yet? You're a nice person, Pills, to leave the

verely. "You're none to

good? Where's Number

, now they

veying an impression of vast enthusiasm in the venture, trooped up

-eyed gull volplaning past with outstretched wings, "when I go away pulling, I like t

coa to attend to his job, that's the truth of the matter. Are we all here now, anyway...?" He scanned the faces of his little b

rds them. "Sorry, everybody! Am I late? My perishing servant forgot to call me. And then I couldn't find my littl

e Officer of the Watch

he Commander's. He put

ting into the boat and shoving off? What are we all standing about getting cold

of the two rather apathetic members of the galley's crew, and the of

r, "sort yourselves out: Number

r Lieutenant. "I pulled bow at Ke

will want to know who drank his cocoa. Bunje second stroke, James third stroke. Derreck, you're

ard and extended a st

etcher like this, Pills?" he demanded.

pping water over the canvas parcelling on his oar in a pr

want to get to work. Shove the perishing thing away, James, and sto

in earnest to-day?" de

is calves. "Because I d

ly. 'Another-Little-Dri

of sp

that blessed boat-hook an' shove her off soon," retorte

he bow, fumbling among the blades of the oars.

owed the voice of the cox

athook against the ship's side, and the

ndia-rubber Man, "we're

nd sent a shower of icy spray over the backs of the two after oarsmen

kink!" he announ

ll a minute. Ease up your belts, tie your feet down, have a wash and brush up, say your prayers, spit on your hands, and get comforta

enerally and the helmsman in particular. At the expiration of that time, however, they all sat up facing a

ntemplated them

t out with to win the cup back!" was h

ng naughty, bent to their oars, and the boat slid

*

r of the Morning Watch, as the latest authority on the vagaries of the barometer, entered

d potatoes. "We'll 'ave it calm till mebbe five o'clock, then it'll blow fr

ore's Almanac," and was susceptible to signs and po

was swans sailin' on it, an' we was 'eavin' bits of bread to 'em. 'Fred,' she says, 'you'll 'ave it beautiful for your

atin' lobster for supp

ic who had a sovereign

Forecastle's wife. "

t your old Dutch say

d intricate evolutions with a pin in

e reply. "But she didn't 'ave time to say no more afor

ebbe she'll tell you the rest to-night. Then we'll know 'oo's 'oo, as the sayin'

demanded the Ship's Painter w

he Captain of the Forecastle, "what

interrupted the Captai

r[2] coxin'

ng an invisible kitten. "I ain't sayin' nothin' against 'em. Nothin' at all. What I says is, 'W

all-boy's pipe clove the ba

Racing Wha

ked high tenor.

bearded man. "What are we all 'angin' on to the

a Derby crowd that gathers overnight on Epsom Downs. The other Squadrons of the vast Battle-fleet were disposed to ignore the affair; they had their own regattas to think about, either in retrospec

h an arduous training interrupted only by attentions to the King's enemies and the inclemencies of the Northern spring. And now that the

reciate what such a day means. To be spared for a few brief hours the irksome round of routine, to smoke Woodbines the livelong day; to share, in the grateful sunlight, some vantage point with a "Raggie," and join in the full-throated, ra

sired a full complete spectacle from start to finish were to go away and anchor at some convenient point in the line, from which an uninterrupted panorama could be obtained. The device had other advantages:

e-house, they clung to the rigging and funnel stays, and perched like monkeys on the mast and derrick. Thus freighted the craft moved off amid deafening cheers, and took up a position midway between two Battle

ed between two Portsmouth-manned Battleships. The position he had selected commanded a full view of the course, and there his responsibilities in the affair ended. On the other hand, the crews of the two Bat

ugh the hawse-pipe when the opening shots, deliver

us voice. "Yeer! Where be tu?" A ro

ghter, had opened on either side. Catch-word and jest, counter and repartee utterly unintelligible to anyone outside Lower-deck circles were hurled to and fro like snowballs. Every discreditable incident of their joint careers as units of that vast fighting force, personalit

st race had started; straight-way the tumult subsided, and an expectant hush awaited th

tive ship's companies as might the ancients have called upon their Gods, blended in one great volume of sound. The more passionate

race was over. On board a ship half-way down the line a frantic outburst of cheering suddenly predominated above all other sounds, and

ber of the next race. Again the gun in the bows of the Umpire's steam-boat sped the next race upon its way, and once more the tumult

Captain of the Forecastle as a prophet. Furthermore, the result of the Boys' Race had enriched the Ship's Painter to the extent of a sovereign. It needed but the victory

usiastic supporters of the different crews. The Dockyard tug, with its freight of hoarse yet still vociferous sailor-m

w of six, their anxious-faced coxswains crouched in the sterns, and tin flags bearing the numbers of their ships in the bows, were being shepherded into position. A tense silence

ugh his megaphone. Two hours of this sort of thing robs even

tching men. "'E don't 'arf know 'i

ith a single slow stro

the metallic vo

They w

waiting spectators' throats. The light boats sprang forward like thi

le. The bow of one of the outside boats broke an oar, and before the oarsman could get the spare one into the crutch the boat slipped to the tail o

ard, with a rival on either side of her pulling stroke for stroke. Away to the right and well clear, t

said. "You've got 'em

Number One. Stick it

spoke with the tongues of men and fallen angels. He coaxed and encouraged, he adjured and abused them stroke by stroke towards their goal. The crew, with set, white faces and staring e

picket-boat, a graceful feather of spray falling away on either side of the stem-piece. A concourse of Wardroom and Gunro

and one at the rapidly approaching finishing lin

roaked. "Now, al

ing, gasping, forcing "heart and nerve and sinew" to drive the leaden boat through those last few yards. Suddenly,

speech. Then the First Lieutena

," he asked,

masthead of the Flagship. A tangle of

d. "Which is it? Translate

d towards their late adversaries and began clapping. The next moment the Dockyard tug burst into a triumph

tretched out a large,

," he

*

lar enthusiasm. And it was not without its memorable features. The Bandsmen's Race crowned one of the participators in

ed state of collapse by the Umpire's boat. Yet for some occult reason no feat of gallantry in action would have won him such universal com

ty" in the stern, composed of a clown, a nigger and a stout seaman in female attire, added their exhortations to the "Chief Buffer's" impassioned utteran

ze sprang up towards the close of the day. It blew from the so

eering sailor-men, and secured to her stumpy bowsprit was a silver cock. As she approached the stern of the Fla

ed right aft to the rail, and smilingly clapped his hands, applauding the trophy in the bows of the drifter. Th

ing sound. There was gratitude and passionate loyalty in the demonstration, and it continued long after the f

'E's that 'Uman!" He jerked his head astern in the direction of the mighty Battleship on whose vast quarterdec

Argu

Boatswai