one."

"Humph!" growled the old Admiral. "D'you think he never saw a boy
before, eh, Vernon? I'm sure there's a lump too many of the young
rascals knocking about already!"

Dad smiled at the quizzical look and sly wink with which this inquiry
was accompanied, the Admiral twisting his head on one side as he spoke
and looking just like a crested cockatoo!

"No, Sir Charles, not exactly," he replied, putting his arm round my
neck caressingly. "However, for all that, even so great a man as Mr
Secretary might not know as good a boy as my son, Jack, here!"

I tell you what, I did feel proud when Dad said that, though I could not
help flushing up like a girl, and had to hold down my head to hide it.

"Yes, yes, quite right, Vernon, quite right, the sentiment does you
honour, and him. I'm sure, though, I meant no offence to the little
chap," said the rough, old sea-dog hastily, afraid of having hurt our
feelings. "But, all the same, I don't see what you want to show him to
that Jack-in-office for? By George, the sight of his ugly phiz can't do
any good to the youngster!"

"No, sir, possibly not, though I'm told he isn't such a bad-looking
fellow," answered Dad, laughing again at the Admiral's determination to
get to the bottom of the matter. "The truth, sir, is I want to get this
youngster nominated for a naval cadetship before he oversteps the age
limit. The boy is dying to follow in my footsteps; but, though I have
tried to dissuade him from it as much as I can, and the idea of his
going to sea makes his poor mother shudder, still, seeing that he seems
bent upon it, neither she nor I wish to thwart his inclination."

"Whee-ugh!" whistled the other through his teeth as he proceeded to take
three or four enormous pinches of snuff in rapid succession from his
waistcoat pocket and losing half of each pinch ere it reached his nose,
the Admiral generously scattering it over the lapels of his coat and
shirt front on the way. "Why the deuce didn't you tell me all that
before, my dear Vernon, instead of backing and filling like a Dutch
galliot beating to win'ard?"

"I--I--" hesitated my father, who had refrained from telling him before
because he hated asking a favour of anyone whom he regarded in the light
of a friend. "I--I--didn't like to trouble you, sir."

"Bosh, Vernon! You know well enough it's never a trouble to me to do
anything for an old shipmate," said the old fellow, heartily, and,
putting his hand on