The Middies' Berth

"Get anyone into trouble? ..If they are guilty of it.. then they ought ter be in trouble allright. Yer not saying you'd withold information of the ones sinnin' jus' so?.. 't would go against the Articles, private. " He thought that a fined striped shirt as a threat would have certainly opened that mouth, even if he was saying different now. But one needed more tact, and yelling at him now was hardly such.

"I don't mean ter look at the innocent jus' because they'd be doin' summat ..but if they are guilty of things.. and I'm not sayin ' of throwin' me over... but of other things, you witholdin' information might well join them as the guilty. Be thought of thinkin' the same, wanting ter do the same. Please.."His voice was so soft, gentle, trusting. "...I really mean it.. for the good.."

"I know the Articles, sir. And ain't anybody plottin' or plannin' anythin'... and I'd tell someone if I thought they was, sir." He shrugged and looked at De Guarde with a puzzled frown. "I dunno quite what you'm gettin' at, sir, but if anybody was doing anythin' they oughtn't, I'd tell someone. But there ain't nothin' to tell, 'cause ain't nobody doin' anythin' like that, sir. I swear it."

"It won't hurt if we do keep an eye out on those that look like they might get an idea.. no? jus' an eye out.. nothin' more. If they behave proper. .we'd not be looking them for longer.. but if they don't. We be sure stopping it before it ever blooms into summat bad. You would want that, Thompson, wouldn't you?" His voice still velvet and kind, as if urging the lad to help him and having not an ounce of ill will on his mind.

"Sir... If... if there was ever a hint of any of that sort of thing, I would tell you. But there ain't. Nobody here's got any reason at all to not behave proper. We'm got a fair captain and decent officers, and folks know what side their bread's buttered on. Me loyalty's to the Captain. I know that well enough, sir, and if there was any reason to suspect anythin', I'd tell him. But there ain't, sir, so I can't tell you about summat that ain't even there."

Why did De Guarde think there might be something untoward going on, or going to be going on? Terpsy was a happy ship, like others Thompson had been on. He'd heard about the goings-on on other ships that turned into mutiny, or something like it, and there was nothing of that atmosphere here.

Perhaps Thompson did not want to tell or he was wrong and there was really nothing there. The boy frowned for he was sure he was not wrong, but how else could he convince this man to speak. He felt he couldn't and that another day would be better used for the occasion.

"..Alright." he spoke as tenderly and kindly, and looked to understand and accept the man's view." But. .do not hesitate to tell. .should there be anythin' suspicious goin' on... alright?" He asked and tried to look as sincere as he could.

"All right, sir." Not that there would be anything to tell, of course... but De Guarde didn't, probably couldn't, understand that. The sailors and Marines aboard Terpsy were as contented as any crew in the Navy, and only a fool would upset that.

Thompson wanted to change the subject and talk about something else, but they were back to being midshipman and Marine Private again, and it was not for Thompson to initiate a conversation with a superior.

He sensed the tension again and knew that if he wanted to have any sort of relaxed conversation in which the marine would begin to trust him he had to shake the tension off. It wouldn't do to have the lad frightened or stiff as a marine, even if he was one.

"....What kind of games do you marines play, on board?.. If ye do any of course....ye spoke of games before so , um..I guess on Terpsy it is so, no?"

"Oh, all different things, sir. We raced the ships' goats once on Surprise, which was fun. An' there's cards - you don't have to bet to have a good card game. Or if you do bet, then you can use musket balls or summat as tokens, an' the same with dice. An' sometimes there's races - the whole ship apart from the Captain is divided into two teams. They usually do the watches and divvy the idlers and waisters up, half into each watch, and the same with the Marines. And each watch races the other, two men at a time, up each mast of the ship. The topmen are fastest, of course, but then there's folks like the cooper and the sailmaker who never go aloft 'cause they don't need to. And that's fun, watchin' them do it. Things like that. And of course there's allus the chance for a rollickin' good skylarkin' and a bit of a merrymakin'."

De Guarde was a little confusing and unpredictable, Thompson thought. All nice one minute and asking pointed questions the next. It wouldn't do to relax too much because he'd catch you out in something and get all threatening. And he was a midshipman, and thus superior to Thompson, even if he wasn't in the Marine's chain of command.

"Sounds interesting." Not something he was used to seeing. "..You've taken part in the games I reckon. How many... since you came on Terpsy?.. About. I'm sure an exact number would be hard to come to." He asked. "Thompson, there are things.. you don't understand. Being a marine and not.. one of us.. so.. .. please understand when I get upset about it. It feels as if you were judging a superior officer. N'... that's not nice."

Thompson's reply was quiet and serious. "I never meant to do that, sir. Only... I was tryin' to think of ways to help you, is all. An', I'm sorry you thought that, sir."

