d Period in
Britannula, and because I may so describe the kind of opposition
which was shown by the expression of those sentiments on which
Lieutenant Crosstrees depended. I do not at this minute doubt but
that Crasweller would have been deposited had not the John Bright
appeared. Whether Barnes and Tallowax would have followed peaceably,
may be doubted. They, however, are not men of great weight in
Britannula, and the officers of the law might possibly have
constrained them to have followed the example which Crasweller had
set. But I do confess that I doubt whether I should have been able
to proceed to carry out the arrangements for the final departure of
Crasweller. Looking forward, I could see Eva kneeling at my feet,
and could acknowledge the invincible strength of that weakness to
which Crosstrees had alluded. A godlike heroism would have been
demanded,--a heroism which must have submitted to have been called
brutal,--and of such I knew myself not to be the owner. Had
the British Parliament ordered the three-months-old baby to be
slaughtered, I was not the man to slaughter it, even though I were
the sworn servant of the British Parliament. Upon the whole, I was
glad that the John Bright had come into our waters, and had taken
me away on its return to England. It was a way out of my immediate
trouble against which I was able to expostulate, and to show with
some truth on my side that I was an injured man. All this I am
willing to admit in the form of a tale, which I have adopted for my
present work, and for which I may hope to obtain some popularity
in England. Once on shore there, I shall go to work on a volume of
altogether a different nature, and endeavour to be argumentative and
statistical, as I have here been fanciful, though true to details.

During the whole course of my journey to England, Captain Battleax
never said a word to me about the Fixed Period. He was no doubt
a gallant officer, and possessed of all necessary gifts for the
management of a 250-ton steam swivel-gun; but he seemed to me to be
somewhat heavy. He never even in conversation alluded to Britannula,
and spoke always of the dockyard at Devonport as though I had been
familiar with its every corner. He was very particular about his
clothes, and I was told by Lieutenant Crosstrees on the first day
that he would resent it as a bitter offence had I come down to dinner
without a white cravat. "He's right, you know; those things do tell,"
Crosstr