Part 11 (1/2)

On the other hand, I spoke aboutdiscerno, and in return I gained the key to his own character It was devotion to the sea, wedded to a fire of pent-up patriotis incessantly for an outlet in strenuous physical expression; a humanity, born of acute sensitiveness to his own li fuel to the flame I learnt for the first time now that in early youth he had failed for the navy, the first of several failures in his career 'And I can't settle down to anything else,' he said 'I read no end about it, and yet I am a useless outsider All I've been able to do is to potter about in small boats; but it's all been _wasted_ till this chance came I'm afraid you'll not understand how I feel about it; but at last, for once in a way, I see a chance of being useful'

'There ought to be chances for chaps like you,' I said, 'without the accident of a job such as this'

'Oh, as long as I get it, what matter? But I knohat you mean

There ood many myself--who know our coasts like a book--shoals, creeks, tides, rocks; there's nothing in it, it's only practice They ought to make some use of us as a naval reserve They tried to once, but it fizzled out, and nobody really cares And what's the result? Using every h to , and no more They've tinkered with fisher hands, but everyone of theot hold of; and the colonies, too Is there the ghost of a doubt that if war broke out there'd be wild appeals for volunteers, ai, hurry, confusion, waste? My own idea is that we ought to go much further, and train every able-bodied man for a couple of years as a sailor Arive them the choice

Not that I know or care h to listen to people talk you'd think it really rown by the sea and live by it; if we lose command of it we starve We're unique in that way, just as our huge empire, only linked by the sea, is unique And yet, read Brassey, Dilke, and those ”Naval Annuals”, and see what mountains of apathy and conceit have had to be tackled It's not the people's fault

We've been safe so long, and grown so rich, that we've forgotten e it to But there's no excuse for those blockheads of statess as they are They have to go to an American to learn their A B C, and it's only when kicked and punched by civilian agitators, a et sneered at for their pains, that they wake up, do soain, till they get another kick By Jove! ant a man like this Kaiser, who doesn't wait to be kicked, but works like a nigger for his country, and sees ahead'

'We're i, aren't we?'

'Oh, of course, we are! But it's a constant uphill fight; and we aren't ready They talk of a ter standard--' He plunged away into regions where space forbids me to follow him This is only a sample of many similar conversations that we afterwards held, always cul question of Ger his targets for vague invective, he had a profound respect for acity and experience as a member of that institution; a respect which eht of , andof Ger with a certain authority He used to listen rapt while I described her th and wisdo industrial activity, and,her transfornably based on vast territorial resources which we cannot molest, the dim instincts of her people, nothouse, our great trade rivals of the present, our great naval rival of the future, she grows, and strengthens, and waits, an ever more formidable factor in the future of our delicate network of e from an island whose commerce is its life, and which depends even for its daily ration of bread on the free passage of the seas

'And we aren't ready for her,' Davies would say; 'we don't look her way We have no naval base in the North Sea, and no North Sea Fleet

Our best battleshi+ps are too deep in draught for North Sea work And, to crown all, ere asses enough to give her Heligoland, which co she collars Holland; isn't there some talk of that?'

That would lead me to describe the swollen aues to promote the absorption of Austria, Switzerland, and--a direct and flagrant menace to ourselves--of Holland

'I don't blame them,' said Davies, who, for all his patriotism, had not a particle of racial spleen in his composition 'I don't blains to be nificent ports just opposite British shores We can't talk about conquest and grabbing We've collared a fine share of the world, and they've every right to be jealous Let them hate us, and say so; it'll teach us to buck up; and that's what really ular contact of eneralities, but I had never till now dreaar as to translate them into practice I had always detested the norance under noisiness, and for ever wails his chant of lugubrious pessihtenment; for here, at least, was a specimen of the breed who exacted respect It is true hesentences (sometimes, when he was excited, with the oddest effect) with the conventional catchwords of the journalist and platform speaker But these were but accidents; for he seeht his innermost conviction from the very soul of the sea itself An ar, but a sunburnt, brine-burnt zealot s under a personal discontent, athirst for a reat cause, theHe drew inspiration from the very wind and spray He coures with its help To hear hi into a close club-room, where men bandy ineffectual platitudes, and

In our talk about policy and strategy ere Bis nations and navies; and, indeed, I have no doubt that our fancy took extravagant flights soentlemen in a seven-ton pleasure boat, with a taste for araphy and police duty combined Not that Davies ever doubted Once set on the road he gripped his purpose with child-like faith and tenacity It was his 'chance'

XI The Pathfinders

IN the late afternoon of the second day our flotilla reached the Elbe at Brunsbuttel and ranged up in the inner basin, while a big liner, whi like a fretful baby, was tenderly nursed into the lock

During the delay Davies leftAn official in unifor the quay fro papers I went up to ned carelessly Then he paused andhis head, 'that was the nalish?' he asked

'Yes'

'Little _lust-cutter_, that is so; there was an inquiry for you'

'Whoe-yacht'

'Oh, I know; she went on to Ha, I suppose?'

'No such luck, captain; she was outward bound'

What did the

'When was this--about three weeks ago?' I asked, indifferently