"Now, then, old bird, foot it!" exclaimed Sefton, as he reappeared on the bridge. "Anything to report?"
Farrar glanced at his watch. To his surprise he found that the last hour had passed with great rapidity. His work was now at an end; his relief had arrived to take on the duties of Sub of the Watch, while the Officer of the Watch had also turned over his responsibilities to another lieutenant.
At the first opportunity the sub hastened to the half-deck, where, outside the padre's cabin, a number of perspiring men were still busily engaged in removing the steel lattice work, known as a jalousie, from that officer's cabin door. Standing in a semicircle around them were all the midshipmen not on duty, taking no pains to conceal their amusement at the naval instructor's discomfiture. On the fringe of the ring stood the commander and three or four other wardroom officers, the former eyeing with grim displeasure the disfigurement of this part of the "internal fittings" of one of His Majesty's cruisers.
Through the slits of the jalousie came sounds of the padre, breathing stertorously, and the deep snores of the dog, who, having "mustered his bag," was sleeping the sleep of exhaustion.
"Can't you unbolt the infernal door, padre?" shouted the commander impatiently. He had asked the same question half a dozen times already, and the monotony of the request was beginning to jar the already overstrung nerves of the chaplain.
"Heaven forbid," he muttered. "My calling urges me to do the very opposite."
"It strikes me, sir," remarked the first lieutenant, addressing the commander, "that we have here an example of the lion and the lamb lying down together."
The pun—for the padre's name was Lamb—fell upon deaf ears as far as the commander was concerned, although the midshipmen smiled broadly at the popular Number One's wit.
"Look alive, there, men!" the commander exclaimed impatiently. "Don't waste the whole day getting that frame unstowed."
The carpenter's crew "bucked up" at these words. Truth to tell they had been proceeding leisurely at their work. The last bolt was removed and the jalousie fell away from the surrounding steel frame. One of the men, thrusting his arm through the aperture, shot back the catch of the door.