See here first take a little polish on the finger and rub into the leather. Then spit. and rub.' - boasts one recruit of his boot polishing skills. sadly the only reward this gets him is thirty pairs of shoes to shine. This is only one of the hilarious episodes in Carl Muller's continuation of the von Bloss family saga. Carloboy von Bloss is back now a robust young man of eighteen spending four eventful years in the one-ship Royal Ceylon Navy. Carloboy and his fellow recruits get up to the weirdest capers painting their boots black posing as Italian ghosts planning to wink at.