married as soon as his next trip was over; and
on this particular evening he intended to stroll through the lanes and
see his sweetheart, who was a farmer's daughter. A fine southerly breeze
was blowing, and a little fishing smack crossed the bar and ran up the
harbour, lying hard over with press of sail. The Veteran had the
curiosity to wait until the little craft had brought up, and he watched
the dingy come ashore with two men aboard. He was very much surprised
to hear one of the men mention his name; so he turned to ask what was
wanted. The fisherman handed him a dirty letter, and on opening it the
Veteran found that it was from one of the able seamen aboard the barque.
The writer briefly told the circumstances, and then added that there
would be no delivery from the guard ship for four days. Within two hours
the smack was beating away to the southward with the Veteran in her. He
had bidden his sweetheart good-bye, telling her quietly that they could
not be married for a long time; but she did not know then how very long
it would be.

The Veteran helped to work the smack round to the Humber, and it is
probable that his thoughts during the trip were not cheerful. He had
asked a friend to take charge of his sloop, and had rapidly
countermanded all the preparations that were being made for his
marriage. On arriving at Hull the Veteran went at once on board the
guardship, and was shown into the commander's cabin. His business was
soon over, and a sergeant of marines took him down to the wretched
cockpit, where he found his father lying with cloths about his head. The
lad said quite simply, "I want you to go ashore, father, and look after
the girl until I come back; I have volunteered in your stead." The old
man would have liked to argue the point; but he knew that his son would
not give way, and so he submitted.

Long afterwards the Veteran used to tell us that that was one of the
best moments of his life, although his heart had been so heavy at going
away from home. So the young sailor joined the "Minotaur" and fought at
the Nile. He was many years at sea; and before he got back to the town
he had risen to be sailing-master of a forty-four. When he came to be
married, all the little vessels in the harbour made themselves gay with
their colours, and the church bells were rung for him as though he had
been a great personage.

He lived long enough for his brief story to be forgotten; and only the
clergyman and the squ