The lieutentant was more amused than ever. He wanted a little fun, anyhow.
"Play something to me."
"What shall it be? Nocturne, Sonata, Valse, or, just name your opera. Come, here is a little bit of Wagner." The officer leaned back in his chair, really or truly delighted.
"Why," he said, "you are--why you are a juvenile freak. Come on deck with me."
"Quartermaster, just take this lad forward, and he'll play you a hornpipe."
He did. Kep played, and didn't the men dance too. It was half an hour of the best fun ever seen on board a man-o'-war.
Then the young lieutentant gave the boy ginger wine, grapes, and much good advice, and bade him be sure to go home to his parents.
No, Kep had not succeeded in joining the Breezy, but he really had made an impression on board, and those who met him would not soon forget him.
The boy did not go directly back to the Blue Ensign. The day was very beautiful and though already far spent there was plenty of time of stroll around and see things.
Now Plymouth down by the docks is always a busy place. It was ten times more so just at present, for complications had once more arisen betwixt this country and Russia. Since the close of the terrible war against the Japs, the Russians appeared to be intriguing very much in European politics. She desired a war with Britain, she longed to invade India, but the trouble was that unless supported by another power there was little chance of her being able to regain her lost prestige.