een as an
officer; but you see, if you had been in my place up you would have
gone."

The wind fell in the afternoon, and the cutter dropped her anchor as the
tide was running against her. At night Jack Stilwell and the others
who had accepted their fate slept with the troops on board instead of
returning to rejoin their companions in the hold. Jack was extremely
glad of the change, as there was air and ventilation, whereas in the
hold the atmosphere had been close and oppressive. He was the more glad
next morning when he found that the wind, which had sprung up soon after
midnight, was freshening fast, and was, as one of the sailors said,
likely to blow hard before long. The cutter was already beginning to
feel the effect of the rising sea, and toward the afternoon was pitching
in a lively way and taking the sea over her bows.

"You seem to enjoy it, young un," the sergeant said as Jack, holding
on by a shroud, was facing the wind regardless of the showers of spray
which flew over him. "Half our company are down with seasickness, and as
for those chaps down in the fore hold they must be having a bad time of
it, for I can hear them groaning and cursing through the bulkhead. The
hatchway has been battened down for the last three hours."

"I enjoy it," Jack said; "whenever I got a holiday at Southampton I used
to go out sailing. I knew most of the fishermen there; they were always
ready to take me with them as an extra hand. When do you think we shall
get to Dover?"

"She is walking along fast," the sergeant said; "we shall be there
tomorrow morning. We might be there before, but the sailors say that the
skipper is not likely to run in before daylight, and before it gets dark
he will shorten sail so as not to get there before."

The wind increased until it was blowing a gale; but the cutter was a
good sea boat, and being in light trim made good weather of it. However,
even Jack was pleased when he felt a sudden change in the motion of the
vessel, and knew that she was running into Dover harbor.

Morning was just breaking, and the hatchways being removed the sergeant
shouted down to the pressed men that they could come on deck. It was a
miserable body of men who crawled up in answer to the summons, utterly
worn out and exhausted with the seasickness, the closeness of the air,
and the tossing and buffeting of the last eighteen hours; many had
scarce strength to climb the ladder.

All the spirit and indignation had b