The lieutenant opened his eyes very wide, as he looked
down at the seams in the deck, and wondered whether he were asleep or
awake. He had been quite sick, and he had come on board the night
before! It was very strange that he was not at all aware of either of
these facts. He felt reasonably confident that he had slept in his own
chamber at Bonnydale the night before, and at that time he was certainly
in a very robust state of health, however it might be at the present
moment. Even now, he could not complain of anything more severe than an
embryo cold in the head, which the medicine his mother had given him
would probably reduce to a state of subjection in a day or two.
At first, he was disposed to be amused at the answers the quartermaster
had given him, for it was evident to him then that he had been mistaken
for another person. It looked as though some officer had come on board,
and reported under his name, for he had not yet learned anything in
regard to the gentleman who had appeared to be quite sick when he
reported himself. It had the elements of another mystery in it. But the
petty officer could easily have made an honest mistake; and this was the
solution he accepted, without bothering his bewildered brain any further
about it.
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