“‘Oh! that’s it,’ replied the first lieutenant; ‘only laying night lines! Pray, what’s the difference?’ ‘Please, sir,’ said Jack, touching his hat, ‘the difference is—that it’s not the same thing.’”
“‘Well, sir, I see but one difference, and I’ll meet it accordingly. You’ve your duty to do, and I’ve got mine.’
“The boys’ heads and ears having been pulled about and examined by the master-at-arms, they were dismissed; and Jack thought that he had got off—but he was mistaken.
“After the hammocks had been piped down, and it was dark, the boys were ordered up by the master-at-arms; Jack was seized to the gun, and had his two dozen. ‘There, sir,’ said Old Duty, as they cast the seizings off, ‘if fishing at night is not fishing, punishment at night is not punishment. Now we’re quits. You’ve your duty to do, and I’ve got mine.’
“I don’t think that Jack perceived any more difference in the two dozen at night-time than the first lieutenant did between day and night fishing; however, Jack did not fish for some time afterwards. But it so happened, that the first lieutenant was asked on shore to dine with the port-admiral; and, although he seldom left the ship, he could not refuse such a compliment, and so he went. As soon as it was dark, Jack thought his absence too good an opportunity not to have a fish; so he goes into the mizen-chains, and drops his line. Well, he fished (but I don’t know whether he caught any) till the boat was hailed in which the first lieutenant was coming on board, and then Jack thought it time to haul in his line; but, just at that moment, there was a jerk; and Jack, who knew that fish was at the bait, could not for the life of him pull up his line—for, you see, he was a fisherman heart and soul; so Jack trusted to Providence and the first lieutenant’s going down below as soon as he came on deck.
“Now, you see, the ship was lying at the time ’cross the tide, the wind blowing against the current: the starboard side (being to leeward as to the wind, but to windward as to the tide) had been cleared away, and manned for the boat, and Jack made sure that the first lieutenant would pull to that side; but he was mistaken. Whether it was that the first lieutenant wished to have a look round the ship or not, I do not know, but he pulled across the bows, and went round the stern, passing the larboard side: as he passed, Jack shrunk under the lee of the deadeyes and lanyards, hoping he might not be seen; but the first lieutenant, having the clear horizon on the other side, perceived the line which Jack had half hauled up, and, having an eye like a cat, makes out Jack also.
“‘I see you, sir—I see you, Mr Jervis, fishing again, sir. Very well,’ cried the first lieutenant, from the stern-sheets of the boat, as he passed by. ‘You’ve your duty to do, and I’ve got mine.’ ‘That’s as good as two dozen to-morrow morning at muster,’ thought Jack, who cursed his luck, and, in a very melancholy mood, began to haul up his line, which, as soon as he had been discovered, he had let go down to the bottom again. Now, it so happened that, as Old Duty went up the other side, his foot slipped; and, how it was I can’t tell, for they say he wasn’t the least groggy, but down he fell, between the boat’s gunnel and the ship’s side, just like a deep-sea lead, and disappeared. There being so few men on deck, there was not much of a bustle—there was a dive or two for him with the boat-hook, but all in vain—Old Duty was gone.
“In the meantime, Jack on the other side was slowly hauling up his line; but he had not got it half-way up when he felt a heavy strain, and he thought that a large conger eel had followed the bait up, as they do sometimes, and he hauled and hauled with all his might. At last, who should he bring to the surface of the water but Old Duty, who had been sucked under the ship’s bottom by the tide, and had been hooked by Jack, as he was pulling up. When Jack saw it was the first lieutenant, as he told me, his first idea was to let him down again; but that was only for a moment. The words of the first lieutenant still rang in his ears, ‘You’ve your duty to do, and I’ve got mine’—so Jack did his duty. He hollows out that he had caught Old Duty, and the boat shifted round and took him on board. The old fellow was quite senseless; but as he had been but a short time in the water, he was put to bed, and resuscitated by the surgeon. The next morning he was all just as if nothing had happened, walking the deck with his right hand in his breast, and his spy-glass under his left arm, as usual.
“Well, we all told Jack that he was safe this time, but Jack seemed to think otherwise. He shook his head; and now you’ll learn who was right.
“When the boys were all mustered next morning, towing a line, and holding out their paws, the first lieutenant turns round, and says, ‘Jervis, you were fishing last night, against my orders.’ ‘Yes, sir,’ said Jervis, ‘and I catched a first lieutenant;’ for Jack had a goad deal of fun in him. ‘Yes, sir, and queer fishes they are sometimes,’ replies Old Duty; ‘but you forget that you have also catched two dozen. You have your duty to do, and I’ve mine.’