and marines of all ranks and ratings, and bound for fifty
different ships, were mustered, given their dinners and marshalled into
the "Navy Special" that would take them on their journey.

Mouldy Jakes deposited his bags and rug strap on the platform and
surveyed the scene with mournful pride. "Good old Navy!" he observed
to the India-rubber Man, while Thorogood went in search of food. "Good
old firm! Father and mother and ticket collector and supplier of
ham-sandwiches to us all. Who wouldn't sell his little farm and go to
sea?"

Standish picked up his suit-case and together they made for the
adjoining platform, where the train that was to take them on their
journey was waiting.

They selected a carriage and were presently joined by Thorogood,
burdened with eatables and soda water. The bluejackets were already in
their carriages, and the remaining officers, to the number of about a
score, were settling down in their compartments. They represented all
ranks of the British Navy; a Captain and two Commanders were joined by
the Naval Attache of a great neutral Power on his way to visit the
Fleet. An Engineer Commander and a Naval Instructor shared a luncheon
basket with a Sub-Lieutenant and a volunteer Surgeon. Two Clerks, a
Midshipman and a Torpedo Gunner found themselves thrown together, and
at the last moment a Chaplain added himself to their company.

The last door closed and the King's Messenger, carrying his despatch
case, came limping along the platform in company with the grey-bearded
Commander in charge of the base. The King's Messenger climbed into his
carriage and the journey was resumed. Along the shores of jade-tinted
lochs, through far-stretching deer forest and grouse moor, past
brawling rivers of "snow-brew," and along the flanks of shale-strewn
hills, the "Navy Special" bore its freight of sailor-men.

No corridor connected the carriages to afford opportunities for an
interchange of visits for gossip and change of companionship. The
occupants of each compartment settled down grimly to endure the
monotony of the last stage of their journey according to the dictates
of their several temperaments.

The King's Messenger, in the seclusion of his reserved compartment,
read a novel at intervals and looked out of the window for familiar
landmarks that recalled spells of leave in pre-war days, when he
tramped on two feet through the heather behind the dogs, or, thigh deep
in some river, sent a si