And a memory stirred, of one of Sergeant Sweetman's dreaded daily drill sessions: "You thought? You ain't paid to think. That's why you've got sergeants and officers to do your thinkin' for you! You shut up and obey orders!"

He blinked the memory away. "I don't understand what you mean, sir. How many what have I done? Them races... or the different things we do?"

"Yes, races.. the ways you had fun here. How you had fun and how often. " Though sailors and privates were meant to do and not think, the boy had little trouble to accept that this one was thinking. If he was a sailor however they would not even be having this conversation. He would never have thought of acting that way to a sailor. Nothing but mock, use and abuse and threats. The marines were just far enough from his line of command to deserve different and while sailors did not stand guard on middies, marines did.

"..I feel you are a bit afraid of me, Thompson." He murmured :" n' not just because I'm a midshipman. Is it?"

He shifted a little. "No, sir, it ain't. Only, I don't know if I can tell you why 'cause it might sound like I'm criticisin' you, and you just told me off f'r soundin' like I was doin' that. So mebbe I oughtn't say nothin', sir."

"And if i tell you that you should talk to me and that for this moment I shall allow us to forget that you are a marine and I am a midshipman.... will you then tell me and sate my curiosity.. to why you fear me?" He spoke simply.

Thompson sighed. "You probably won't like it, sir, but you did ask." He took a breath and released it, before speaking. "You... I don't understand you, sir. You'm nice as pie one minute, an' then I say summat you don't like or don't agree with and you turn all hard an' cold an' threatenin'. And I said as you wouldn't like it, an' I'm sorry for that, but you did ask."

"I did ask.." He nodded curtly:"..and you told me. And I can tell you that I...." He paused and looked thoughtful. "..Is there anything else you would like to tell me, while I still allow you to be.. open in what you say as not of rank?"

"On'y that I... I wish you wouldn't be so quick to see bad in folks, is all, sir. 'N' I'm that sorry if you think I'm criticisin', 'cause I ain't. Like I said, I was just trying to think of ways to help you settle in a bit and learn the ropes here. An' I'll shut up now afore me mouth runs off without me thinkin' proper, sir."

"No.. don't turn quiet.." He placed a hand to Thompson's and squeezed his shoulder lightly. "I will listen to you,.. but that does not mean I shall think of it more than our discussion here. Understand that." He shrugged his shoulders:".. Now, do speak.. Thompson.. You have still a few moments in which you can do so.. without retribution."

"I wish you wouldn't say things like that, sir. Makes me think that other times, I put me foot even an inch wrong, even by mistake, an' you'll have me flogged round the fleet." He looked at the lad, his face serious. "Hurts like nothin' else I ever knew, sir. And the scars never fade, ever."

"Don' tell me that you've been already flogged around the fleet?" He did not believe that and blinked at the private rather stunned. "..Though flogged, yes? " He tilted his head slight to the side. He did not repeat his earlier words, and he did not apologise for them for he didn't feel he needed to, but atleast he wasn't threatening. Which was just as well.

"Flogged, yes. Ten years ago, and the scars is as plain as if it was a month ago. It was me birthday, an' me mates saved me a bit of grog, see, an' I was drunk. Felt queer, so I went topside to get a bit of air and throw up over side. Bumped into the second lieutenant. I was half cross-eyed an' it was dark, and I called him a bloody fool f'r not lookin' where he was goin', thinkin' he was a sailor. And he says 'You're drunk, Private.' and I said 'So what if I am'. And he had me clapped in irons below, though he did let me throw up first. Got six for bein' drunk, and twelve for cheekin' him, and it didn't half hurt, I can tell ye. Still got the scars, too, like I said, sir."

" Well, scars remain. Can't do nothin' about that. ..'but ye have em on t' back. Ye can sit right away, even with ye back flayed. That accounts for lots!" He nodded sharply. "..if ye can't sit fer ye long time.. that's worse. N'... 's not humiliatin' either, no." He shrugged. "Painful yes, but ye can say ye've stood it.. now, can't you?"

"I've stood lots o' things, sir. And not everyone's proud to've been flogged. And bein' stripped t'the waist in front of the whole ship's crew can be humiliatin' enough, 'specially if you never 'spected to get in trouble, and tried to keep out of it. An' there's other ways of punishin' than by usin' the cat, that work just as well. Like... field punishment, for example."

"Field punishment 's fer marines. Can't do that with t' sailors, ye know." He shrugged his shoulders lightly."....Though'..... what exactly is this,.. field punishment exactly?"

"It means marchin' round the deck with a full pack and carryin' a musket, for as long as the Corporal wants. A glass, mebbe a coupla glasses... sometimes even longer, if he's in a real temper. An' you'd be surprised how heavy them packs get after your fifth time round deck."

"But it ain't hard.. n' it isn't humiliatin' .. 's jus'.. walking." Has never even weighed a marine's pack, so he would think it's just as easy as walking around like that all day. " Can't see how that's punishment. S' just walking, Thompson."