The choice of play and exercise is very varied, but no one is allowed to “loaf.” Every cadet must do what is called a “log,” and the manner in which he has spent his recreation time is duly entered against his name each day. The “log” in question may consist of a game of cricket, a two-mile row on the river, two hours’ practice at the nets followed by the swimming of sixty yards in the baths, or a set of tennis or fives. Any cadet who cannot swim must learn without delay. The bath, eight feet deep at one end and three feet at the other, is thirty yards long. It is opened at 6 p.m., and there is always a large attendance. A spring board for diving is provided, as well as various ropes suspended six feet above the water by means of which the more agile spirits swing themselves along, as monkeys swing from tree to tree. All exercise is purposely strenuous, for the four years’ preparation is a test of physical as much as of mental strength, and every year some boys are “chucked,” to their bitter disappointment, because they cannot attain to the standard of physical fitness indispensable for the work they, as naval officers, would be expected to perform. Defective eyesight is one of the commonest causes of rejection, for it is obvious that full normal vision is essential for the Navy. On the river there is the choice of two kinds of boat—five-oared gigs and skiffs. A long and muddy creek, known as Mill Creek, branches off from the river just above the College. Great trees overhang its banks on either side and, if one cares to risk disobedience to orders, a very pleasant way of passing an afternoon is to tie up one’s boat in the shade and settle down with a book and some smuggled cigarettes. But it is well to remember that the tide here is very treacherous. Once I saw three cadets marooned on a mud-bank quite forty yards from the water’s edge. At 6.30 every one must be within the College buildings, and by a quarter to 7 all cadets must have shifted into proper uniform and be ready for tea. At 7.30 there is “prep.,” which lasts till 8.30, when the “cease fire” bugle sounds. Then the band plays on the quarter-deck, and there is dancing till 9, after which every one “falls in” for five minutes’ prayer. Then the terms double away to their dormitories. At 9.30 the Commander goes “rounds,” and every one must be in bed. As soon as he has passed lights are put out and the day is over. CHAPTER II MANŒUVRES THIS summer term of 1914, destined surely to be the most momentous in the whole history of the College, nevertheless pursued its normal course until July 18, on which date began the great test mobilisation of the “Fleet in being,” to which we had all been eagerly looking forward for some weeks.