When we got on board we were asked our names, and then the Captain informed me he had orders to take Browne instead of me; so I returned to the _Fauvette_ and told him he was to take my place. No sooner had I lost this billet than, with human cussedness, I began to regret it. After all, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” and the job would have been quite a good one. However, my discontent was short-lived, for I soon found that, after all, my luck was “in.” That afternoon I was leaning over the stanchions looking at the shipping in the harbour, and wondering what fate might have in store for me, when the Lieutenant-Commander of the T.B.s and the Captain of the _Fauvette_ came along the deck and stopped close to where I was standing, and I heard the former say that he intended—if he could get the Admiral’s permission—to take one of the rescued midshipmen to act as second in command of his torpedo-boat. I pricked up my ears at that, and, a few minutes later, when Captain—— had gone below, I summoned up all my courage (call it cheek, if you like), and, regardless of the snub I was undoubtedly asking for, I went boldly up to the Lieutenant-Commander and told him I had overheard what he had said, and asked him if he would not take me if he could, as I was most awfully keen to serve on a T.B. He was frightfully kind, and did not seem a bit annoyed or surprised, nor did he hand me the snubbing I had invited; but he explained that, although at the moment the job I coveted was pleasant enough and not too strenuous, it was likely to be a very stiff service later on, and he asked if I really felt I should be equal to it. Of course I declared that I felt perfectly fit and equal to anything, and would do my level best if only I could get the billet; so then he said he would ask for me. As soon as he had left me I dashed below to tell the others of the glorious luck which might be in store for me. Next morning Lieutenant-Commander—— came aboard again, and to my intense delight told me I was duly appointed to his T.B. and could join that afternoon! Further, he invited me there and then to go off with him and have a look round the boat. I found it a very different proposition to the big ship to which I had been accustomed. To begin with, there was only one tiny cabin, called by courtesy the ward-room, in which we would live and eat and sleep, and my new skipper warned me that when we were at sea it would often be three feet deep in water. However, I felt it would require much more water than that to damp my ardour for this new and exciting work.