COURT OF ENQUIRY,
Held in the Gunroom, H.M.S. Vigilant,
At Sea, April 7th.
As a result of the Court of Enquiry held last night to enquire into the loss of H.M.S. Sally and H.M.S. Ferret, Mr. Ford commanding the one and Mr. Rawlings the second in command of the other, these officers have been adjudged to have borne themselves with credit to the gunroom, but are cautioned not to do so again. It has also been decided, affirmed, and we do hereby solemnly declare, that Mr. Morton, hitherto known as Mr. Dear Little Dicky, worked a Maxim gun so accurately, and polished off so many niggers before he was knocked over, stunned, incapacitated, and otherwise by flow of his blood rendered hors de combat, that he is entitled to some signal reward.
We do therefore proclaim, announce, and order that from henceforth, evermore, and hereafter he shall be known as "Dicky".
For "Dear Little Dicky" in future read "Dicky". (This was in big print.)
Given under our hand and seal,
BENJAMIN LANGHAM, Sub-lieutenant.
A. E. HAMILTON, Engineer Sub-lieut.
HARRY G. WEBSTER, Senior Midshipman.
Of course it was silly rot. Still, so much silly rot goes on in a gunroom, and a lot of it makes a difference—actually, and nothing they could have done would have made Dicky more pleased. He still spent most of the day in his hammock, but was allowed "up" for two hours every afternoon in the gunroom.
He told Jim, on the quiet, that he quite liked going there now. He had hated doing so before, and used to sit for hours on his chest outside, or wander about on deck, because he so dreaded having his leg pulled, and hearing himself called "Dear Little Dicky".
He could remember very little about the fight with the junks, and nothing at all after seeing all those Chinamen struggling in the water when that first junk sank. He didn't even remember Sharpe and me giving him that hot milk during the night, and nothing till he was carried up the side of the Ringdove.
You may bet that Jim and I had plenty to tell him; and we brought Sharpe along to back us up, because I couldn't get him to believe, by myself, that it was his Maxim gun which had done the trick when the first of the four junks came along.