urse," he said,
"that's all rot. We're only too grateful to--to Science for trying to
invent a new gadget.... Only, you see, sir, in the meanwhile, _until_
you hit on it we feel we aren't doing so badly--er--just carrying on."

CHAPTER VIII

"ARMA VIRUMQUE ..."

The Flagship's Wardroom and the smoking-room beyond were packed to
suffocation by a dense throng of officers. The Flagship was "At-Home"
to the Fleet that afternoon on the occasion of the Junior Officers'
Boxing Tournament which was being held onboard, and a lull in the
proceedings had been the signal for a general move below in quest for
tea.

Hosts and guests were gathered round the long table, standing in pairs
or small groups, and talking with extraordinary gusto. Opportunities
of intercourse between ships are rare in War-time. Save for an
occasional visitor to lunch or dinner, or a haphazard meeting on the
golf-links, each ship or flotilla dwelt a little community apart. On
occasions such as this, however, the vast Fleet came together; Light
Cruiser met Destroyer with a sidelong jerk of the head and a "Hullo,
Old Thing..." that spanned the years at a single leap; Submarine
laughed across the room at Seaplane-carrier; Mine-sweeper and
Mine-layer shared a plate of sandwiches with a couple of Sloops and
discussed the boxing; but they were no more than a leavening amid the
throng of "big-ship folk" who reckoned horse-power by the half hundred
thousand and spoke of guns in terms of the 15-inch.

Almost every rank of Naval officer was represented, from Commander to
Sub-Lieutenant and their equivalent ranks in other branches; yet the
vast majority shared a curious resemblance. It was elusive and quite
apart from the affinity of race. The high physical standard demanded
of each on entry, the athletic training of their early years, the stern
rigour of life afloat, perhaps accounted for it. But in many of the
tanned, clean-shaven faces there was something more definite than that;
a strain that might have been transmitted by the symbolic Mother of the
Race, clear-eyed and straight of limb, who still sits and watches
beneath stern calm brows the heritage of her sons.

A few there were among the gathering with more than youth's unwisdom
marring mouth and brow; eyes tired with seeing over-much looked out
here and there from the face of Youth. Yet amid the wholesome, virile
cheerfulness of that assembly they were but transient impressions,
lingerin