n the course of a week the whole
crew was laid up; and as to the staff, little Bertram and I were the
only officers able to appear on deck. Moreover, my eyes were in a state.
You see what they say now. The captain was the first to die; the same
evening five sailors followed suit, and seven the next day; the day
after the first lieutenant and two of the noncommissioned officers. The
like was never seen before."

Daniel turned to his neighbor.

"Who is that officer?" he asked.

"Lieut. Dutac of 'The Valorous,' just returned from Cochin China."

Light broke upon Daniel's mind; it was a painful light.

"When did 'The Valorous' come in?" he asked again.

"Six days ago she made the harbor of Brest."

The other man went on,--

"And thus, you see, we left a goodly portion of our crew out there.
That is a campaign! As to my own notions, this is what I think,--a nasty
country, a wretched climate, a people fit for the gallows."

"Certainly," said the young man in citizen's dress, "things are not
pleasant in Cochin China."

"Ah, but still"--

"What if you were ordered back?"

"I would go, of course. Somebody must go, you know, and carry
reinforcements there; but I should not care if somebody else"--

He shrugged his shoulders, and said stoically,--

"And besides, since we navy men must be eaten by the fish some time or
other, it does not matter very much when that takes place."

Was not that, in a trivial, but terribly impressive manner, precisely
the same thing that Daniel had been told by his captain? People do not
resign when they face the enemy.

It was very evident that the officers who were there assembled doubted
his courage, and were discussing the fact when he entered. It was clear
that they attributed his resignation to fear.

At this idea, that he might be suspected of cowardice, Daniel trembled
all over. What could he do to prove that he was not a coward? Should he
challenge every one of these men, and fight one, two, ten duels? Would
that prove that he had not shrunk from the unknown perils of a new
country, from the dangers of an armed invasion, and a fatal climate? No;
unless he was willing to remain a marked man for life, he must go;
yes, go, since out there dangers awaited him of which he was held to be
afraid.

He went up, therefore, to the old lieutenant, and said, in a voice loud
enough to be heard by every one in the room,--

"My good comrade, I had just been ordered to the place you com