arter-deck had
naturally excited a great deal of observation. The midshipman who had
come with him could, of course, furnish no information, and beyond the
brief fact mentioned by the captain and repeated by the first
lieutenant, his new conductor could say no more.

"Just wait," the midshipman said, "till he's got into his new clothes
and looks presentable. He's in my charge, and I am to make him
comfortable. As he has been put on the quarter-deck by Sir Hyde
himself you may be sure he has done something out of the way."

In a few minutes Harry was rigged out in full midshipman's dress, and
being a very good-looking and gentlemanly lad, his appearance
favorably impressed his new messmates, who had at first been disposed
to resent the intrusion among themselves of a youngster whose
appearance was at least the reverse of reputable.

"Now," said one of the passed mates, "this meeting will resolve itself
into a committee. Let everyone who can, sit down; and let those who
can't, stand quiet. I am the president of the court. Now, prisoner at
the bar," he said, "what is your name?"

"Harry Langley."

"And how came you here?"

"I was brought in the captain's gig."

"No equivocation, prisoner. I mean what brought you onto the
quarter-deck?"

"I had the good luck," Harry said, "to prevent a very important
dispatch falling into the hands of the French."

"The deuce you had!" the president said; "and how was that? That is to
say," he said, "if there's no secret about it?"

"None at all," Harry said, "the matter was very simple;" and for the
second time that morning he told the story.

When he had done there was a general exclamation of approval among
those present, and the midshipmen crowded round him, shaking his hand,
patting him on the back, and declaring that he was a trump.

"The prisoner is acquitted," the president said, "and is received as a
worthy member of this noble body. Boy!"

"Yes, sir."

"Go to the purser and ask him to send in two bottles of rum for this
honorable mess to drink the health of a new comrade."

Presently the boy returned.

"The purser says, sir, who is going to pay for the rum?"

There was a roar of laughter among the middies, for the master's mate,
who had acted as president, was notoriously in the purser's books to
the full amount of his credit. However, a midshipman, who happened
that morning to have received a remittance, undertook to stand the
liquor to the mess, and Harry'