Then the budding commander was apt to swear; but be laughed at his misfortune while be swore, and the more I have seen the more I have —ondered. But I have gone to bed feel ing a glow of pride in the knowledge that the boys of the bull-dog breed have not de generate-, Em pire—is safe in their keeping. They have saved Ladysmith — titer will save England. But it is" not all beer and skittles on a man of-war. Neither waa it on this crisse. As a matter of fact, we ran out of beer at Mani hiki. though we still had the skittles occa sionally in the flying crockery of the mess table. " But wbatwas worse still, soda-water became an unknown -nanthy after Savage Island. It is difficult also to keep fresh food on such a hurried c_rui_.e. One morn ing I went into the ward-room, and the fish fairly hummed. It promptly became flving fish." for. after the first sniff, it went flying overboard. Nevertheless, we managed to exist, and we still went on annexing islands. SLEEP UNDER DiEFFICULTIES. It was part of the agreement when I re ceived a passage on the Mi-dura, that I should give ud my cabin when the British Resident came* on "board. This I cheerfully did, and, for the rest of the cruise, I had no perma___t habitation and no I lika th(» ftoa oi man, ia that I bad no place

to lay my head—always excepting the poop deck, tbe __tg___d-hou_e, or the ward-room floor. But tbe captain and the ward-room officers did roe well, and here, and now, I wish to tender them my best thanks. On these nights on tbe way to Penrhyn. we would take a blanket l or a rug. and camp on the poop deck. And in the middle of the night, or tbe early morning, the sudden tropic rains vroald come swishing under the' awnings, and, before we knew where we were, we would be soaking wet, and would have to take up our beds and run. I dress ed for dinner in tbe doctor s cabin, down be low somewhere in tbe bowels of the ship, with the mercury jumping up above 90. At night-time I would turn the engineer's cabin into a photographic dark-room. 