without Sark-blewing. Such a wonderfully
thin-skinned lot they are! Did I ever tell you the story of our
boatswain's mate? But that takes a better sailing breeze than I've got
now. You see where we are, don't you?"

"Certainly, Admiral," replied Captain Stubbard, disdaining to lay hand
to his injured side, painfully as it yearned for pressure; "we have had
a long pull, and we get a fine outlook over the country for leagues, and
the Channel. How close at hand everything looks! I suppose we shall have
rain, and we want it. I could thump that old castle among the trees into
smash, and your church looks as if I could put a shot with a rifle-gun
into the bell-chamber."

"And so you could. What I want to show you is that very point, and
the importance of it. With a battery of long twenty-fours up here, the
landing, the bay, and all the roads are at our mercy. My dear old friend
Nelson drew my attention to it."

"It is plain as a pikestaff to Tom, Dick, or Harry:" Captain Stubbard
was a frank, straightforward man, and much as he owed to the Admiral's
aid, not a farthing would he pay in flattery. "But why should we want to
command this spot? There is nothing to protect but a few common houses,
and some half-score of fishing-craft, and a schooner that trades to
London, and yonder old church, and--oh yes, to be sure, your own house
and property, Admiral."

"Those must take their chance, like others. I hope I know better than to
think of them in comparison with the good of the country. But if we fail
to occupy this important post, the enemy might take us by surprise, and
do so."

"Possible, but most improbable. This little place lies, by the trend of
the coast, quite out of their course from Boulogne to London; and what
is there here to tempt them? No rich town to sack, no great commerce to
rob, no valuable shipping to lay hands on."

"No; but there's my house and my two girls; and I don't want my old
roof burned, and my daughters put to wait on Boney. But to think of
self-interest is below contempt, with our country going through such
trials. Neither should we add any needless expense to a treasury already
overburdened."

"Certainly not. It would be absolutely wicked. We have a long and costly
war before us, and not a shilling should be spent except in case of
clear necessity."

"I am very glad indeed to find your opinion so decided, so untainted
with petty self-interest." As Admiral Darling spoke he closed a little
si