they do
their duty like men in that line; but when it comes to work, why, they
ain't in it with a jack-tar. I do believe I could pull a couple of them
over a line."

"I dare say you could, Dimchurch, but you must remember that you are much
stronger than an ordinary seaman."

"Well, sir, I grant I am stronger than usual, but I should be ashamed of
myself if I could not tackle two of them soldiers."

"Yes, but don't forget they have been cooped up on board a ship for a
month, with nothing to keep them in health, and certainly no exercise,
while you are constantly doing hard work. If you were to put these men
into sailors' clothes, and give them sailors' work for six months, they
would be just as strong and useful."

"Well, sir, if they are that sort of men why do they go and enlist in the
army instead of becoming sailors. It stands to reason that it is because
they know that they cannot do work."

"Why, Dimchurch, I have heard that in the great towns girls think as much
of soldiers as of sailors."

"Well, that shows how little they know about them. In a seaport, what girl
would look at a soldier if she were pretty enough to get a sailor for a
sweetheart."

"You are a prejudiced beggar," Will laughed, "and it is of no use arguing
with you. If you had gone as a soldier instead of taking to the sea you
would think just the other way."

On the next morning the march was renewed, and in the evening they reached
the fort. They had had several severe skirmishes during the day, losing
eight killed and twenty-two wounded, but the garrison, consisting of three
hundred, surrendered without further resistance as soon as the place was
surrounded, and the sailors then rejoined their ships.

"Well, I am mighty glad I am back on board," Dimchurch said to Will the
evening they re-embarked. "This marching, and chopping trees, and being
shot at from ambushes, doesn't suit me. There is nothing manly or
straightforward about it. Hand to hand and cutlass to cutlass is what I
call a man's work."

"That is all very well, Dimchurch, but though you may capture ships you
will never get possession of islands or colonies in that way. If you want
them you must land and fight for them."

"Yes, sir, that is all very good, but it seems to me that the hard work of
making batteries and mounting guns falls on the sailor, while the soldier
gets all the credit. It is not our admiral who sends the despatches, it is
the general. He may speak a fe