‘Strewth,’ he muttered. ‘Orficers ’avin’ a good time,’ and relapsed into silence as a signalman pattered by to relieve his mate on the bridge.
As the song came to an end a boy operator knocked at the ward-room door and handed a message to the Captain, who read it and put it in his pocket. Another song was beginning, and the singers were clustering round the piano. Duty called him, and as the song reached the noisy stage, he left with a quiet ‘good-night,’ and returned to his lonely quarters.
He was no mean judge of character.
NEPTUNE AND BRITANNIA
I
Neptune asked of Britannia,
‘Whence do your Seamen come?
Are they born in the fields or forests,
Or born in the city slum?
Are they born in the lofty palace,