Read Online We Joined The Navy by John Winton - Free Book Online Page B

think? Still, we must just take each day as it comes. Does the road wind uphill all the way?’
    ‘To the bitter end,’ said Michael, who was now used to Paul, and recognised his cue.
    ‘And shall we find other Beattys on the way?’
    ‘Day and night, my friend,’ said Michael.
    A long low note on a bosun’s call sounded outside the window of the chest flat. It was the Night Rounds Party and Isaiah Nine Smith, the Chief Cadet of the Day, sounding the Still. The long low note ended and was succeeded by the voice of Mr Froud, chastising the author of the note. Clearly, the Still should be a long, high note.
    Spink was standing rounds for the chest flat. He rehearsed his report, repeating it to himself over and over again.
    ‘Number one chest flat cleared for rounds, sir, nineteen cadets present, temperature fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Number one chest flat cleared for rounds, sir, nineteen cadets present, temperature fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit, sir.’
    The Still, now wavering between high and low, came nearer and stopped outside. Spink braced himself. The Night Rounds Party, a small cavalcade led by Isaiah Nine Smith carrying a lighted lantern, followed by Mr Froud with the Chief G.I. bringing up the rear, came into the chest flat.
    ‘This lantern doth the horned moon present,’ murmured Paul, under the blankets.
    Spink saluted.
    ‘Number one chest flat cleared for rounds, sir, fifty-five cadets present, temperature nineteen degrees Fahrenheit, sir.’
    ‘Oh blessed Bottom, thou art translated.’
    Paul’s silent laughter stopped when Mr Froud stood at the foot of his bed.
    ‘All right, Vincent. Up to the surface.’
    ‘Sir?’
    ‘Were you bathroom sweeper tonight?’
    ‘Sir.’
    ‘Turn out and swab the deck again and square off the basins.’
    ‘Sir.’
    The Night Rounds Party disappeared towards the other chest flats, their progress marked by the banshee wailing of Isaiah Nine Smith’s bosun’s call.
    Paul turned out. Five minutes later he was back again.
    ‘See what I mean,’ he whispered to Michael as he climbed back into bed.
     
    Their new life reacted on individual Beattys in markedly different ways. Those who had been first to preparatory and then to public schools found the transition easiest. They merely exchanged the petty tyrannies and traditional idiosyncrasies of their schools for those of the Navy. They were not mature enough to understand that the fads of a public school may be left behind with the school but those fads inculcated by the Navy could become lifetime habits. They did not feel the separation from their families keenly because they had been separated from their families for long periods before they joined the Navy. The lack of privacy did not trouble them because they had never known privacy except in the short holidays they had spent at home. Theirs was a simple transition from the semi-monastic existence of a public school to the semi-monastic existence of Dartmouth.
    Michael and Paul were among this group. Michael in particular found the adjustment to Dartmouth easy as though, as he said, it were a continuation of school. The Bodger regarded Michael Hobbes as almost the norm of the Beattys. He was still diffident but eager to do well. He was intelligent enough to do all that was asked of him but not intelligent enough to enquire into motives. Properly led and carefully taught, he would make a servant who would serve the Navy faithfully and according to its demands upon him as long as he was able. Since he had been at Dartmouth The Bodger had developed the knack of picking out boys who were ideal subjects for training, as a salesman learns to pick out a genuine customer. Michael Hobbes was, in The Bodger’s opinion, a genuine customer.
    Paul, on the other hand, adjusted himself to Dartmouth just as easily but was more critical of its motives. He appeared to the staff to be looking at the Navy with quizzical eyes. He was sure that he could make a success of it but he was