ng ought to smack of, had long marked him out as the
ideal ruler of the King's Navy, and his name was soon known and feared
wherever the seagull dips its wing. Underneath the breezy exterior
lay an iron will, like a precipitate in a tonic for neurasthenia, and
scarcely had he boarded the famous building in Whitehall and mounted his
quarter-deck (Naval terms are always used at the Admiralty, the windows
being called "port-holes" and the staircases the "companion") than
victory began to crown the arms of the Senior Service.

But peace no less than war finds an outlet for the energies of the old
sea-dog, and the veriest hint of a railway strike finds him ready
with flotillas of motor lorries in commission and himself in his flag
char-a-banc, aptly named the Queen of Eryx, at their head. Lever,
marlin-spike or steering wheel, it is all one to the brain which can
co-ordinate squadrons as easily as rolling-stock, to the man who is now
sometimes known as the Stormy Petrol of the Cabinet. Yet even so the
sailor is strongest in him still. It is not generally known that Sir
ERIC has already cocked his weather eye at our inland waterways as an
auxiliary line of defence in case of need. Experience has taught him
that it is even now quicker to travel, let us say, from Boston (Lincs.)
to Wolverhampton, by river and canal than by rail, and the future may
yet see Thames, Trent and Severn churned to foam by motor barges of
incredible rapidity, distributing the nation's food supplies.

This is one of the things that the Ministry of Transport has, so to say,
up its sleeve, and is alone a sufficient answer to those who suggest
that this Ministry has outlived its hour. There is a grim Norse spirit
amongst its officials, inspired perhaps by their chieftain's name, and
already the plans for a first-class Pullman galley are under way. As
LONGFELLOW sings:--

"Never saw the wild North Sea
Such a gallant company
Sail its billows blue;
Never, while they cruised and quarrelled,
Old King Gorm or Blue Tooth Harold,
Owned a ship so well apparelled,
Boasted such a crew."

K.

* * * * *

"Mr. P. G. H. Fender, the Surrey cricket captain who has gone
out with the M.C.C. team to Australia, is preparing a book on
the tour, for which he has chosen the title of 'Defending the
Ashes.'"--_Weekly Paper._

Quite the proper function for a FENDER.

* * * *