A Gunner Aboard the Yankee""

ship of war. The afternoon had passed without event, save that which attacks the amateur sailor when he first feels the heaving swell

down in the innermost reaches of the ship. The sun had vanished in a hazy cloud which portended a stiff breeze, but the wind was still gent

rosy glow from the binnacle-bowl, there was a blackness of night throughout the upper part of the ship. Cigars and pipes and cigarett

ed them to sway back and forth against the rail and a metallic sound came from a sword scabbard suspended from the captain's belt. The presence of this

The old man is fixed for troub

the night. The discordant notes rang and echoed through the ship, and, while the sound was still trembling in the air

tion was insta

e darkness-a part of the mist-the "Yankee" became

iron, the hard panting of hurrying men, the grating of breech-blocks, low muttered orders from office

se ideas of discipline are based on cast iron rules, espies the laggard and administers a sharp rebuke. A squad of marines dash from the "barracks" below and line up at the secondary battery gu

the gloom near the main hatch

ose and

thrown open, sights adjusted, the first and second captains take their places, the former with the firing lanyard in readiness for use at his gun;

are quickly lifted to the guns and taken in hand by the loaders. The latter do their part of the general work

surgeon and his assistants have made ready for their grewsome task. Cases of glittering instruments have been opened, lint an

n readiness for duty, are the engineers and crew of the off watch. The carpenters are ready below with shot-hole plugs, and everywhere throughout the

. Instead a stentorian comm

cur

own as general quarters. It is the first time it has been held under service conditions, and when the captain steps down from the bri

ed sleep, for a rumor has gone about the ship that Spanish vessels have been seen off

iptions more plain. The ship's daily life commences with the calling of the ship's cook at 3:30 a.m. The ordinary mess cooks are awakened at four o'clock, so that coffee can be prepared for the

n the port and starboard bridge and the patent life buoys port and starboard quarter were relieved. As soon as the first streaks of dawn We

ng done? It must require a great many washerwomen to keep the clothes of this dirty [glancing rather disdainfully at her somewhat grimy friend]

on le

laundry. This was the first opportunity we had had to clean up. The forecastlemen led out the hose, which was connected to the

osed that we watch "Patt," the gunner's mate, who had served in the navy before. Presently we saw him lay his jumper flat on the deck, wet it thoroughly with water from the hose, then rub it with salt-water soap. Then he fished

ched," and forthwith fell on his knees

e result was hardly up to our expectations. The navigator remarked, as we were "stopping" the clothes on the line, "

as often a difficult virtue to acquire. We found it almost impossible to be cleanly without the aid of

had to scrub paint work or he had orders from the doctor to bathe in fresh water. These excuses would be successful till too many men came in with buckets and plausible excuses, when

and remarked, as he tied the last knot on his last jumper, "I like to be c

ed to fe

hem already. How often do we have to do

an only be washed during the morning watch (four to eight), I understand, and, as the starboard men are on duty one

and soapy knees, and said, as he turned to go aft, "Well, when we get back to New York,

" and scrubbed decks, scoured the gratings and companion-way ladders with sand and canvas, brass work

On special occasions even the shirt is dispensed with. During warm weather it is delightful to splash around a water-soaked deck, but there are mornings when a biting wind comes from the north, and the keenness of winter is in

agreed with "Stump" when he said, "I feel as if I could put a whole bumboat load of stuff

below," at 7:20, we of the watch on deck realized that there was still forty minutes to wait. Every man's hunge

he watch on deck. The scramble to get below and to work with knife, fork, and spoon resembled a fire p

y calls his folding-bed, which is swung from the deck beams above; here he enjoys the various amusements that an ordinary citizen

wide and twelve or fourteen feet long, having a ridge around the edge to keep the plates from sliding off in a seaway. Jack's dining chairs are called "mess benches," and consist of a long folding bench th

for the galley; each, too, has a mess caterer, or striker, whose business it is to help the mess cook and see that all goes well. The caterer is a volunteer from the mess, and generally serves for a week, when another volunteer takes his place. If the quanti

onth allowed by the navy for rations is expended by the paymaster of the vessel, not by the men, so, if the paymaster concludes that the men shall have "salt-horse," rice, and hard-tack, Jack gets "salt-horse," rice,

"Jimmy Legs" (the master-at-arms) comes around, shouting as he goes, "Shake a leg there, we want to get this deck cleared for quarters." He is of