Would that all midshipmen were like him! But it became time to go on board, and Captain Blockstrop, coming by where Alice sat, said, laughing,-- "I hope you are not giving my officer too much marmalade, Miss Brentwood?
He is over-young to be trusted with a jam-pot,--eh, Tacks ?" "Too young to go to sea, I should say," said Alice.
"Not too young to be a brave-hearted boy, however!" said the Captain.
"The other day, in Sydney harbour, one of my marines who couldn't swim went overboard and this boy soused in after him, and carried the lifebuoy to him, in spite of sharks.

What do you think of that for a ten-year-old ?" The boy's face flushed scarlet as the Captain passed on, and he held out his hand to Alice to say good-bye.

She took it, looked at him, hesitated, and then bent down and kissed his cheek--a tender, sisterly kiss--something, as Jim said, to carry on board with him! Poor little Tacks! He was a great friend of mine; so I have been tempted to dwell on him.

He came to me with letters of introduction, and stayed at my place six weeks or more.

He served brilliantly, and rose rapidly, and last year only I heard that Lieutenant Tacks had fallen in the dust, and never risen again, just at the moment that the gates of Delhi were burst down, and our fellows went swarming in to vengeance..