“You don’t say, sir?” said the lieutenant in astonishment.  “Has he any chance of promotion, sir?”

“Promotion!” cried Fernando, in well-feigned astonishment.  “Why, have you not heard that he is already in command of a ship?  You cannot possibly have heard from him lately, or you would have known that!”

“That’s true, sir; I have not heard from him since he quitted the Black Cloud in the South, I think they said for his health; but how did he get the step?”

“Why, as to the promotion, that was remarkable enough,” said Fernando, quaffing off a tumbler of champagne to aid his inventive faculties; but Fernando, despite his native shrewdness and wonderful inventive powers, was liable to get into trouble.  He knew as little about a ship as a landlubber might be supposed to know, and his companion saw at once that he would make a mess of the story, so he came to his rescue by informing the assembly that a fine vocalist at the other end of the room was going to sing, and asked that the story be deferred until after the song.  They all hurried away save Fernando, who, overcome by too deep potations, sank upon a sofa temporarily unconscious.

He was roused from his stupor by his companion shaking him and saying: 

“Fernando, me boy, it’s a divil’s own mess ye are makin’ of this!  Wake up and get out!”

He roused himself and looked about.  The room they were in was a small apartment off the great saloon, and through the half-open folding-door, he could see that the festivities still continued.  The music and gay forms of dancers reminded him where he was.

“Fernando, we’ve played this game jist as long as we can, successfully; we had better go.”

“I am ready,” and Fernando got up and started diagonally across the room, stepping with his feet very wide apart.  The pretended Lord Kildee took his arm, and they got to the door, where Fernando missed his footing and went tumbling down the steps in a very undignified manner.  His lordship, Kildee, having imbibed rather freely himself, kept him company, and for a few seconds they remained at the bottom of the flight, dividing their time between studying astronomy and the laws of gravitation.

Fernando had badly smashed the captain’s chapeau and one fine plume was gone.  They had not gone far before they ran upon a watchman, who threatened to run them in; but the police of those days were as susceptible to a bribe as they are to-day, and after donating liberally to the cause of justice and protection, they were taken to their rooms instead of the calaboose.

Young Stevens had no definite recollection of how he ever got to bed; but he awoke next morning with a wretched headache and found himself in a red coat, with the epaulets and gold lace of an officer.  By degrees, the whole thing came back to him.

Terrence came in a few moments later, a smile on his face, as he remarked they were in “the divil’s own scrape.”