_Written by Midshipman Ford_
Jim Rawlings, Dicky Morton, and I had been such a very short time on the
China station, that we all three ought to have gone to the _Fisgard_
when she came out to relieve us.
But just after we had reached Singapore, the Captain asked me whether I
wanted to go home with him in the _Vigilant_, and though I felt an awful
brute at leaving Jim and Dicky, I simply jumped at the chance. I wanted
to see them at home so much, and go back to Upton Overy and see people
nod at each other, and know that they were saying, "That be Master Dick
who saved the Cap’en’s life," that I forgot all about the other two. I
was jolly sad to see them go aboard the _Fisgard_ with their chests, and
they were jolly sad too. Dicky was quite well now, and not half the ass
that he had been when he first joined.
What made them more sad than anything else, was not being able to see
the Chinese field gun given to the Captain. We gave it to him the
morning after they left, when we were at sea. He was awfully delighted
with it. You could see that by the way he patted it, and ran his
fingers over it, and lifted it out of its carriage to test his strength,
grunting and growling splendidly.