seems so friendless here. No one knows him, no one understands him. Last night he almost broke down as he said that in a whole year yours was the only voice he had heard that seemed to have a ring of friendship or sympathy. His people have written to him to come home. They think he must be dismissed, and have so written to him and to me. They urge me to come at once and get the little home they offer in readiness, so that he can be induced to come right there if the order is-is against us. I am ill, but if need be I could go. I would be glad to think of having that little haven for him in case he were crushed by this, but ought I to go? Ought I to leave him here alone? It will be full three weeks or a month before we can hear from Washington, I suppose.

Still standing, he bent over her chair. "Shall I tell you what I think you ought to do, at once?" he asked, almost smiling. "I believe I will, anyway. It may be a very rude and impertinent thing to say, but it is my belief that the best thing you can do is to get well,-get well right away, and be ready, you and Mr. Riggs, to take Christmas dinner with us. Mrs. Park will be back next week, and I know she will be delighted. There! It is nearly a month away, to be sure, but that will give you abundant time. Meanwhile, of course you can't go home. Will you promise me, Mrs. Riggs?" And the legal adviser held out his hand, gave her a cordial grasp, and vanished before she could find one word in which to thank him. When Mr. Riggs rejoined his wife she was sobbing like a little child, and yet there was a world of hope and gladness in her swollen eyes as she gazed up into his tired face and drew it down to her lips.

As for Captain Park, it was observed of him that he whistled with considerable cheeriness on his way back to town, and as he sat at his desk that evening completing the record of the court. Some weeks afterwards, in speaking of the requirement that no officer of a court shall make known its sentence except to the reviewing authority, Captain Park was heard to mutter, "Wonder if inviting a fellow to a Christmas dinner would be revealing the sentence of a court?" and somebody present replied, "How could it be?"

And yet Mrs. Riggs was gaining health and spirits with every day, and Mr. Riggs, though still confined to the garrison in arrest, was serenely enjoying life in her society.

Three weeks later a brace of orders arrived from the War Department, and there was uproar and excitement among the youngsters in theth Foot. Full information of course preceded the official announcement, but the very enlisted men grinned with delight when those orders were read on parade, for the story of Plodder's speculation had reached the ranks, where he was no favorite. Divested of

their official forms the orders were, first, publication of the proceedings of the court-martial before which Lieutenant Riggs was arraigned and tried, and in accordance with his plea was found guilty and sentenced to be dismissed from the service. All of which was approved; but, said the order, "in view of the earnest recommendation signed by the entire court, and concurred in by the commanding generals of the department and of the army, the President has been pleased to remit the sentence, and Lieutenant Riggs will resume his sword and return to duty."

Then came the second order from the A. G. O.:

"-th Infantry.

"Second Lieutenant John B. Riggs to be first lieutenant, vice Calvin, resigned. December 3, 187-.

"Second Lieutenant William H. Trainor to be first lieutenant, he being the adjutant. December 3, 187-"

And Plodder's hoarded four hundred dollars had really purchased Riggs's promotion. "Bless your generous heart, Plod!" burst out that irrepressible scapegrace Trickett as the officers dispersed after dismissal of parade. "Let me shake hands with you, old man. Now just chip in another four hundred and buy me a file and I'll," but the rest was lost in the explosions of laughter, under cover of which poor Plodder went raging to his quarters.

As for Riggs, he wore his bars for the first time at Park's Christmas dinner, and he wears them yet, only he hates to be spoken of as "Plodder's Promotion."

X.

THE COMING OF THE SUBMARINE

THE NEW BRITISH BOATS.

(From the London Nineteenth Century and After.)

THE submarine has come and it has come to stay, not only in the British Navy but in the navies of the world. On the one hand it is true that we have the opinion of Rear-Admiral O'Neil, chief of the Bureau of Ordnance of the United States Navy, that this type of war-craft has not yet passed beyond the experimental stage. On the other we have the action of the French authorities in acting in advance of the views which naval experts of the French Fleet have expressed as to the capabilities of these boats. Though neither invincibility nor perfection has been claimed, they have not only built many submarines, but are building more and are organizing this branch of naval defence on the most systematic lines. There is good authority for the statement that a steamship is now under construction on the other side of the Channel to act as "mothership" to the submarines, or one flotilla of them, for it has been arranged that they shall be distributed in three groups. No provision is at present made in the Estimates for this vessel, nor is she at first sight very different from an ordinary merchant ship, except that she is being fitted with special derricks whereby submarine boats can be lifted from the water and carried from point to point as desired by the admiral commanding the fleet. In a storm such a "mother-ship" would be of the greatest advantage as it could stow the frail craft out of harm's way. Similarly, presuming that the battle fleet had secured a temporary base or had fixed on some point at which to make an attack, the submarines would be conveyed to that spot in the "mother-ship," the officers and men in the meantime enjoying all the warmth and comfort to be had only in a large vessel, and reserving their strength until the moment arrived at which, in the opinion of the admiral commanding, they could man their craft, launch them, and play their deadly role, whatever it might be.

