“There’s a bower of roses by Bendemeer’s stream,
And the nightingale sings round it all the night long. 
In the time of my childhood ’twas like a sweet dream
To sit in the roses and hear the bird’s song.”

One by one the pipes were rested on the smokers’ knees; they wanted their mouths to hear with.  I don’t think the assembled company can have looked much like exiles from flowery haunts of the nightingale, but we all shook our heads, not only in time but in sympathy, as the clear voice rose to a more passionate strain: 

“That bower and its music I never forget;
But oft when alone in the bloom of the year,
I think—­is the nightingale singing there yet? 
Are the roses still bright by the calm Bendemeer?”

I and the oldest and hairiest sailor were sighing like furnaces as the melody recommenced with the second verse: 

“No, the roses soon withered that hung o’er the wave,
But some blossoms were gathered while freshly they shone,
And a dew was distilled from their flowers, that gave
All the fragrance of summer when summer was gone.”

If making pot-pourri after my mother’s old family recipe had been the chief duty of able-bodied seamen, this could not have elicited more nods of approbation.  But we listened spell-bound and immovable to the passion and pathos with which the singer poured forth the conclusion of his song: 

“Thus memory draws from delight, ere it dies,
An essence that breathes of it many a year;
Thus bright to my soul—­as ’twas then to my eyes—­
Is that bower on the banks of the calm Bendemeer.”

And then (as somebody said) the noise we made was enough to scare the sea-gulls off the tops of the waves.

“You scored that time, Mr. O’Moore,” said the boatswain.  “You’d make your fortune in a music-hall, sir.”

“Thank ye, bo’sun.  Glad I didn’t give ye your revenge, anyhow.”

But the boatswain meant to strike nearer home.  A ship’s favourite might have hesitated to sing after Dennis, so Alister’s feelings may be guessed on hearing the following speech: 

“Mr. O’Moore, and comrades all.  I believe I speak for all hands on this vessel, when I say that we ain’t likely to forget sech an agreeable addition to a ship’s company as the gentleman who has just given us a taste of the nightingale’s quality” (loud cheers).  “But we’ve been out-o’-way favoured as I may say, this voyage.  We mustn’t forget that there’s two other little strangers aboard” (roars of laughter).  “They ’olds their ’eads rather ’igh p’raps, for stowaways” ("Hear! hear!"), “but no doubt their talents bears ’em out” ("Hear, hear!” from Dennis, which found a few friendly echoes).  “Anyway, as they’ve paid us a visit, without waiting to ask if we was at ’ome to callers, we may look to ’em to contribute to the general entertainment.  Alister Auchterlay will now favour the company with a song.”

The boatswain stood back and folded his arms, and fixed his eyes on the sea-line, from which attitude no appeals could move him.  I was very sorry for Alister, and so was Dennis, I am sure, for he did his best to encourage him.