"We've got no stairs on board ship.

They're either `companion-ways' or `ladders,' up one of which we'll go now, if you like!" So saying, he led the way on deck as he had down below, taking them all into the ward-room under the poop, where they now saw various relics of the hero, besides letters and orders in his writing, which were framed and hung round the cabin like pictures.
Bob, whose calligraphy was none of the clearest or most legible, had the benefit of a little moral lesson here from his father, who seemed to take a mean advantage of the fact of Nelson writing so well with his left hand after he lost his right; but Master Bob evaded the issue very well by saying that "when he was similarly circumstanced," he would try and write as well, too! "Bravo!" cried the Captain, as they left the ship, going down the "accommodation-ladder," which, as he was careful to tell Nellie, was not a staircase either, although outside the ship.

Then, turning to her father he added, chuckling-- "That boy of yours, Strong, is a regular chip of the old block, and a credit to your country!" They had a laugh at this, of course; and, then, on Mrs Gilmour suggesting their taking advantage of the high tide to visit Porchester Castle, as the harbour looked its best, the watermen in charge of their wherry were directed to row up stream towards the creek on the northern side, where the old fortress, embowered in trees, nestled under the shelter of the Portsdown hills, a monolith of past grandeur and present decay!.