nt in a way. The only
really efficient government in the world is the one which we intend to
pull down, or else go down ourselves, trying to!

Can't you imagine, in the dim Valhalla beyond, how the archer of
Pharaoh, the swordsman from the plains before Troy, and the Roman
legionary will greet the hurrying souls of the aviator, the
bomb-thrower, and the bayonet-man with, "Brother, what were you?"

I'd hate to have to explain to their uncomprehending ears what a
conscientious objector is!

DECEMBER 2.

[Sidenote: Assuming command.]

Well, to-day is one of the big days of my life, for I assumed command of
this little packet. I put on my sword and fixings and reported to
Captain Paine, who was most benevolent. Several of us went on shore to
celebrate with a little dinner. Some of the boys just over joined in,
and we became involved with some Highland officers of a fighting
regiment famous throughout Europe for the last three hundred years.
One's first ship, like the first baby is an event that cannot be
duplicated.

DECEMBER 21.

[Sidenote: A jammed rudder leaves the destroyer unmanageable.]

I needed your letter, being about twenty years older than I was a week
ago. No, no harm done. Just had my first experience of what it means
under certain circumstances to be in command. Went out with certain
others on a certain job. All went well, though we had a poor grade of
oil in our bunkers and were burning more than we should ordinarily.
Then, through certain chances, we had to go farther than expected.
Still, I figured to get back with a moderate margin, when the gale
struck us. You may have read of Biscay storms; well, believe me, they
are not over-rated. I have seen just as bad, perhaps, but not from the
deck of a destroyer. And while I am frantically calculating whether I
shall have enough fuel to make port or not, there is a wild yell from
the bridge that the rudder is jammed at hard-a-starboard and can't be
moved. She, of course, at once fell off into the trough of the sea, and
the big green combers swept clear over her at every roll, raising merry
hob. All the boats were smashed to kindling-wood; chests, and everything
on deck not riveted down, went over the side. In that sea you could no
more manoeuvre by your engines alone than you could dam Niagara with a
handful of sand. A man alongside of me aft, where we were working on the
steering-gear, was swept overboard, but, having a line around his waist,
was h