ou, my
good man. Are you sure you put in twenty-three? Steady! so, so--that's
beautiful."

"What a noisy thing! What does it come here for? I never saw it fall.
There must be some mistake. I hope there's nothing nasty inside it. Run
for your life, Faith; it means to burst, I do believe."

"Down on your faces!" cried a loud, stern voice; and Dolly obeyed in
an instant. But Faith stood calmly, and said to the man who rushed past
her, "I trust in the Lord, sir."

There was no time to answer. The shell had left off rolling, and
sputtered more fiercely as the fuse thickened. The man laid hold of
this, and tried to pull it out, but could not, and jumped with both feet
on it; while Faith, who quite expected to be blown to pieces, said to
herself, "What pretty boots he has!"

"A fine bit of gunnery!" said the young man, stooping over it, after
treading the last spark into the springy sand. "The little artillery man
is wanted here. Ladies, you may safely stay here now. They will not make
two hits in proximity to each other."

"You shall not go," said Faith, as he was hurrying away, "until we know
who has been so reckless of his life, to save the lives of others. Both
your hands are burned--very seriously, I fear."

"And your clothes, sir," cried Dolly, running up in hot terror, as soon
as the danger was over; "your clothes are spoiled sadly. Oh, how good
it was of you! And the whole fault was mine--or at least Captain
Stubbard's. He will never dare to face me again, I should hope."

"Young ladies, if I have been of any service to you," said the stranger,
with a smile at their excitement, "I beg you to be silent to the Captain
Stubbard concerning my share in this occasion. He would not be gratified
by the interest I feel in his beautiful little bombardments, especially
that of fair ladies. Ha, there goes another shell! They will make better
aim now; but you must not delay. I beseech you to hasten home, if you
would do me kindness."

The fair daughters of the Admiral had enjoyed enough of warfare to last
them till the end of their honeymoon, and they could not reject the
entreaty of a man who had risked his life to save them. Trembling and
bewildered, they made off at the quickest step permitted by maiden
dignity, with one or two kindly turns of neck, to show that he was
meant to follow them. But another sulphurous cloud rushed down from the
indefatigable Stubbard, and when it had passed them, they looked back
vainly for