of an old sailor. "I can see that you have
both got the right stuff in you. When one fellow saves another's life, and
that fellow runs away and ships in order to be near his friend, you may be
sure that there is plenty of good stuff in them, and that they will turn
out a credit to His Majesty's service."

They were a week on board before the cutter finished her trip at Whitby.
Both boys had done their best to acquire knowledge, and had learnt the
names of the ropes and their uses by the time they got to port.

"You need not go on board the depot ship until to-morrow," the lieutenant
said. "I will go across with you myself. I have had my eye upon you ever
since you came on board, and I have seen that you have been trying hard to
learn, and have always been ready to give a pull on a rope when necessary.
I have no fear of your getting on. It is a pity we don't get more lads of
your type in the navy."

On the following morning the lieutenant took them on board the depot and
put them under the charge of the boatswain. "You will have to mix with a
roughish crew here," the latter said, "but everything will go smoothly
enough when you once join your ship. You had better hand over your kits to
me to keep for you, otherwise there won't be much left at the end of the
first night; and if you like I will let you stow yourselves away at night
in the bitts forward. It is not cold, and I will throw a bit of old
sail-cloth over you; you will be better there than down with the others,
where the air is almost thick enough to cut."

"Thank you very much, sir; we should prefer that. We have both been
accustomed to sleep at night in the bottom of an open boat, so it will
come natural enough to us. Are there any more boys on board?"

"No, you are the only ones. We get more boys down in the west, but up here
very few ship."

They went below together. "Dimchurch," the boatswain said to a tall
sailor-like man, "these boys have just joined. I wish you would keep an
eye on them, and prevent anyone from bullying them. I know that you are a
pressed man, and that we have no right to expect anything of you until you
have joined your ship, but I can see that for all that you are a true
British sailor, and I trust to you to look after these boys."

"All right, mate!" the sailor said. "I will take the nippers under my
charge, and see that no one meddles with them. I know what I had to go
through when I first went to sea, and am glad enough to do a