er hitherto, it seemed desirable to possess a good one, if
only to please Captain Knowlton.

'A bit mischievous,' he continued, 'and rather headstrong. Inclined to
act too much on the impulse of the moment. It is time you set to work in
earnest, you know, Jack. You will have to look sharp if you wish to go
to Sandhurst.'

'That is just what I should like!' I cried, with a great deal of
excitement.

'That is all right then. You are quite old enough to understand things.
I feel certain your father would have liked you to enter the army. Now,'
he added, 'I am afraid you will have to spend the next holidays at
Castlemore. I have one or two engagements which cannot very well be put
off, and unfortunately there is nobody in the world who can be said to
belong to you.'

I looked up abruptly.

'Well?' he asked.

'Oh--nothing!' I muttered.

'Come, out with it, Jack!'

'There is you,' I said; and he leaned forward, resting a hand on my
knee.

'Quite right,' he answered. 'I want you to feel you have me. Understand,
Jack?'

'Yes,' I cried, and suddenly I seemed to realise what a bad thing it
would be if I had not Captain Knowlton to depend upon.

The next day I returned to Ascot House, naturally disappointed at the
prospect of spending the holiday at school. The other fellows all went
home at the end of March, and about a week later I was surprised when
Elsie Windlesham, the eldest of the five girls, told me that Captain
Knowlton was waiting in the drawing-room. But my satisfaction faded when
he explained that he was going abroad for some months, and that he had
come to say good-bye. 'The fact is I have not been up to the mark,' he
continued, 'so I have bought a small steam yacht.'

'What is her name?' I interrupted.

'The _Seagull_--a jolly little craft, and I hope to make a voyage round
the world in her. I shall get back again before the summer holidays, and
then we will have a good time together. I have had a chat with Mr.
Windlesham,' said Captain Knowlton, 'and told him to keep you well
supplied with pocket-money and so forth. You will be a good chap,' he
added, 'and work hard for Sandhurst.'

As he would probably be absent on my fifteenth birthday, he had brought
a silver watch and chain, which certainly went some way towards
consoling me for his departure. So I said good-bye to Captain Knowlton,
little dreaming of what was destined to occur to both of us in the near
future.

For now events began to happ