u have a knack at keeping the fleet
so compact, that it is nearly a single battery."

"May I venture to ask, then, if it's your intention to go out, should
the news by the Active prove to be what you anticipate?"

Sir Gervaise cast a quick, distrustful glance at the other, anxious to
read the motive for the question, at the same time that he did not wish
to betray his own feelings; then he appeared to meditate on the answer.

"It is not quite agreeable to lie here, chafing our cables, with a
French squadron roving the channel," he said; "but I rather think it's
my duty to wait for orders from the Admiralty, under present
circumstances."

"Do you expect my lords will send you through the Straits of Dover, to
blockade the Frith?"

"If they do, Bluewater, I shall hope for your company. I trust, a
night's rest has given you different views of what ought to be a
seaman's duty, when his country is at open war with her ancient and most
powerful enemies."

"It is the prerogative of the _crown_ to declare war, Oakes. No one but
a _lawful_ sovereign can make a _lawful_ war."

"Ay, here come your cursed distinctions about _de jure_ and _de facto_,
again. By the way, Dick, you are something of a scholar--can you tell me
what is understood by calling a man a _nullus_?"

Admiral Bluewater, who had taken his usual lolling attitude in the most
comfortable chair he could find, while his more mercurial friend kept
pacing the room, now raised his head in surprise, following the quick
motions of the other, with his eyes, as if he doubted whether he had
rightly heard the question.

"It's plain English, is it not?--or plain _Latin_, if you will--what is
meant by calling a man a _nullus_?" repeated Sir Gervaise, observing the
other's manner.

"The Latin is _plain_ enough, certainly," returned Bluewater, smiling;
"you surely do not mean _nullus, nulla, nullum_?"

"Exactly that--you've hit it to a gender.--_Nullus_, nulla, nullum_.
No _man_, no _woman_, no _thing_. Masculine, feminine, neuter."

"I never heard the saying. If ever used, it must be some silly play on
sounds, and mean a numskull--or, perhaps, a fling at a fellow's
position, by saying he is a 'nobody.' Who the deuce has been calling
another a _nullus_, in the presence of the commander-in-chief of the
southern squadron?"

"Sir Wycherly Wychecombe--our unfortunate host, here: the poor man who
is on his death-bed, on this very floor."

Again Bluewater raised his head