vice, he is an object of envy by all his comrades;
but, for once, I do not think anyone on board would care to undertake
your mission."

"Why, sir, your little midshipman is delighted at going with me. He and
I have been chatting the matter over, and he is in the highest glee."

"Ah! He has only got the first chance of being shot at," Captain Peters
said. "That comes in the line of duty, and I hope there isn't an
officer on board a ship but would volunteer, at once, for that service.
But your real danger only begins when his ends.

"By the way," he asked, as, after dinner was over, he was walking up
and down the quarterdeck, talking to James, "have you and Lieutenant
Horton met before? I thought you seemed to know each other when I came
up, but, since then I have noticed that, while all the other officers
of the ship have been chatting with you, he has kept aloof."

"We knew each other at home, sir," James said, "but we were never very
good friends. Our acquaintanceship commenced, when we were boys, with a
fight. I got the best of it, and Horton has never, I think, quite
forgiven me."

"I don't like the young fellow," Captain Peters said shortly. "I know
he was not popular in the Thetis, and they say he showed the white
feather out in the East. I wouldn't have had him on board, but the
first lord asked me, as a personal favour, to take him. I have had no
reason to complain of him, since he joined, but I know that he is no
more popular, among my other officers, than he was in the Thetis."

"I never heard a word against him, sir," James said earnestly. "His
uncle, Mr. Linthorne, has large estates near Sidmouth, and has been the
kindest friend to me and mine. At one time, it was thought that Horton
would be his heir, but a granddaughter, who had for years been missing,
was found; but still Horton will take, I should think, a considerable
slice of the property, and it would grieve the squire, terribly, if
Horton failed in his career. I think it's only a fault of manners, sir,
if I may say so, and certainly I myself know nothing whatever against
him."

"I don't know," Captain Peters replied thoughtfully. "Just before I
sailed, I happened to meet an old friend, and over our dinner I
mentioned the names of my officers. He told me he knew this Mr.
Linthorne well, and that Horton had gone to sea with him for the first
time as a midshipman, and that there was certainly something queer
about him as a boy, for Linthorne had