Little wonder that the N.O. is inclined to be superstitious, and to burn incense at the shrine of Joss!
A week later, my ship being in dock, I was able to go home on two weeks' leave. Oh, most certainly collisions are severely to be deprecated!... But—the cloud had a silver lining!
Here the Midshipman's record ends....
In common with so many of his contemporaries, it has been given him to condense into a few short years of extreme youth experience and adventure enough for a lifetime ... and who shall say what yet lies behind the veil of mystery and wonder that so mercifully shrouds the future. Gleaming bright with the gold of our dreams, or darkened by futile folly of our fears, no man may lift that veil and live.... But Faith shall make of it a thing of Beauty. Our cause is just. We give it our Best, in the belief that somehow—somewhere—it will be well with these our Beloved: and so it must needs be well with us.
What matter to-morrow—there's courage enough for to-day.
"Gay gallant lives so oft at stake,
Danger and you are such old friends
That we have learned to mock it for your sake."
Ave!—atque Vale.
PRINTED AT THE COMPLETE PRESS
WEST NORWOOD LONDON