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editions of Shakespeare in their ditty boxes just for the fun of imitatin’ the Old Man.” He looked up then and saw me standing in the doorway. “Hullo, chum,” he said. “What do you want?”
    “Can you tell me which is Mr. Rankin’s cabin?” I asked.
    “The Navy feller, eh? Reck’n he’s got the one next door to Mr. Cousins. Here, I’ll show you.” He got to his feet and led me along the corridor. But when we found Rankin’s cabin, it was empty. “Does he drink?” the man called Ernie asked me in a whisper. I nodded. “Oh well, then he’ll be in the Chief’s cabin.” He knocked at the door of a cabin farther for’ard and a slurred voice mumbled “Come in!” He opened the door and peered in. “Okay, chum, there you are,” he said.
    I thanked him and went in. The Chief Engineer was lying on his bunk. Bloodshot little eyes peered at me above florrid cheeks. The naked electric light bulb beat down upon his bald head. Bottles of beer lay about the floor and on a chest of drawers stood two opened bottles of whisky. The room was thick with smoke and the stalesmell of drink. Rankin sat on the foot of the Chief’s bunk. He was in his shirt sleeves and his collar was undone. They were playing cribbage. The cards were laid out on the blankets of the bed. “Wot d’you want?” asked Rankin.
    “We’ve no blankets and no hammocks,” I said.
    He gave a sneering laugh and turned to the Chief. “Did you hear him, Chief?” he said. “No blankets and no hammocks!” He belched and scratched his head. “You’re a corporal, aren’t you? Going to be an officer? Where’s your initiative, man? Go and find the ship’s storeman. He’s the man to give you blankets and hammocks, not me.” And then as I did not move, he said, “Well, what are you waiting for?”
    “There’s another thing,” I said. But I stopped then. His little pale blue eyes, like baby oysters swimming in their own mucus, were watching me closely. He knew what I was going to say. He knew that it was unnecessary for the guard to be outside. And he was waiting for me to say it, so that he could sneer at my ability to carry out orders. This was the sort of man for whom the protection of rank meant the pleasures of despotism. “It doesn’t matter,” I said and closed the door.
    It was the sailors in the crew’s mess-room who produced blankets and hammocks for me. Bert met me at the top of the companionway and relieved me of some of my burden. “Did yer see Rankin?” he asked.
    “Yes,” I said.
    “Any chance of us doing the guards inside?”
    “No.”
    His little monkey face peered up at me from his balaclava. “Yer did ast ’im, didn’t yer?”
    “No,” I said. “He was drunk and he was just waiting for the opportunity to get at me. It wasn’t any use.”
    Bert slid the door of the storage room back with his shoulder and flung the handful of blankets he had taken from me on to the floor between the packing cases. “Blimey!” he said, “if you was a rooky yer couldn’t be more spineless And he turned away to continue his guard.
    I hesitated. But I only said, “I’ll relieve you at one.” Then I went inside and slid the door to. Sills and I slung the hammocks between the packing cases. It was past midnight before we’d got them fixed. I climbed into mine and tried to get some sleep before I went out to do my turn. But I couldn’t sleep. I felt angry with myself and depressed about the present and the future. Even the thought of being back in England didn’t cheer me. But for the fact that it would be the end of things between Betty and myself. I knew I should have thrown up the idea of going for a commission.
    When I went out to relieve Bert an hour later, loading seemed to have stopped throughout the docks. The arc lights had all been switched off and a peace had descended on the place. The snow-covered roofs of the dock sheds glimmered faintly in the light from the deck lights. Beyond lay a vague huddle of ships and