e. "We were well to the s'uth'ard."

"A slight stumble in good diction there, Mr. Forsythe," muttered the
listening Denman. "Otherwise, very well carried out."

But the deluded tank skipper made no strictures on Forsythe's diction;
and, while the pleasant conversation was going on, the two lines of hose
were passed, and the receipt for oil and water sent up to the steamer.

In a short time the tanks were filled, the hose hauled back, and the
starting bells run in both engine rooms.

The destroyer was first to gather way; and, as her stern drew abreast of
the tanker's bridge, the skipper lifted his cap to Florrie and Denman,
and called out: "Good afternoon, captain, I'm very glad that I was able
to accommodate you."

To which Denman, with all hands looking expectantly at him, only replied
with a bow--as became a dignified commander with two well-trained
officers on his bridge to attend to the work.

The boat circled around, headed northwest, and went on at full speed
until, not only the tanker, but every other craft in view, had sunk
beneath the horizon. Then the engines were stopped, and the signal yard
sent down.

"Back in the pocket again," said Denman to Florrie. "What on earth can
they be driving at?"

"And why," she answered, with another query, "did they go to all that
trouble to be so polite and nice, when, as you say, they are fully
committed to piracy, and robbed the other vessels by force?"

"This seems to show," he said, "the master hand of Jenkins, who is a
natural-born gentleman, as against the work of Forsythe, who is a
natural-born brute."

"Yet he is a high-school graduate."

"And Jenkins is a passed seaman apprentice."

"What is that?"

"One who enters the navy at about fifteen or sixteen to serve until he
is twenty-one, then to leave the navy or reenlist. They seldom reenlist,
for they are trained, tutored, and disciplined into good workmen, to
whom shore life offers better opportunities. Those who do reenlist have
raised the standard of the navy sailor to the highest in the world; but
those that don't are a sad loss to the navy. Jenkins reenlisted. So did
Forsythe."

"But do you think the training and tutoring that Jenkins received equal
to an education like Forsythe's--or yours?"

"They learn more facts," answered Denman. "The training makes a man of a
bad boy, and a gentleman of a good one. What a ghastly pity that,
because of conservatism and politics, all this splendid material