ut I find myself stranded, and so have
to turn to the old business again."

"Oh, that's it," said the manager, with suspicion in his eye. "How long
were you in your last billet?"

"Fifty-one years."

"What!"

"Yes, sir, one-and-fifty years."

"In the same employ?"

"Yes."

"Why, you must have begun as a child."

"I was twelve when I joined."

"It must be a strangely managed business," said the manager, "which
allows men to leave it who have served for fifty years, and who are
still as good as ever. Who did you serve?"

"The Queen. Heaven bless her!"

"Oh, you were in the Royal Navy. What rating did you hold?"

"I am Admiral of the Fleet."

The manager started, and sprang down from his high stool.

"My name is Admiral Hay Denver. There is my card. And here are the
records of my service. I don't, you understand, want to push another man
from his billet; but if you should chance to have a berth open, I should
be very glad of it. I know the navigation from the Cod Banks right up to
Montreal a great deal better than I know the streets of London."

The astonished manager glanced over the blue papers which his visitor
had handed him. "Won't you take a chair, Admiral?" said he.

"Thank you! But I should be obliged if you would drop my title now. I
told you because you asked me, but I've left the quarter-deck, and I am
plain Mr. Hay Denver now."

"May I ask," said the manager, "are you the same Denver who commanded at
one time on the North American station?"

"I did."

"Then it was you who got one of our boats, the Comus, off the rocks
in the Bay of Fundy? The directors voted you three hundred guineas as
salvage, and you refused them."

"It was an offer which should not have been made," said the Admiral
sternly.

"Well, it reflects credit upon you that you should think so. If Mr.
Henry were here I am sure that he would arrange this matter for you at
once. As it is, I shall lay it before the directors to-day, and I am
sure that they will be proud to have you in our employment, and, I hope,
in some more suitable position than that which you suggest."

"I am very much obliged to you, sir," said the Admiral, and started off
again, well pleased, upon his homeward journey.

CHAPTER XV. STILL AMONG SHOALS.

Next day brought the Admiral a cheque for L5,000 from Mr. McAdam, and
a stamped agreement by which he made over his pension papers to the
speculative investor. It was not until he had signed