“‘Oh! that’s it,’ replied the first lieutenant; ’only laying night lines!  Pray, what’s the difference?’

“‘Please, sir,’ said Jack, touching his hat, ’the difference is—­that it’s not the same thing.’

“’Well, sir, I see but one difference, and I’ll meet it accordingly.  You’ve your duty to do, and I’ve got mine.’

“The boys’ heads and ears having been pulled about and examined by the master-at-arms, they were dismissed; and Jack thought that he had got off—­but he was mistaken.

“After the hammocks had been piped down, and it was dark, the boys were ordered up by the master-at-arms; Jack was seized to the gun, and had his two dozen.  ‘There, sir,’ said Old Duty, as they cast the seizings off, ’if fishing at night is not fishing, punishment at night is not punishment.  Now we’re quits.  You’ve your duty to do, and I’ve got mine.’

“I don’t think that Jack perceived any more difference in the two dozen at night-time than the first lieutenant did between day and night fishing; however, Jack did not fish for some time afterward.  But it so happened that the first lieutenant was asked on shore to dine with the port-admiral; and, although he seldom left the ship, he could not refuse such a compliment, and so he went.  As soon as it was dark, Jack thought his absence too good an opportunity not to have a fish; so he goes into the mizzen-chains and drops his line.  Well, he fished (but I don’t know whether he caught any) till the boat was hailed in which the first lieutenant was coming on board, and then Jack thought it time to haul in his line; but, just at that moment, there was a jerk; and Jack, who knew that fish was at the bait, could not for the life of him pull up his line—­for, you see, he was a fisherman heart and soul; so Jack trusted to Providence and the first lieutenant’s going down below as soon as he came on deck.

“Now, you see, the ship was lying at the time ’cross the tide, the wind 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.