Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustration. See 41574-h.htm or 41574-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41574/41574-h/41574-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41574/41574-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See http://archive.org/details/amansman00hayiuoft Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). Small capitals were replaced with ALL CAPITALS. A MAN'S MAN by IAN HAY * * * * * =By Ian Hay= A SAFETY MATCH. With frontispiece. A MAN'S MAN. With frontispiece. THE RIGHT STUFF. With frontispiece. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK * * * * * A MAN'S MAN [Illustration: "O, HUGHIE, DID YOU?" (p. 376)] A MAN'S MAN by IAN HAY Author of "The Right Stuff" With Frontispiece by James Montgomery Flagg [Illustration] Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company The Riverside Press Cambridge Copyright, 1909, by William Blackwood and Sons Copyright, 1910, by Houghton Mifflin Company All Rights Reserved Published September 1910 TO T. B. _Partner_ (_after several collisions_). I should think you were more at home in a boat than a ballroom, Mr. Rudderford! _Little Bobbie Rudderford_ (_the famous Oxbridge coxswain_). Yes; and by Jove, I'd sooner steer eight men than one woman, any day!--_Punch._ CONTENTS BOOK ONE DEALS WITH A STUFF THAT WILL NOT ENDURE I. NAVAL MANOEUVRES 3 II. INTRODUCES THE HEROINE OF THIS NARRATIVE 22 III. JIMMY MARRABLE 28 IV. AN UNDERSTUDY 49 V. THE JOY OF BATTLE 61 BOOK TWO _FORTITER IN RE_ VI. KNIGHT-ERRANTRY _À LA MODE_ 81 VII. THE ALTERNATIVE ROUTE 112 VIII. A BENEFIT PERFORMANCE 130 IX. _LITERA SCRIPTA MANET_ 146 X. THE END OF AN ODYSSEY 157 BOOK THREE _SUAVITER IN MODO_ XI. SEALED ORDERS 179 XII. A CHANGE OF ATMOSPHERE 195 XIII. _VARIUM ET MUTABILE_ 223 XIV. BUSINESS ONLY 247 BOOK FOUR THE UNJUST STEWARD