He felt himself grasped and held strongly by hands from above, and then slowly hauled upward. He saw the whole boat lifted on a giant sea and then swept wildly against the ship’s steel side. A crash of splintered wood. Then all was darkness. Phil opened his eyes in his own room, with Sydney and Marshall bending over him and a doctor binding up a cut over his temple. Two or three times he attempted to speak, to find out the worst. He knew that the life of every man sacrificed was caused by his impulse. He had given the order to lower the boat directly contrary to the stated instructions of the officer of the deck. He had not the courage to ask of the fate of his men. He had seen the boat go to pieces with his own eyes, surely some of the crew had been drowned. He could not stand the suspense a moment longer. He must know all. It would be better than this uncertainty. “Syd, tell me what happened?” he whispered hoarsely. “All were saved,” Sydney answered. “We abandoned the boat, of course. You were struck by a splinter as you were being hauled on board. You are the biggest man on this ship to-night, Phil.” The joyful news made the overwrought boy tremble. He turned his face away to hide his emotion. Greatly strengthened by the happy tidings, he put on dry clothes and, despite Sydney’s offer to stand the remainder of his watch, made his way to the bridge to report his return to Lazar. It seemed an age since he had responded to that terrifying cry, but the clock told him it had been but scarce a half hour ago. What would Lazar say? Would not success wipe away the guilt of disobedience? What was the loss of a boat compared to the loss of a human life? With a cheerful ring in his voice he reported his return to duty. “I was struck by a piece of the boat, sir,” he offered in excuse for his tardiness. The ship had been on her course for nearly ten minutes. Lazar turned on him fiercely. His even white teeth gleamed under his black moustache. “You can thank Providence, Mr. Perry, that you are alive this moment.” His voice rose in anger. “A midshipman who cannot obey orders is a menace to the safety of those under him. That you were not all drowned was due to me, sir. I saved you by putting the ship between your boat and the seas, and hauling you aboard like so much cargo.” Then in a voice cold and passionless: “I have received the captain’s authority, Mr. Perry, to place you under arrest for wilfully disobeying my order. You will go to your room, sir.” Phil turned away without a word. CHAPTER III THE TRACK MEET “Brace up and don’t pull such a long face, Phil,” Sydney was saying in their room after breakfast the next morning. “You are the boast of the ship, and the captain will not be severe with you. You disobeyed orders, of course, but so did Admiral Nelson at the battle of the Nile, and yet he was promoted for his action because he ‘made good’----”