Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/264

 in her prayers every night: 'God bless Lord Salisbury for letting us have Heligoland!'"

"I'd love to see it," mused Nelson.

"Well, you aren't likely to, I guess. If the Gyandotte started in toward that old rock I'd hand in my papers and fall overboard! None of those eleven-inch shells brushing my cap off, thank you! Nothing doing! Nothing at all!"

"Where do you suppose we're going?" asked Nelson.

"Norway, probably, but don't ask me what for. Won't anything happen, anyway. Nothing ever does on this old skate. All we do is act the nice old gentleman with the umbrella helping the young ladies off the street car and escorting them to the sidewalk. We don't even get splashed with mud."

"But," laughed Nelson, "if you want action why are you against having a peek at Heligoland?"

"Sure, I want action, but I'm not asking for sudden death, believe me, Troy! What I'd like would be a crack at a couple of light cruisers of about our own size. Or three, for good measure. But butting your head against a hundred eleven-inch guns isn't giving yourself a fair show. It's plain suicide."

"Didn't the British ship Arethusa do it?" 239