take! Off with you, then; and may God keep you
safe!" 10

The words were hardly spoken when the boy, thrusting
the dispatch into his mouth, plunged headlong into the
roaring sea. And then for fifteen fierce minutes all was
one scene of fire and tumult and slaughter.

Many a time in that terrible quarter of an hour did the 15
weary men strain their bloodshot eyes, and strain them in
vain, to catch a glimpse of English colors breaking through
the smoke. "If help is to come at all, it must come soon,"
said more than one worn-out sailor.

Suddenly the admiral's grim face brightened with a 20
light never seen there before, and he drew a long, deep
breath like one shaking off a heavy burden. At the same
moment there broke out a fresh thunder of guns on the
right, and through the smoke burst the flag of England,
sweeping all before it like mists scattered by the rising sun. 25

The battle was won, and the few Dutch vessels that had
escaped were disappearing in the dimness of night when the
admiral and his remaining officers gathered on the quarter-deck
to do honor to the little hero. He stood in their
presence with a boyish smile upon his face; but when Sir 30
John held out a well-filled purse, the boy turned his head
proudly away.

"Your honor, I did not do this job for money," said he
firmly. "I did it for the sake of the flag and because you
have been good to me. If you say you are satisfied, that
is all I want."

The listening crew, forgetting all restraint, broke into a 5
deafening cheer; and the admiral's iron face softened
strangely as he laid his blackened hand on the bare white
shoulder: "God bless you, my brave lad! I shall live to
see you on a quarter-deck of your own yet."

Thirty years later, when Queen Anne's greatest admiral, 10
Sir Cloudesley Shovel, sailed up the Thames in triumph,
the first to greet him as he stepped ashore was an old white-haired
man who still retained traces of the fire and energy
that had once distinguished "Gunpowder Jack."

"Welcome home, my lad!" said he, heartily. "I said 15
I'd live to see you on a quarter-deck of your own; and,
thank God, I _have_ lived to see you there!"

1. What other sea fights have you read about? Make
a list o