nexation of the Philippines by Magellan did more than anything else ultimately to bring about the revolt of Spain's American possessions: Spain failed to defend their western seaboards, and at the same time prevented them from accumulating those funds which would have enabled them to do so for themselves.

In the seventeenth century the Dutch equally with the English were busily occupied smuggling goods into New Spain from both coasts. In the eighteenth century the buccaneers flourished exceedingly in these seas, and finally the Spanish secret charts of the Pacific routes were captured by Lord Anson on board a galleon. The Dutch and the French continued a trading penetration, and the last blow of all came when Behring the Russian discovered the Strait that bears his name, and Russians and British began to appropriate the North Pacific and its rich fur trade. Spain's circle was narrowing. She fortified as the outposts of the Pacific San Francisco, Tahiti, and the Falkland Islands, but she did not hold them by the only way in which they could

be secure-namely, sea power. Her strength had passed away long before her possessions fell, and the absorption of the last by the United States thirty years ago was really an anachronism. The Portuguese, too, had disappeared centuries before from the western side of the Pacific. They had won their ascendancy merely as traders and discoverers, not as conquerors, and the Dutch, moving seawards in their newfound liberty (a liberty which the English found developing into arrogance and rapacity in their contact with them in the Far East), gradually ousted the Portuguese from Java, Sumatra, and the islands of the East. Vasco da Gama, Magellan— they shed lustre on the countries that sent them, they possessed vision and daring greater than the English navigators who followed them, yet because the pioneer countries failed to realise or had not the inborn genius to realise the basis on which such discoveries must be consolidated, the English were to be their heirs, for England alone continued to look seawards, and was not led away by fantastic dreams of Continental conquest.

Among the midshipmen in

of the various ships of the Mediterranean squadron, and many were the matches-shooting, riding, boxing, pulling, swimming, diving, and gymnastics-got up by the supporters and backers of "young gentlemen" who excelled at any of these sports. The Undefeated, for instance, had a champion rider who fancied himself not a little at gymkhana meetings; the Gorgeous had a very fast swimmer who claimed to be unbeaten; the Pugnacious boasted of a bruiser on whom his messmates were ready to put their shirts; then the Unfathomable's were prepared to back their deep diver against all comers, and the justly famous athlete and contortionist of the Sinuous feared no rival; while the shooting team of the Argus had held the fleet gun-room shooting cup for two years running; and the Flagship held the palm only for boat-pulling, and that was due largely to her possession of the champion pulling cutter, affectionately known as Nancy Dawson. There was therefore, as may be imagined, a strong desire in every gun-room to capture the laurels held by others for themselves, and this covetousness was especially marked on board the Flagship.

66

one Sartoris. He was only fifteen years old when he joined the ship straight from the Britannia about a year before my story commences, so was still very much a junior midshipman "; a growing lad, thin as a lath, though with the appetite of a boa-constrictor, innocent-looking as a baby and of a quiet and retiring appearance on the surface. He was at once bitten with the spirit of emulation and determined to excel in some branch of sport, in the interest of the ship. But what line was he to take ? He was not big or strong enough for the racing boat's crew (though he was getting on in height, having shot up seven inches during the year he had been in the ship); he was a poor hand at boxing; he could not afford to keep a pony, though he was a good rider; he was a first-class shot, but not а "marksman," so they wouldn't put him in the shooting team; and his performances in the gymnasium at Dartmouth were far below the average. But he was an excellent swimmer and loved the water. He would take up that strenuously, and then let the Gorgeous chap look to his laurels.

As soon as he had come to this decision, which he kept to

Not

himself, he missed no opportunity for practice, and was in the water as often and for as long as possible on every occasion. His first summer in the ship had already shown him that he could hold his own, so far as speed went, with any one in the gun-room of the Flagship except onethe senior midshipman,-and it was a red-letter day when he overtook this fellow in the water and ducked him. only that, but he was able successfully to evade the inevitable reprisals, by means of superior speed which he had attained by observing the methods employed by the said senior snotty and improving upon them. In the same way he taught himself the art of swimming under water and deep diving, in which he copied the style of Brennan, another midshipman, who had been born and brought up in the West Indies and was like a fish under water. They all

to practise diving for eggs alongside the ship, and after some time Sartoris found that he could generally get an egg that some one else had failed at, he diving from the surface as soon as the unsuccessful candidate had come up to blow and had signified a miss.

One day, without saying anything to any one, he attempted to dive under the ship-down one side and up the other. This first try was made right aft, just before the propellers, where the width of the ship

was negligible, and he found it a simple matter. So he tried

again a little farther forward where the beam was greater, and again succeeded without difficulty. But when he came to the broadest part of the ship, which meant a swim across of nearly a hundred feet at a depth of about thirty feet, he decided to leave it until the following day.

And when the next day came and he went down and encountered the bilge keel, he thought of the one on the other side of the ship. It was a dull day, and there was very little light down there and-andyes, he funked it and came up again the same side he had gone down on, and was thoroughly ashamed of himself and was glad he had told nobody of his intentions.

Those bilge keels worried him. It would be very awkward to barge up against one with one's head as one was coming up the other side, and the chances were that one would remain the wrong side of it, permanently. He must find some scheme of getting the better of that second bilge keel. He wouldn't be done.

And then a bright idea struck him while he was diving for an egg that two fellows had missed, one after the other. The egg had got pretty deep before the second chap-it was Brennan-had given it up, and Sartoris had gone after it in pure bravado. But having gone, he determined to get it, even if he had to go to the

bottom for it-and he remembered that they had anchored in twelve fathoms of water. And he got it, without even sighting the bottom; but on the way up he sighted something else-daylight on the other side of the ship. That was the way to euchre that bilge keel; go well down below the bottom of the ship for the swim across and keep on until you saw daylight, and keep in it till you were past the beastly thing. He would try it at

once.

So as soon as he reached the surface with that egg he climbed up on to the accommodation ladder and recovered his breath, taking in a good supply of air for the dive, and then slid down and sank like a stone till he had got past the first bilge keel, then, swimming diagonally downwards, he got deep enough to see the far side of the ship on what one might call the sky-line. He was then safe and could complete the swim across without danger of collision with any hidden danger, as all were outlined against the light.

It was some days later before he let it be known that he had accomplished this feat, though he practised it each morning and evening. It happened that he got into an argument with another small midshipman - Woodward

by

name as to which of them could remain under water the longer. The argument leading to no result, it was arranged that they should have a trial,

and one of the sub-lieutenants -Bolitho, a sterling, honest, good fellow, with a very high sense of honour-agreed to act as referee. The same evening, when the officers were bathing, the two boys dived in together from the gangway, Bolitho, with a stop-watch, taking up his position on the top platform of the accommodation ladder. They disappeared under water, and nothing was seen of either of them for just 1 minute 35 seconds, when Woodward's head popped up blowing like a grampus.

"Where's Sartoris ? he demanded as soon as he could speak.

"Not up yet," replied the referee.

And the hand of the stopwatch went round the dial once, and again three-quarters of a revolution before the other competitor, Sartoris, came slowly and quietly to the surface.

"Where's Woodward?" he cried at once.