"Mr. Standish, what do you do in action?" he asked presently. "Nothing," was the reply. "I just put my fingers in my ears and shut my eyes--I'm the officer of the after turret. But when it's all over I put on overalls and crawl about the works on my stomach and get a dirty face with the best of them. A wit once defined a turret as a bundle of tricks done up in armour." "Is it thick armour?" asked Betty. "They tell me it is--fellows on board who pretend to know everything. But I suspect that to be a mere ruse to get me to stay inside it." Joe sighed. "I _do_ envy you," he said. "Everyone seems to have something to do, 'cept me. Even Betty here----" The Indiarubber Man turned his head sharply. "Why, what----" Betty turned pink. "I'm going to nurse--on the East Coast. My old school has been turned into a hospital. And the other day Miss Dacre--she was the principal, you know, and she is nursing there now--wrote to mother and said they would take me." "But," said the Indiarubber Man, "d'you think you could stick it--hacking off fellows' legs, and that sort of thing? Blessed if I could do it." "Oh, yes," was the calm reply. "I passed all my exams, a long time ago--in fact, I've been working down here at this hospital for the last six months. We learned a good deal at school, you see. Home nursing, and so on." "Did you, by Jove! Simple dishes for the sick-room and spica bandages, and all the rest of it?" Betty laughed. "Oh, yes, all that." The Indiarubber Man glanced at her small, capable hands, and from them to the dainty profile beside him. "Well," he said, "if I get bent by an eight-inch shell I shall know where to come." Betty laughed again; "I should have to look that up in a book, then, before I nursed you. It might mean complications!" "It might," replied the Indiarubber Man. From the town below, where here and there a window went suddenly aflare with the reflection of the sunset-light, there drifted up to them the faint, clear call of a bugle. Another took it up along the front, and yet another. The Indiarubber Man raised his head abruptly. "That's the recall!" he said, and turned towards the ships. "Yes, they've hoisted the Blue Peter. I wonder--the boats are coming in, too." "Does that mean you must go at once?" He nodded soberly. "I'm afraid so," and held out his hand. "Good-bye." "Hallo!" said Joe. "I say, you're not off, are you? What's up?" "That's what I'm going to find out," was the reply. "I believe it's another of their dodges to lure me inside my turret. Good-bye, Miss Betty. Don't forget to read up the book of the words--in case of complications. . . . Good-bye!" The Indiarubber Man departed down one of the steep paths that led to the lower road and the landing-place. The brother and sister turned and walked slowly back to the house.