ry clicked to attention as they passed, and
opened a door in the after bulkhead. They crossed the fore cabin
extending the whole beam of the ship, and entered the after cabin.

Unlike other cabins on the main deck, this was lit by scuttles in the
ship's side, and right aft, big armoured doors opened on to the stern
walk. It lacked conspicuously the adornments usually associated with the
Captain's apartment. Bare corticene covered the deck; the walls of white
enamelled steel were unadorned save for a big scale chart of the North
Sea and a coloured map of the Western Front. A few framed photographs
stood on the big roll-topped desk in one corner, and a bowl of purple
heather occupied the flat mahogany top to the tiled stove where an
electric radiator glowed. A bundle of singlesticks and a pair of foils
stood in the corner near an open bookcase; a padded "chesterfield" and a
few chairs completed the austere furnishing of the cabin.

The Captain was standing before a deal table supported by trestles, which
occupied the deck space beneath the open skylight. On the table, amid
the litter of glue-pots, cardboard, thread and varnish, stood a model of
a Super-Dreadnought. He turned at the entry of the Commander and his
companion, laying down a pair of scissors.

"Good morning, Standish," he said. "Glad to see you again. I won't
offer to shake hands--mine are covered with glue." He smiled in the
whimsical humorous way that always went straight to another man's heart.
"We're all returning to our second childhood up here, you see!" He
indicated the model. "This is my device for keeping out of mischief.
When finished I hope it will fill a similar role for the benefit of my
son, Cornelius James."

Standish examined the model with interest and delight.

"What a ripping bit of work, sir," he said. It was, indeed, a triumph of
patient ingenuity and craftmanship.

"It's an improvement on wood-carving," was the reply. "All working
parts, you see." The Captain set in motion some internal mechanism, and
the turret guns trained slowly on to the beam. He pressed a button.
"Electric bow and steaming lights!" His voice had a ring of almost
boyish enthusiasm, and he picked up a tangle of threads from the table.
"But this fore-derrick purchase is the devil, though. All last evening I
was on the sheaves of one of the double blocks--maddening work. Hornby's
designing a hydraulic lift to the engine-room; column of water conce