"Well, well--so it may be to some: I found no difficulty, however. But listen till I tell you the fun. They thought they had got another Armstrong to deal with, I suppose; for one of the old fellows, looking as wise as Solomon, and as pompous as the grand Mogul, turned his eyes full on me, and began. I felt mine inclined to take a peep at my shoe-buckles; but, mustering all my courage, I raised them, stared straight in his face, clenched my teeth, drew my heels together, thus, and stood firm. "'Well, Sir!' said old-wig, 'hitherto you have answered well.'--This was encouraging. 'Now,' he continued, 'suppose yourself on a lee shore, under a heavy press of sail, the wind blowing such a gale that, in short, it is impossible to save the ship, what, Sir, would you do?' "'Why, let her go ashore and be d----d!' I replied. Then, thinking I had been too rough, I added, with a bow, that I should never take the liberty of saving a ship which his lordship judged it impossible to save. He smiled, and said I had a fine bold spirit, just fit for a brave British tar! So I sailed out of port with flying colours, but no pennant, faith: I heard nothing of my commission. "After all," he continued, "what is the use of passing, when, if a man has not the devil and all of Scotch interest, and all that stuff, he don't know when he'll get made; but may, in all probability, be a _youngster_ at _forty_! a middy in the cockpit, when he is as grey as a badger! There's a fellow aboard of us now, who jumped over three times,--no less,--to save boys who fell over the ship's side, and couldn't swim; (he swims like a fish himself;) but he's not Scotch! Well, the captain wrote word to the Admiralty; and what reward do you think they gave him? Why, employed one of their sneaking under _scratchatories_ to write an official line and a half, importing, that 'their lordships were pleased to approve of his conduct.'" "You may depend upon it," replied Ormond, to whom Bullen chiefly addressed himself, "that his name is marked for promotion, as soon as a convenient opportunity offers." "Convenient!" interrupted Bullen: "it would be devilish convenient to me, I know, to be made just now." "And in the meantime," continued Ormond, "what can be more gratifying than the approbation of the respectable heads of the department, under which he serves his country?" "I think," said our hero, whose opinions, like himself, were young, and therefore unsophisticated, "the lords of the admiralty do but justice to the motives of British officers, when they deem approbation the first of rewards! I mean, of course, in a public sense; considering their lordships, in pronouncing that approbation, as the organs, not only of government, but also of the nation, on naval affairs; of which they are constituted the judges." "Besides," said Ormond, "you forget how many men, in the British navy, have risen to the highest rank, without any interest whatever, entirely in consequence of meritorious conduct."