Mr. Midshipman Glover, R.N.: A Tale of the Royal Navy of To-dayJeans, T. T. (Thomas Tendron)
General
Mr. Midshipman Glover, R.N.: A Tale of the Royal Navy of To-day
Jeans, T. T. (Thomas Tendron)
Adventure stories; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Fiction; Seafaring life -- Fiction
First, that little one on my head, which you could find if you looked
carefully; and the one on my chest which had given all the trouble, and
had left a pretty big scar; and the stab on my leg, and the bullet wound
just below it.
Wasn’t the Pater proud, and so was Effie; but my Mother burst into
tears, and then, I think, we all cried and hugged each other and had a
ripping time; and I told them that Toddles and Mellins were coming to
spend a fortnight with me, and that Mellins loved sardines and cake—the
richer the better—and told Effie she would have to marry one of them,
for they were the best fellows in the world, and she said she would, and
so that was all right.
Of course we quieted down afterwards, and then I had to go and show Toby
my wounds, and the old housekeeper, and she cried too, and gave me some
home-made bread, with honey spread half an inch thick on it, the
honey-comb in it too, for she knew I liked that.
And the bed too—same little bed, in the same old attic, with a funny,
poky little window looking over the kitchen garden—it had never looked
more cosy; and my Mother came up when I turned in, and cried when she
saw my pyjamas all in holes, and knelt down by my bed and said her
prayers, and I said mine to her, and she cried again, and I blubbered a
little, I was so absolutely happy; and Effie came in very early next
morning, and we had a jolly good pillow fight.
Good things cannot last for ever. It’s just as well too, I expect, or
else we should never know they were so good.
Toddles and Mellins came presently, and we had simply a ripping time;
but then we were all appointed to different ships, and had to join them
at Portsmouth.
I hadn’t forgotten Milly and the old Admiral at Fareham, and had taken
him the will, as I promised Hopkins. I don’t think the lawyers made any
difficulty about it, though I believe it took a precious long time to
get the money over from America.
Milly wanted to kiss me—I always dreaded that—but I shook her hand hard
and edged away; so that didn’t come off, and she never tried again. She
wanted to know a lot about Hopkins, but she never found out that he had
been a pirate and was fighting against us, and I don’t think anyone ever
told her. I’m sure the Captain never would.
She was properly engaged to him now, and things seemed to be going on
very serenely.
I went down to the village and saw him and Dr. Fox, and Jenkins too, in
mortal fear of his wife—I guessed that at once—and the Captain asked me
to his wedding, which he hoped would take place in August.
Dr. Fox was as grim as ever. He was opening a parcel when I went in,
and I heard him say in his snappy voice, "Look what the silly fools have
sent me! What a waste of time, and I have nowhere to put the thing."
It was a brass model of the big Krupp gun in its gun-pit, and round the
oak stand was a silver plate with the names of all the _Laird’s_ men on
the lower deck who had fought on One Gun Hill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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