"Take him for'ard." Half-a-dozen willing men sprang forward.

Captain Nugent's views concerning sailormen were well known in Sunwich, and two of the men present had served under him.

He went forward, the centre of an attentive and rotating circle, and, sadly out of breath, was bestowed in the forecastle and urged to listen to reason.
For the remainder of the morning he made no sign.

The land was almost out of sight, and he sat down quietly to consider his course of action for the next few weeks.

Dinner-time found him still engrossed in thought, and the way in which he received an intimation from a good-natured seaman that his dinner was getting cold showed that his spirits were still unquelled.
By the time afternoon came he was faint with hunger, and, having determined upon his course of action, he sent a fairly polite message to Captain Hardy and asked for an interview.
The captain, who was resting from his labours in the chart-room, received him with the same air of cold severity which had so endeared Captain Nugent himself to his subordinates.
"You have come to explain your extraordinary behaviour of this morning, I suppose ?" he said, curtly.
"I have come to secure a berth aft," said Captain Nugent.