ordinary seaman; to be debarred all prize money
due him; to forfeit all rights to pension; to resign
the Victoria Cross; to be discharged from the navy
with a good character (this being his first offence);
to receive fifty lashes; and to serve two years in
prison.

"I wish I had drowned that day, I wish to God
I had," he concluded, as the line moved up and we
passed around the corner.

At last the door came in siofht, through which the
paupers were being admitted in bunches. And here
I learned a surprising thing: this being Wednes
day, none of us would be released till Friday morn
ing. Furthermore, and oh, you tobacco users, take
heed: we would not be permitted to take in any
tobacco. This we would have to surrender as we
entered. Sometimes, I was told, it was returned
on leaving, and sometimes it was destroyed.

The old man-of-war s man gave me a lesson.
Opening his pouch, he emptied the tobacco (a
pitiful quantity) into a piece of paper. This,
snugly and flatly wrapped, went down his sock
inside his shoe. Down went my piece of tobacco
inside my sock, for forty hours without tobacco is
a hardship all tobacco users will understand.

Again and again the line moved up, and we
were slowly but surely approaching the wicket.
At the moment we happened to be standing on an

[[71]]

p070 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p071w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p072

v?