now he talks of
going to sea again.

"Aye, aye, Walker, that's the only way out of it. When I first heard of
it I was thrown up in the wind with all aback. I give you my word that
I lost my bearings more completely than ever since I strapped a middy's
dirk to my belt. You see, friend, I know something of shipwreck or
battle or whatever may come upon the waters, but the shoals in the City
of London on which my poor boy has struck are clean beyond me. Pearson
had been my pilot there, and now I know him to be a rogue. But I've
taken my bearings now, and I see my course right before me."

"What then, Admiral?"

"Oh, I have one or two little plans. I'll have some news for the boy.
Why, hang it, Walker man, I may be a bit stiff in the joints, but you'll
be my witness that I can do my twelve miles under the three hours. What
then? My eyes are as good as ever except just for the newspaper. My head
is clear. I'm three-and-sixty, but I'm as good a man as ever I was--too
good a man to lie up for another ten years. I'd be the better for a
smack of the salt water again, and a whiff of the breeze. Tut, mother,
it's not a four years' cruise this time. I'll be back every month or
two. It's no more than if I went for a visit in the country." He was
talking boisterously, and heaping his sea-boots and sextants back into
his chest.

"And you really think, my dear friend, of hoisting your pennant again?"

"My pennant, Walker? No, no. Her Majesty, God bless her, has too many
young men to need an old hulk like me. I should be plain Mr. Hay Denver,
of the merchant service. I daresay that I might find some owner who
would give me a chance as second or third officer. It will be strange to
me to feel the rails of the bridge under my fingers once more."

"Tut! tut! this will never do, this will never do, Admiral!" The Doctor
sat down by Mrs. Hay Denver and patted her hand in token of friendly
sympathy. "We must wait until your son has had it out with all these
people, and then we shall know what damage is done, and how best to set
it right. It will be time enough then to begin to muster our resources
to meet it."

"Our resources!" The Admiral laughed. "There's the pension. I'm afraid,
Walker, that our resources won't need much mustering."

"Oh, come, there are some which you may not have thought of. For
example, Admiral, I had always intended that my girl should have five
thousand from me when she married. Of course your boy's trouble is