The Powder Monkey - George Manville Fenn

“I nurse him,” said Phil, proudly, “and feed him too. He can’t use his arms, Auntie.”

“Then why not bring him home, Phil, dear, where he could be well nursed back to health, and then—”

That was the way it was settled, for an hour later Jack Jeens was being carefully slung down into the gig and then rowed ashore, while as Phil, after his aunt had taken her place, slid down one of the falls to join them, pretty well the whole crew was on deck to cheer the powder monkey till he was out of sight.

Years passed before Phil stepped on board a King’s ship again, and then it was in the uniform of a middy—the middy of one of the smartest frigates in the Navy.

“Yes, Master Phil, sir, the very smartest frigate in the sarvice, and I’m glad to welcome you aboard, and so’s all the crew. I’m bo’sun, sir, and I’ve told all the lads how you and me served the King under Admiral Lord Nelson at Traffle-gar.”