"Ah, Tom, I am glad to see you," replied the patient, as he extended his thin hand, which the boatswain eagerly seized, though he handled it as tenderly as a bashful youth does the hand of the maiden he loves. "It does my eyes good to look upon you, Tom." "Jack, I've been dying to see you. They told me you were in a bad way, and might slip your cable any moment." "I have not expected to live, until a week ago." "God bless you, Jack! I was never so happy in my life;" and the boatswain actually wept,--great, strong, weather-stained veteran as he was, who had breasted the storms of four and thirty years on the ocean. "I know how you feel, Tom." "So you may, Jack,--I beg pardon, Mr.--" "Call me Jack, now," interposed Somers, with a faint smile; "it sounds like old times. You have been the making of me, Tom, and we won't stand on ceremony, as long as we are not on board the ship." The boatswain still held the attenuated hand of his sick friend, and they talked of the past and of the present; of the battle, and of the subsequent events in the bay. But Tom Longstone seemed to be thinking all the time of something else. "What have you got on, Tom?" asked Somers, as he noticed a "foul anchor" on his shoulder, and a band of gold lace on his sleeve. "What have I got on? Why, I always wear my colors, of course," replied Tom, with a smile of the deepest satisfaction. "But those are not the colors of a boatswain in the United States Navy." "That's a fact, Jack. I'm not a boatswain, just now." "Indeed!" "I'm an acting ensign." "Is it possible?" exclaimed Somers, not less pleased than the veteran. "It's a fact, my darling; but before we spin any more yarns, here's a document for you. Shall I open it?" continued Tom, as he took from his breast pocket a huge official envelope, whose appearance was entirely familiar to Somers. "If you please." It was directed to "Lieutenant John Somers;" and the superscription sufficiently indicated the nature of its contents. "God bless the admiral!" said Somers. "God bless the admiral!" repeated Tom, glancing reverently upward as he spoke. The commission was dated before the news of the battle in Mobile Bay could have reached Washington. It followed the reception of the despatches concerning the capture of the Ben Lomond; and Tom Longstone had been made an acting ensign, though he still retained his warrant as a boatswain, for his conduct in the same affair. "I congratulate you, Tom, on this promotion," said Somers. "Thank you, Jack; and I congratulate you as Lieutenant Somers. You are a 'regular,' but I'm only an 'acting,'" replied the veteran. "When the war's over, I shall be a boatswain again." "I am more rejoiced for you than for myself, Tom." "Just like you, Jack. If I made you, I'm sure you made me. I got my rating as boatswain's mate in the Rosalie through you, and then I was made a boatswain for what I did with you. Now I'm an ensign by your doings. I suppose you think I'm not up to it, Jack."