and saw one long piece of timber lying at
full length; several short upright pieces of
timber; and several other short pieces
running across. This is all I could make out,
and I returned to the friendly shelter of the
Saucy Arethusa, moderately satisfied with my
morning's occupation.

I soon found that to attempt to do
anything out of the regular routine—which
consisted in learning to row about the harbour,
and other nautical accomplishments aboard
some of the ships afloat in it—was only to
make enemies of my companions, and the
officers about the dockyard. In a wonderfully
short space of time I became a satisfied, jolly
member of the mess, caring nothing for the
progress of H.M.S. Horseleech, or any other
wooden wall of old England that might be
upon the stocks.

Six months passed away, and as winter
approached, we set up a billiard-table, by
subscription, over which we passed nearly the
whole of our leisure. The small circulating
library of Marsh-Mallows had been read
through by those who were fond of books; and
we had begun to borrow from the scanty store
belonging to the Commodore-Superintendent.
This source did not last very long; for his
lady soon complained of the dirt that was on
them when they were returned, and of the
powerful smell of tobacco-smoke which hung
about them ever afterwards.

Even in this stagnant service we had been
favoured with a few promotions. The first
lieutenant of the Horseleech, whom we had
never seen, was raised to captain; the second
lieutenant became the first; and I was
appointed second lieutenant in his place, much
to the gratification of my honoured father,
who blessed the day on which he had lent the
Right Hon. Sir Leicester Shorthorn that
over-fed bullock.

I was now on more equal visiting terms with
the Commodore-Superintendent, and I began
to grow more reconciled to Marsh-Mallows,
and its royal, but sleepy dockyard. The
Commodore and his lady were blessed with
two fair daughters, one about sixteen, and
the other about eighteen; and as they saw
very little company, and were charmingly
unsophisticated, my Ramborough manners
gave as much satisfaction as if they had had
the true metropolitan polish. By degrees I
deserted the fishy apartments of the Saucy
Arethusa, and was frequently found attending
the young ladies in their country rambles;
or turning over their sentimental music as
they sang love-songs at the pianoforte.

The forms of authority were properly
observed between my junior officers and
myself; and, although the Horseleech was
still nothing but a straggling bunch of bare
planks, and did not seem to me to advance
six inches a-day, no midshipman was allowed
to quit Marsh-Mallows without obtaining a
formal leave of absence.

One day the works of the Horseleech were
brought to a dead lock, by reason of a
difficulty which nobody seemed to understand,
except the master shipwright and one or two
of his confidential workmen. What this
difficulty was I could never understand, but
I know what steps were taken to set it
right. The master-shipwright was directed
to put his thoughts upon paper, and submit
them to the foreman, or some such officer
of the dockyard.

The foreman, having read and considered the
remarks of the master-shipwright, then made
a report to the Commodore-Superintendent;.
which, after reading and having copied, the
Commodore sent up to Somerset House. From
Somerset House, after its examination, this
report was sent to the Admiralty, at Charing
Cross, where it rested for some weeks. At the
end of this time it was returned, with instructions,
to Somerset House; from Somerset
House to the Commodore-Superintendent,
whom it never reached, for, unfortunately, it
was lost on the way. The same process had
to be gone through again almost from the
beginning, starting from the copy of the
report, which the Commodore had kept; and,
for several months, the slumbering Horseleech
lay a silent deserted ruin in the Marsh-
Mallows dockyard.

At last, the proper official instructions were
received, duly checked, signed and counter-
signed, and once more the cheerful clink of
hammers was heard under the familiar shed.
The hull gradually began to assume less the
appearance of a timber jungle, and more the
appearance of a ship, when, one morning,
intelligence came of a sudden change of
ministry, with the appointment of new
Admiralty secretaries, and new officials of all
kinds. The navy surveyor, for political
reasons, also resigned, and a new one,
connected with the party now in power, was
gazetted in his place. The Commodore-
Superintendent, an old and experienced
officer, knew exactly what this meant, and he
gave orders throughout the dockyard to cease
all work for a few weeks, except what was
absolutely necessary.

It was very quickly found out that no
work was necessary, except the sweeping and
clearing-up of the yard, to make it look
creditably neat; and this task was scarcely
finished before the new surveyor and some
other minor officials arrived on a visit of
inspection. The Horseleech up to this time
had been a strictly Tory ship. It had been
laid down by the directions of Sir Leicester
Shorthorn, a Tory First Lord of the Admiralty;
it had been examined, once or twice, by a
Tory Surveyor-General, and it had advanced
thus far towards completion under a Tory
administration.

The new ministers were Whig—old Whig
to the backbone. Their surveyor was a man
devoted to his party, and, in his own estimation,
the only competent government ship-
builder in the world. There were several