Naval Occasions, and Some Traits of the Sailor-man Read online

  *II.*

  The old _Britannia_ training consisted of four terms, each of threemonths' duration, during which a boy fresh from the hands of a tutor orcrammer had many things to learn. He was taught to "drop everything andnip!" when called; how, when, and whom to salute. To pull an oar andsail a boat; to knot, splice, and run aloft; how to use a sextant. Helearned that trigonometry and algebra were not really meaningless mentalgymnastics, but a purposeful science that guided men upon tracklessseas. In short, at an age when other schoolboys see their educationnearing its end, he had to begin all over again, to be moulded afreshfor a higher purpose.

  The path of the "New" in those days was by no means strewn with roses.Jerry had to submit to strange indignities and stranger torments at thehands of Olympian "Niners" (Fourth-term Cadets). He had to accustomhimself to bathe, dress and undress, to sleep and to pray, surrounded bya hundred others. There was also the business of the hammock, in and outof which he was learning to turn without dishonour.

  But the conclusion of the first breathless three months found himamazingly fit and happy. His mind was stored with newly-acquired andvastly interesting knowledge. The beagles and football sweated the"callow suet" off him and gave him the endurance of a lean hound. Hewas fitting into the new life as a hand into a well-worn glove.

  The end of his second term brought the coveted triangular badge on theright cuff that marks the Cadet Captain among his fellows. The duties(which are much the same as those of monitor or prefect) offered him hisfirst introduction to the peculiar essence we call tact, necessary indealing with contemporaries. About this time began his friendship withJubbs. This young gentleman's real name was as unlike his sobriquet asanything could be; among a community of Naval Cadets this was perhaps asufficient _raison d'etre_: anyhow none other was ever forthcoming.They earned their "Rugger" colours together as scrum and stand-offhalves, and as time went on a slow friendship matured and knit betweenthem. Their first sight of each other had been in the hotel the eveningbefore joining. Thenceforward it pleased the power that is calledDestiny to run the brief threads of their lives together to the end.

  At the close of their third term they became Chief Cadet Captains, andJubbs' papa, a long, lean baronet with a beak-like nose, came down toattend the prize-giving. At the conclusion of the ceremony he waspiloted to the Canteen, where the Cadet Captains were pleased to"stodge" at his expense, while he--as one who sits at meat among thegods--trumpeted his satisfaction into a flaring bandana handkerchief.

  At the end of the fourth and last term Jerry's mother came down to seethe last prize-giving, and thus was present when her son received theKing's Medal. For one never-to-be-forgotten moment she watched him turnfrom the dais and come towards her, erect and rather pale, withcompressed lips. But the cheering broke from the throats of threehundred inveterate hero-worshippers like a tempest, and then a mist hidhim from her sight.