"Great Scott!" he exclaimed brokenly, and without another word he handed the telegram to his companion.
"It never rains but it pours," quoted "Torps." "You'll attain Flag-rank in another fifteen years, mark my words. Lieutenant Aubyn, D.S.O."
The "wire" was a private tip from a personal friend at the Admiralty, informing Terence that His Majesty had been graciously pleased to bestow upon him the Distinguished Service Order for gallantry in bringing H.M.S. "Sunderland" out of action during operations off the Belgian coast.
"Torps" was not far short of the mark, for a D.S.O. almost invariably means a rapid promotion to the fortunate and heroic recipient.
"Flag-rank," echoed Terence. "There's plenty of time for that. Meanwhile, that's where duty calls," and with a wave of his hand he indicated the distant North Sea, on which the supreme contest for the supremacy of the waves will prove that the heritage of Nelson is still worthily upheld by Britannia's sons.
ABERDEEN: THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Transcriber's Notes:
This book contains a number of misprints.
The following misprints have been corrected:
[the prisoner nonchalently.] —> [the prisoner nonchalantly.]
[to commuicate with wireless] —> [to communicate with wireless]
[was calculated to be from] —> [was calculated to be seen from]
[of what had occured,] —> [of what had occurred,]
[hostilites as a godsend] —> [hostilities as a godsend]
[its horribly slippery] —> [it's horribly slippery]
[the concusion had caused] —> [the concussion had caused]
[with the laudible intention] —> [with the laudable intention]
[he crosssd the line] —> [he crossed the line]
[the faintest attenion to] —> [the faintest attention to]
A few cases of punctuation errors were corrected, but are not
mentioned here.
A list of illustrations has been added.