r a good friend to them.

He now sleeps his last sleep in the churchyard of Catherington, where he
lies safe at anchor, hard by the dwelling where he lived when in the
flesh.

Here his tomb may be seen by the curious under the shelter of the early
Norman church, dedicated to Saint Catherine, from which circumstance the
village takes its name.

It is a fine old building, this church, dating back to the time of the
Crusades, when heroes as gallant as Admiral Sir Charles Napier besieged
Sidon and captured Acre--like as he himself did some eight centuries
later, long prior to his unsuccessful mission to the Baltic, the
somewhat inglorious termination of which, unfortunately, clouded his
naval reputation and ended his career afloat!

CHAPTER THREE.

I GET NOMINATED FOR A NAVAL CADETSHIP.

"`Sharp's the word and quick the motion,' eh, Jack?" said my father,
using his favourite phrase, when the post next morning brought him a
letter from the Admiralty in an oblong blue envelope, inscribed "On Her
Majesty's Service," in big letters, stating that I had been nominated to
a cadetship in the Royal Navy. "I knew old Charley would be as good as
his word!"

"Hurrah!" I shouted, throwing my cap in the air, and forgetting all
about a long-promised visit to the Zoological Gardens for which we were
just starting, "Now I shall be able to go to sea at last!"

Dad seemed to share my enthusiasm; but my mother, I recollect well, ay,
as if it had occurred but yesterday, put her arms round me and cried as
if her heart would break.

Presently, when she had somewhat regained her composure, Dad, comforting
her with the assurance that she was not going to lose me all at once, it
not being probable that I would be drowned or slain or otherwise
immolated on the altar of my country immediately on entering the navy,
which appeared to be her first conviction, we all began talking the
matter over; and then Dad proceeded to read over again the official
communication he had received, commenting on the same as he went over
it.

"Hullo, Jack!" he observed, on reaching the end of the formal document,
"those red-tape chaps a' Whitehall haven't given you much time to
prepare for your examination!"

The mention of this damped my ardour a bit, I can tell you!

"Oh, I quite forgot that!" I exclaimed lugubriously. "When have I got
to go up for exam., Dad?"

"The `first Wednesday in August,' my boy--so says this letter at all
events."

"Go