up the leading M.L. and was answered with an alacrity that evidently
unnerved it, for it flickered and died out. Suddenly it came to life
again and winked away at an alarming rate, but all to no purpose, for,
true to the old axiom that more haste means less speed, it had to stop
and go over the message again, this time sufficiently slow for novices
to understand. What it said is a State secret. It is rumoured, however,
that several officers were "mentioned in dispatches" for the part they
played in this local action, caused by mistaken identity, but alas!
their skill and bravery remained unrewarded by an unsympathetic
Government.

CHAPTER XV

A MEMORABLE CHRISTMAS

NO calling tempers the human steel in so short a period as that of the
sea. At all times and in every part of the world the sailorman wages a
never-ending fight with Nature in her wildest and most dreaded modes.
When to this is added a conflict of nations and their ships, with all
the ingenious death-traps of modern naval science, it merely increases
the odds against him and serves to steady his hand and brain in order to
overcome them.

In a few short weeks the sea had set its stamp on the men of the new
navy. Faces became bronzed by the sun, wind and spindrift. Muscles grew
hard and eyes and nerves more steady. Each time a vessel went forth on
patrol or other duty new difficulties or dangers were met and overcome
without advice or assistance, and the confidence of men in themselves
and in the ships they worked grew apace.

In many of the principal zones of war, such as the North Sea and the
Atlantic, the wind grew colder and the seas more fierce as the short
summer passed. Duffel or Arctic clothing was served out to both officers
and men. Sea-boots and oilskins became necessary. Balaclava helmets,
mufflers and other woollen gear appeared, and men became almost
unrecognisable bundles of clothing. The ascent at 4 A.M. from the cabin
to the cold, wet deck can be likened only to the first plunge of a cold
bathing season. Casualties became more frequent as the enemy intensified
his submarine and mining campaign. The news and sight of sudden death no
longer blanched the faces of men who knew that it might be their turn at
any moment of every day and night. The stir of suppressed excitement
when danger threatened no longer manifested itself in every movement,
but rather in the cool, deliberate action of self-confidence. In a word,
the raw material w