Laughing and singing, the fellows trooped down to prepare for turning in; the hard labor of the day had not dampened their spirits.

The deck soon presented an animated scene.

A number of us had slept long enough on board the "New Hampshire" to become accustomed to man-o'-war style, but the new recruits were like so many cats in a strange garret.

They stood about, glancing doubtfully at their hammocks and then at their clothes.

They did not know just what to do with either.
"How do you get into the thing, I wonder ?" asked the fellow from Harlem, eyeing his suspended bed.
"Borrow the navigator's step-ladder," suggested the coxs'n of the gig.
"He keeps it in the chart room." The greatest difficulty was the disposal of our clothes.