Thus the examination proceeded, until the hour came for us to hand in our papers; the lot of us then filing before the presiding genii seated behind the green baize table at the end of the wardroom, and each giving up his roll of spoilt foolscap in turn as he came up abreast of the reverend trio. I was nearly the last of the file; and, as I approached the table, the chaplain occupying the middle seat looked up. He had a jolly, round, benevolent sort of face, which wore at the moment such a good-humoured expression that, I suppose, it became reflected on mine causing me to smile. "Hullo, my boy!" said he, smiling, too. "You seem in a very happy frame of mind, I'm sure. Answered all your questions right, eh?" "I'm afraid not all, sir," I replied diffidently; "but I hope for the best." "That's right, youngster! There's no good to be got by despairing over things, and remember, you can have another try, you know, if you fail now," said he encouragingly. "`Never say die,' you know, as an old friend of mine used always to say, `care once killed a cat!'" "Why, sir," I exclaimed at this, "that's what my father always tells me. It's his favourite expression when any difficulty arises. He never gives in, sir!" "Indeed!" said the fat gentleman, while the others on either side of him looked interested. "Who is your father, my boy, if you'll excuse my asking you the question?" "Francis Vernon," I answered promptly. "A captain in the Royal Navy, now on half-pay, sir." The fat clergyman laughed at my laconic reply. "Vernon, ha!" he repeated after me. "I wonder if he is the Frank Vernon I once knew?" "Can't say, sir," said I, cautiously. "My mother, though, always calls him `Frank.'" My new friend laughed again. "Ah, I'm sure he is the same, if only from your manner, which is just like what I remember in the Frank Vernon who was in the _Pelican_ with me," said he, looking at me all over with his twinkling round eyes. "Was your father ever up the Mediterranean with old Charley Napier, my boy?" "Oh yes, sir," I replied, glib enough now. "It was Admiral Napier who gave me my nomination the other day, sir." "Really, you don't say so?" "I do, though, sir," I said sturdily, thinking he doubted my assertion. "Dad and I met him in Pall Mall, and I got my nomination from the Admiralty, sir, the very next morning as he promised!" "All right, my boy, all right," he observed in an absent way, turning to whisper to the two other gentlemen something, I think, about "old Charley," and "must be passed for my old shipmate's sake."--"I quite believe what you say: I do not doubt your word for an instant; for Frank Vernon's son, I am sure, could not but always speak the truth. Did your father come down with you for your examination?" "Yes, sir," I answered. "He and my mother came with me; and we're all staying at the old `Keppel's Head Hotel,' on Hardway, sir."