There was no standing all this; the crew
forward and in the waist were all on the broad grin, while the officers,
after struggling to maintain their gravity until they were nearly
suffocated, fairly gave in, and the whole ship echoed with the most
uproarious laughter; a young villain, whether a Mid or no I could not
tell, yelling out in the throng, "Hurra for Tom Cringle's Tail!"
I was fairly beginning to lose countenance, when up jumped Sneezer to my
relief out of the boat, with an old cocked hat lashed on his head, a
marine's jacket buttoned round his body, and his coalblack muzzle
bedaubed with pipe--clay, regularly monkeyfied, the momentary handiwork
of some wicked little reefers, while a small pipe sung out quietly, as
if not intended to reach the quarterdeck, although it did do so, "And
here comes the last joint of Mr Cringle's Tail." The dog began
floundering and jumping about, and walloping amongst the people, most of
whom knew him, and immediately drew their attention from me and my party
to himself; for away they all bundled forward, dog and men tumbling and
scrambling about like so many children, leaving the coast clear to me
and my attendants. The absurdity of the whole exhibition had for an
instant, even under the very nose of a proverbially taught hand, led to
freedoms which I had believed impossible in a man--of--war. However,
there was too much serious matter in hand, independently of any other
consideration, to allow the merriment created by our appearance to last
long.
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