glory. D----e, Dick, if I think so much of your
Plantagenets, after all!"

"And yet the name of Oakes is to be met with among their bravest
knights, and most faithful followers."

"The Oakes, like the pines, have been timbers in every ship that has
floated," returned the vice-admiral, half-unconscious himself, of the
pun he was making.

For more than a minute Sir Gervaise continued his walk, his head a
little inclined forward, like a man who pondered deeply on some matter
of interest. Then, suddenly stopping, he turned towards his friend, whom
he regarded for near another minute, ere he resumed the discourse.

"I wish I could fairly get you to exercise your excellent reason on this
matter, Dick," he said, after the pause; "then I should be certain of
having secured you on the side of liberty."

Admiral Bluewater merely shook his head, but he continued silent, as if
he deemed discussion altogether supererogatory. During this pause, a
gentle tap at the door announced a visiter; and, at the request to
enter, Atwood made his appearance. He held in his hand a large package,
which bore on the envelope the usual stamp that indicated it was sent on
public service.

"I beg pardon, Sir Gervaise," commenced the secretary, who always
proceeded at once to business, when business was to be done; "but His
Majesty's service will not admit of delay. This packet has just come to
hand, by the arrival of an express, which left the admiralty only
yesterday noon."

"And how the devil did he know where to find me!" exclaimed the
vice-admiral, holding out a hand to receive the communication.

"It is all owing to this young lieutenant's forethought in following up
the Jacobite intelligence to a market-town. The courier was bound to
Falmouth, as fast as post-horses could carry him, when he heard,
luckily, that the fleet lay at anchor, under Wychecombe Head; and, quite
as luckily, he is an officer who had the intelligence to know that you
would sooner get the despatches, if he turned aside, and came hither by
land, than if he went on to Falmouth, got aboard the sloop that was to
sail with him, for the Bay of Biscay, and came round here by water."

Sir Gervaise smiled at this sally, which was one in keeping with all
Atwood's feelings; for the secretary had matured a system of expresses,
which, to his great mortification, his patron laughed at, and the
admiralty entirely overlooked. No time was lost, however, in the way of
business; the