By the time I reached the Navy my love of steam preceded me, and I became the stoker for a rickety steam cutter inherited from the Maine. Pride wenteth before a fall; I put the slice bar through one of the cutter’s tubes — and lost my job in a hasty exit over the side.

He still enjoys a tumble with her now as much as when they were youngsters, his voice cracking and his lingam a sprout that seemed never to get soft.

This spot, chosen from the chart, had not been reconnoitred in peace time, and to have done so after the opening of hostilities would have attracted the attention of the Russians, who had a force only some eighteen miles distant at Pu-lan-tien, and another at Chin-chou about twenty-five miles from Yen-tai Bay.

Once there, he blushingly went through the procedure, having to fold and refold the flag about three times, to the twitterings and gigglings of twelve little girls.