blowing against the current: the starboard side (being to leeward as to
the wind, but to windward as to the tide) had been cleared away, and
manned for the boat, and Jack made sure that the first lieutenant would
pull to that side; but he was mistaken. Whether it was that the first
lieutenant wished to have a look round the ship or not, I do not know,
but he pulled across the bows, and went round the stern, passing the
larboard side: as he passed, Jack shrunk under the lee of the deadeyes
and lanyards, hoping he might not be seen; but the first lieutenant,
having the clear horizon on the other side, perceived the line which
Jack had half hauled up, and, having an eye like a cat, makes out Jack
also.

"'I see you, sir--I see you, Mr. Jervis, fishing again, sir. Very well,'
cried the first lieutenant, from the sternsheets of the boat, as he
passed by. 'You've your duty to do, and I've got mine.' 'That's as good
as two dozen to-morrow morning at muster,' thought Jack, who cursed his
luck, and, in a very melancholy mood, began to haul up his line, which,
as soon as he had been discovered, he had let go down to the bottom
again. Now, it so happened that, as Old Duty went up the other side, his
foot slipped; and, how it was I can't tell, for they say he wasn't the
least groggy, but down he fell, between the boat's gunnel and the ship's
side, just like a deep-sea lead, and disappeared. There being so few men
on deck, there was not much of a bustle--there was a dive or two for him
with the boat-hook, but all in vain--Old Duty was gone.

"In the meantime, Jack on the other side was slowly hauling up his line;
but he had not got it half-way up when he felt a heavy strain, and he
thought that a large conger eel had followed the bait up, as they do
sometimes, and he hauled and hauled with all his might. At last, who
should he bring to the surface of the water but Old Duty, who had been