going on well."

"And poor Murray?" said Jack.

"He'll be all right--a bullet clean through the chest. That's nothing to
a young fellow like him."

"Well, stay and dine," said Jack.

"Willing, sir. What a glorious day we've had! But I can assure you,
Captain Mackenzie, I'd rather have had my head above the hatches, now
and then, anyhow."

"Be content," said Jack, laughing; "it might have been blown off, you
know."

CHAPTER XIV.

MUTINY.

"To be a hero, stand or fall,
Depends upon the man;
Let all then in their duty stand,
Each point of duty weigh,
Remembering those can best command
Who best know to obey."--DIBDIN.

It is terrible to think and to remember that about this time our country
was in the greatest danger of being conquered and lost through mutiny.
Of all evils that can befall a navy this is surely the worst.

There was a mutinous spirit in the fleet of Sir John Jervis after the
battle of St. Vincent, which the gallant knight used all his endeavours
to quell. He was a brave and most energetic officer, and not only did he
have the good of his country at heart, but he spared no effort to render
those who served under him happy and comfortable. I do not refer to the
officers only, but to the men as well. One would not be far wrong in
saying that he knew almost every man in the fleet. He loved his people,
and liked to have them happy, going among them, and even suggesting
games and amusements. Those were the days of tossing cans, and of
Saturday nights at sea, and the drinking of the healths of wives and
sweethearts. So long as the men kept sober, Jervis rather liked this,
and was never better pleased than when, on the last evening of the week,
he heard the voices of the men raised in song, or the squeaking of the
merry fiddle and gleesome flute.

But Sir John would have discipline, etiquette, and dress.

Jack Mackenzie was never more honoured nor pleased than when he and
M'Hearty were asked to dine with the admiral on board the flagship, the
_Victory_. Sir John was jovial, nay, even jolly. Jack was shy, but he
had to talk, and much to his own surprise soon found himself as much at
home in the admiral's society as he would have been in that of his own
father.

As for M'Hearty, nothing put that good fellow out, and at the admiral's
request he gave a very graphic account indeed of his doings in the
cockpit on the day of the battle. Sir John laughed hearti