C—— found his temporary promotion no sinecure, for, among other duties, he had to be continually on the alert to hear the pipe which indicated that an officer of Captain's rank or above it was coming over the gangway, as it was his part to receive all such visitors with proper ceremony and conduct them to the Admiral's cabin. However, in due course the genuine article arrived in the person of Lieutenant X, and C——, relieved of the onerous task, which he had really performed uncommonly well, was once more relegated to the obscure position of a mere Snotty.
And now the fateful moment for candidates for promotion was imminent.
On the Sunday preceding the first ordeal we decided to take a complete rest, for we were feeling like a species of Strasburg geese, owing to the enormous amount of varied information with which we had stuffed our brains during the preceding month. A relief from the process of intensive culture was clearly necessary if we would rightly assimilate even a portion of the stupendous mass of fact and theory we had absorbed.
It was a splendid blue day, and in the afternoon most of the members of the gunroom, and the younger and cheerier people from the wardroom, manned the pinnace, and, equipped with various baskets of provisions, set sail for a neighbouring island. Once clear of the Fleet we hoisted the Jolly Roger, and, after a little persuasion from all hands, the R.N.R. Lieutenant started on his long repertoire of sea songs, in the choruses of which we all joined lustily, if not tunefully.
On reaching the spot selected for landing the anchor was let go, and we veered the pinnace astern on her cable until we could leap ashore. As soon as all the provisions had been taken out, those of the party who rather fancied themselves in a culinary capacity retired to a sheltered corner, and there set to work to build a fire as a preliminary to the frying of "bangers" (sausages) and the scrambling of eggs. The rest of us flopped down on the heather at the top of the cliffs and began to smoke and talk. It was not long before some restless person suggested bathing. "I say, what about a bathe? Who's coming for a swim?"
Some one else cautiously: "You go in first and tell us what it is like."
"No! I'm d——d if I'll go in unless some one comes with me."
"Well, I'll go if you will." Then the original proposer: "I don't know if it will be worth it. It's beastly cold, I'll bet."
"There you are, backing out of it again! I've a jolly good mind to lead the way myself now." ... And so on, until at last one brave spirit takes the plunge, and most of the others follow suit.
The shirkers could not possibly resist the temptation to indulge in some game at the expense of their fellows, so they formed themselves into a society for "the prevention of bathers regaining their clothes"! To this end they collected large piles of peat, and no sooner did the unfortunate swimmers appear, scrambling naked and shining over the rocks, than they were greeted by a spread salvo of dirt and earth! Casting lurid reflections on the manners, characters, and antecedents of their assailants, they fled to cover. From above came the challenge: "Out of your dugouts and over the top, or we'll storm the Hindenburg line!" and another salvo of peat burst in and about the funk-holes, driving the bathers once more into the open ... Braving a withering fire they scaled the cliffs, only to be promptly chased all over the island in their birthday suits!