opposite
direction young Mr. and Mrs. Trudgian could be seen just passing out
of sight, he supporting her with his arm, pausing every now and then,
bending over her uxoriously.

THE HONOUR OF THE SHIP.

I.

"'Erbert 'Enery Bates!"

"Wot cheer!"

It was the morning of Speech-day on board the Industrial Training
Ship _Egeria_--July the 31st, to be precise. At 3 p.m. Sir Felix
Felix-Williams, Baronet, would arrive to distribute the prizes.
He would be attended by a crowd of ladies and gentlemen; and the
speeches, delivered beneath an awning on the upper deck, would be
fully reported next day in the local newspapers. The weather was
propitious.

Just now (11 a.m.) some half a dozen of the elder boys, attired in
dirty white dungaree and barefooted, were engaged in swabbing out
what, in her sea-going days, had been the _Egeria's_ ward-room,
making ready to set out tables for an afternoon tea to follow the
ceremony. They were nominally under supervision of the ship's
Schoolmaster, who, however, had gone off to unpack a hamper of
flowers--the gift of an enthusiastic subscriber.

"Step this way, 'Erbert 'Enery Bates."

"You go to hell, Link Andrew!" But the boy stopped his work and faced
about, nevertheless.

"See this flag?" Link Andrew dived his long arms into a pile of
bunting that lay ready for decorating the tea-room. "Wot is it?"

"Union Jack o' course, you silly rotter!"

"Oh, you good, good boy! . . . Yes, dear lads," went on Link Andrew,
in a mimicking voice, "it is indeed the meet-your-flag of our 'oly
Motherland, and 'Erbert 'Enery Bates, our Good Conduck Medallist,
will now oblige by going down on his knees and kissing it. Else I'll
put an eye on him!"

Master Bates--"Good Conduct Bates"--stepped forward, with his fists
up. He was something of a sneak and a sucker-up, yet by no means a
coward. He advanced bravely enough, although he knew that Link
Andrew--the best boxer in the ship--was provoking him of set purpose.

The rest of the boys liked Link and disliked Bates; yet their sense
of fair play told them that Link was putting himself in the wrong;
and yet again, despite their natural eagerness to see a fight, they
wanted to save Link from what could but end in folly. He was playing
for a fall.

"Here comes Schoolmaster!" shouted one, at a venture.

At that moment, indeed, the Schoolmaster appeared in the doorway.

"What's this noise about?" he demanded. "You, Link Andrew?
I th