nd deal in all seriousness and silence with such fare as it has pleased the Messman to provide. In harbour, those favoured of the

is nigh, that speech is pardonable, and is then usually confined to observation

stion. It was thus designed to give the main-deck gun a larger arc of fire, but had other advantages-affording a glimpse ahead of

tched during stand-easy in the forenoon. A cigar was a satisfying enough smoke after dinner when one's finances permitted it; but while the day of infinite possibili

d of smoke and gave a sigh of contentment. He had kept the Middle Watch. From midnight till four that morning he had been on the bridge, moving between the faint glow of the binnacle and the chart-house, busy

nd was even then a hundred and fifty miles from her destination. But very early in the morning a tired-ey

egan a Midshipman, reading f

rthquakes-who won the Test Match?" Which, when you consider the m

lane-" resum

" interrupted some one,

Flying Corps?" chimed in a third. "Wh

passed since he first learned that in Gunroom communities to stop speaking on

more account than cricket or aeroplanes, for this was War, their trade in theory, and, perchance-and the Fates

a blow delivered in hate-the hate that strikes to kill. Yet a queer light smouldered in

I bet he's in it!" He removed his glasses, as he always did in moments of excitement, and blinked short-sightedly in the morning sunlight. He came of a figh

he stopped abruptly; the wind caught the sheet and whisked i

led high in the air and settled into the water astern. A sh

ood-morni

the dog-watches in flannels on the forecastle, shepherding a section of his flock with the aid of boxing-gloves. "Discussing the affairs of your betters, and

a voice; then, mimicking the grumbling whine of a discontented Ordinary Se

against the rim of the white-washed spitkid, and rose one by one to their feet, straightening their caps. In a minute the sponson was deserte

his head to where, far astern, a gull was circli

ed the Chapl

. The other, thrice blessed in the knowledge of how much sympathy unmans, and how much strengthens to endure, la

the lucky one, sir." He adjusted his glasses thoughtfully, and went below