* Reprinted by arrangement with the Leonard-Scott Publishing Co., of New York, the American publishers of the Nineteenth Century.

Such a "mother-ship" in future years will probably be recognized as one of the essential auxiliaries of a squadron at sea, as absolutely necessary for the full efficiency of this arm as the big ship of the Vulcan type which will act as convoy or depot to torpedo craft of the ordinary type during the blockade of a port or in any operations away from their permanent base.

Which shall we believe, the actions of the French, in sinking national capital of no mean amount, or the theoretical views of some British and American officers, who have not had as many opportunities for specially studying this new type of man-of-war? It has been frequently alleged that French officers do not in their hearts believe the official and semi-official statements that have been made from time to time as to the achievements of submarines, that these statements have been grossly exaggerated. Will anyone who has watched the development of this branch of warfare in the French Navy assert that all the money represented by the small fleet of submarines has been laid out in order to bolster up a falsehood and encourage anticipations in the hearts of the people of the Republic that are already doomed never to be realized? Such unworthy motives have been suggested in the past more than once with reference to French improvements in the instruments of warfare, but we have had to adopt the French ideas in the building up of our modern Navy, and now, while we profess to laugh at the submarine boats, we have built five, not because we expect that they will add to the gaiety of nations, but because the British authorities know that the submarine has come to stay, and that the French inventive instinct is leading the authorities on the other side of the Channel with that unerring rectitude which has made them pioneers in methods of naval warfare. There is another point that the detractors of this new engine of war fail to explain. Presuming that the officers of the Naval Department of the Republic feel assured that they have not wasted the public funds represented by these craft, that they believe that the submarine boat will have an important influence on the next war in which their country is engaged, which is the more likely that they will exaggerate or depreciate the possibilities thus brought within their reach? The more favorable the reports which are permitted to gain currency, the greater the curiosity and anxiety of rivals, and the greater haste will they exhibit to provide themselves. with this latest hornet of the seas. This is exactly what the French would not desire. Rather might they be expected to exaggerate the difficulties that they encounter in the course of their experiments with the new craft, and this, it is stated, is actually what has occurred. At any rate, it is impossible to believe that successive Ministers of

Marine have continued to build these boats well knowing, after experiments spread over several years, that they have no future, and that when hostilities occur they will prove of no use.

Hitherto the problem of submarine navigation has been largely academic, and powerful and sufficient reasons have led the Admiralty to ignore it. British opinion has always been sceptical, and for the best of causes: it has not desired that the obstacles to this form of warfare should be surmounted. Officially we do not want the submarine to succeed, and when failure is foretold it is to be feared that the wish is father to the thought. We have carved out the Empire with the line-of-battle ship. Encounters with great ships constitute an honest, dogged, above-board form of warfare that suits the Anglo-Saxon temperament; the blue-jacket and his master, the naval officer, love an old-fashioned fight, and are apt to regard with disfavor all other modes of attack which are less open and direct. The submarine boat is not an honest weapon. It suggests the footpad, the garroter, and the treacherous knife dug into an opponent's back at a moment when he is off his guard. National sentiment in this country is against the submarine. National interests are also opposed to the submarine. We have invested all the insurance capital for the Empire in large ships. Practically we have staked our all on the battleship, on its great guns in barbette and casemate, on its belt of armor, and its great coal endurance, enabling it to travel long voyages or maintain a tedious blockade without replenishing its bunkers. We have placed our money on these great floating citadels, on their capacity to steam on and on and on, in storm or fog, emblems of our ocean supremacy, able to fight on the high seas, or to merely wait until the enemy attempts to escape from his ports. They are the invested funds of the Empire, they represent about sixty millions sterling, and wherever the British flag flies one of these armed citadels is not far off.

Over forty millions has been spent in cruisers, to act as eyes and ears of the battle squadrons, to watch all the enemies' movements and apprise the admiral of the ships of the line in order that he may choose the most fortuitous moment for an encounter; to hang on to the heels of commerce-destroyers, and to act as guardians to merchant ships bearing to this country foodstuffs and material for our factories. If the submarine has come to stay, as is asserted, then it is a menace to the battleship and the cruiser, and will minimize the effective power of such vessels. It is sometimes urged that it is merely the weapon of the weaker nation, that it can be utilized. only in the defence of ports of a Power weaker at sea than ourselves. Even if this be true the future of the new craft still