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went back to his work with his head filled, with what he had heard. The news was truly terrible. To think of those poor jackies who had been summoned before their Maker without an instant's warning made him shudder, and half unconsciously he breathed a prayer that such a fate might never overtake himself.

"None of the navy for me," remarked Hobson, as he, too, resumed his labor. "I've sailed upon merchantmen going on twenty-six years, and they are good enough for me."

"I can't say as much," put in Luke Striker, who, as Larry soon discovered, was a typical Yankee, hailing from Bangor, Maine. "O' course the rules are strict, and you have to pay strict attention to all commands; but the jackies are a jolly crowd with it all, and then, if war comes, think of all the glory to be won!"