“‘You know something of Cork, my man, I believe?’ said he.

“‘Yes, your honor, I have been ashore there once or twice,’ said I.

“‘Very good,’ said he; ’get ready to go ashore there again as quick as you like.’

“Leave to go on shore is always agreeable to a sailor.  He prefers the sea, but likes to stretch himself on land now and then, just to enjoy a change of air, and look about him a bit; so it was with all possible expedition that I made the requisite preparations.

“When I reappeared, I found a party of twenty men mustered on deck in pipe-clay order.  A full ration of small arms was served out to them, and, under the command of the lieutenant, we embarked in the long-boat and rowed ashore.  We landed at a point of the coast some miles distant from Cork, and it was dark before we reached the military barracks of that town, which, for the present, appeared to be our destination.

“I had not the slightest idea of what we were to do on shore.  From our being so heavily armed, I knew it was no mere escort or parade duty that was in question, and began to think there was work of some kind on hand.  This gave me no kind of uneasiness.  I only wondered whatever it could be, for there was clearly a mystery of some kind or other.  Were we going to besiege Paddy, in his own peaceable city of Cork?  Had some of the peep-o’-day boys been burning down farmer Magrath’s ricks again? or was there a private still to be routed out and demolished?  I could not tell.

“Half an hour after our arrival, I was called into a private room by the lieutenant, who was seated at a table with a package of clothes beside him.  The first lieutenant of the Norfolk, I must remark, was a bit of an original.  He had won his way up to the rank he then held from before the mast.  His build was rather squat, and his face was garnished with a pair of fiery red whiskers, so he was no beauty, added to which he was reckoned one of the most rigid martinets in the service; yet, for all that, his crew liked him, for they knew his heart was in the right place.

“‘See, my man,’ said he, ’take this package, and rig yourself out in the toggery it contains.’

“I obeyed this order, and soon after stood before him, in a pair of jack-boots, with a slouching sort of tarpauling hat on my head, so that I might either have passed for a manner out of luck or a dustman.

“‘Well,’ said the lieutenant, laughing, ’now you have quite the air of the hulks about you.’

“This remark not being very complimentary, I did not feel called upon to make any reply.

“‘You know,’ he continued, ’that the brig is short about a dozen hands, and I want you to pick up a few likely lads here.  I understand there are a number of able-bodied seamen skulking about the public-houses, where they will likely remain as long as their money lasts.  I should like to secure as many of them as possible, and then capture a few stout landsmen to make up the number; but, in the first place, I want you to go and find out the best place to make a razzia.’