“But surely, father,” Harry Archer said, “Russia cannot think herself a match for England and France united.”

“I don’t know that, my boy.  Russia has an enormous population, far larger than that of England and France united.  Every man, from the highest to the lowest, is at the disposal of the Czar, and there is scarcely any limit to the force which he is capable of putting into the field.  Russia has not fought since the days of Napoleon, and in those days the Russian troops showed themselves to be as good as any in Europe.  At Borodino and Smolensko they were barely defeated after inflicting enormous losses on the emperor’s army, and, as in the end, they annihilated the largest army even Napoleon had ever got together, they may well think that, fighting close to their own borders, while England and France have to take their troops across Europe, they will be more than a match for us.  And now, Jack, we must go down to the town.  There is much to do and to think about.  The principal part of your outfit I shall, of course, get at Portsmouth, where the tailors are accustomed to work at high pressure.  But your underclothes we can get here.  Now, my dear, if you will go upstairs and look through Jack’s things, and let me know exactly how he stands, I will go down with him to the town, and get anything he requires.”

“And will you be able to spare me for a quarter-of-an-hour, father?  I should like to be outside the school when they come out at one o’clock, to say good-bye to them.  Won’t they be surprised, and jolly envious?  Oh no, I should think not!  They would give their ears, some of them, I know, to be in my place.  I should like to say good-bye, too, to old Marshall.  His face will be a picture when he finds that he is not going to drop on me for those verses, after all.”

It was a day of bustle and business, and Jack, until the very moment when he was embracing his weeping mother and sisters, while his father stood at the door, in front of which was the pony-chaise, which was waiting to take him down to the station, could hardly realize that it was all true, that his school-days were over, and that he was really a midshipman in her Majesty’s service.

Harry had already gone to the station on foot, as the back seat in the pony-chaise was occupied by Jack’s luggage, and the last words that he said, as he shook hands with his brother, were,—­

“I shouldn’t be surprised, old boy, if we were to meet in the East before long.  If anything comes of it, they will have to increase the strength of the army as well as of the navy, and it will be bad luck indeed if the 33d is left behind.”