, we must make
the best of a bad case. Some weeks may pass before the ship is ready
for sea, and perhaps before that time you will have got tired of me."

Julia gave a melancholy smile, as she looked up in her husband's face.
"I am jealous of Lucy," she said after some time; "I suppose the
Admiralty will not also be appointing Commander Adair to a ship."

"I am not so certain of that," said Jack; "I know that they talk of
sending out several to put a stop to the kidnapping system which has of
late prevailed in the Pacific, as also to keep some of the black and
brown island-chiefs in order, and they may fix on Adair as likely as on
anyone else."

"Poor Lucy!" said Julia; "I am sure I don't really wish her to share my
fate."

This conversation took place at Colonel Giffard's, where Jack and his
bride were staying. The very next day he got a letter from Adair, who
with Lucy was at Southsea, saying that he had been appointed to the
_Eolus_, to proceed forthwith to the Pacific station.

"Lucy behaves capitally, like a sailor's wife, and says she knows I
ought to go--though it is a cruel affair to us both. However, Jack, I
know that you will compassionate us, and that your wife will do her best
to comfort her when I am away. I tell her that I have hopes of coming
back in a couple of years, as I will try at the end of that time to get
superseded, which, with the help of the admiral, I hope I may succeed in
doing."

"Poor Lucy!" said Julia, "we must support each other; but when we
married, I little thought such would be our fate."

Jack, of course, took his wife down to Southsea, as, fortunately for
him, the _Dragon_ was fitting out at Portsmouth, as was also the
_Eolus_. The young ladies, having got over their first sensations of
grief when they met, wisely determined to make the most of their
husbands during the time they remained with them. The _Eolus_ was
almost ready for sea, and sailed about a fortnight after Adair had
commissioned her. Curiously enough, Desmond had been previously
appointed to her; so he once more accompanied his uncle.

The _Dragon_ was not ready till the week afterwards. Jack was glad to
get Jos Green as master, with Mr Mildmay as his first lieutenant. His
brother Tom, who had been taking a spell on shore, was appointed to her,
and, just before she sailed, Archie Gordon joined her. Dick Needham,
though eligible for a much higher rate, had joined as gunner, with Mr
Large, who had bee