e thus
saved.

"Jimmy Legs" called out the names, and the representatives of the
different messes took them. We heard Kennedy's name called, and a murmur
of sympathy spread around. "Poor chap," said one, "he would give the use
of his wounded arm for that letter."

"Yes," said another; "he has to suffer homesickness as well as pain, and
a letter from home would brace him up as nothing else could."

Every man took his treasures to a quiet place, a place apart, if such
could be found, to enjoy them alone. The few who got none--well! may I
never see such disappointed, sorrowful faces again.

The letters read and pondered over awhile, tongues began to be loosened,
and soon all over the ship was heard the buzz of conversation. Chums
told each other the little items of news that to them seemed the most
important things in the world. And after all had been told and retold,
the men gathered in groups and discussed their past months' experiences.

"Do you know," said Craven (a descendant of that famous line of naval
heroes, a seaman and member of Number Thirteen six-pounder gun's crew),
"I think we are wonderfully fortunate to come through this experience
as well as we have. Just think! We have been under fire five times, and
only one man has been injured. Why," he continued, and his hearers
nodded assent, "I used to have the most awful visions--thought I saw the
men lying round our gun in heaps, while fresh ones jumped to take the
places of the fallen."

"And they would," said messenger "Hop," who happened to be passing on
his way aft to deliver an order.

The "Yankee" had seen some spirited fighting, though most of her crew
had anticipated nothing more exciting than patrol duty.

Moreover, it was almost certain that we had not seen the end of active
service. At present, however, the crew settled down once more to the
monotony of ship life in port--which is about equivalent to garrison
duty for a soldier.

CHAPTER XVII.

IN GOD'S COUNTRY.

The "Yankee's" stay in Key West was marked by one of the most melancholy
incidents of the cruise. Thomas Clinton LeValley, one of the first of
the New York Naval Reserves to respond to the call for volunteers, died
from appendicitis in the hospital ashore, to which he had been removed
for treatment. "Tom," as he was familiarly called by his shipmates, was
on board the "Yankee" during the five engagements of that vessel, and
proved himself loyal and steadfast on every occasion.