“Mr. Merrill, accept my congratulations upon as plucky a deed as I ever beheld,” and Captain De Long grasped the hand of the young midshipman. “Thank you, sir; but I saw that he was hurt and could not swim,” said Mark modestly. “You found him readily, it seems?” “Yes, sir, and he was unconscious, so I had no trouble in keeping him up until the lifeboat took us in.” “May I ask if you knew who it was when you made your leap to the rescue?” “Yes, sir.” Just then a cadet came up and said: “Pardon, sir, but the surgeon asks to see Mr. Merrill.” “Go below, Mr. Merrill, and then you had better turn in for the night. To-morrow morning report to me at eight bells.” Mark departed from the quarter-deck and sought the surgeon’s quarters. There he found Scott Clemmons, who had returned to consciousness, with a gash upon his head, skillfully dressed, and his left arm bound close to his side, for his collar-bone was broken. “Ah, Merrill, I wish to say that your plucky act saved Clemmons, for he was stunned by the blow on the head, and his collar-bone is fractured. He wishes to see you.” Mark’s hand had been warmly grasped by the ship’s surgeon as he spoke, and now he stepped toward Scott Clemmons. “Say, old fellow, you did a manly thing, they tell me, and I owe you my life. We haven’t been exactly chummy in the past, but, of course, now you’ll believe in my friendship for you?” Mark Merrill would have given much could he have escaped the thanks of Scott Clemmons. He could understand how much it cost him of pain and humiliation to say what he did. But he said: “Oh, we are good enough friends, Mr. Clemmons, and what I did for you I would have done for any one else, and you know I don’t mind a ducking and a swim even in the sea.” “I don’t recall any of it except that I lost my hold and felt the dull thud as I struck the yard; but they say you leaped from aloft and kept me afloat until the lifeboat picked us up. Now I’m laid up in ordinary for a few weeks, so come in and see me often.” “You’ll be all right soon, Clemmons, and now you need sleep, as the doctor will tell you,” and Mark Merrill turned away and went to swing his hammock, get on a dry rig, and turn in, for his struggle with the sea even his iron frame could not help but feel. The next morning all hands were mustered on deck, and Captain De Long, in a few well-spoken words, complimented Mark Merrill upon his noble act, and praised the crew of the lifeboat for their gallant service. Mark blushed like a girl under the words of the captain, and to his brother midshipmen made light of his act; but he got full credit for the deed all the same, for all understood that there had been no love lost between Scott Clemmons and himself. And so on its way held the cruiser until the shores of England hove in view, and the anchor was soon after let fall in the Mersey. Among the first to land were three midshipmen who seemed to have some special mission ashore.