than that Gallipoli, full as it is of valuable stores, and munitions of war, should run the risk of being destroyed by fire.  There, now, go off to the surgeon, and get your faces strapped up, and then ask him to come to me at once.  If you two young gentlemen go on as you have begun, you are not likely to live to obtain eminence in your profession.  It is but two months since we left England, and we have not yet seen an enemy, yet you have had two as narrow escapes for your lives as one could wish to have.”

Very severe was the cross-questioning which the lads had to undergo in the midshipmen’s berth as to the manner in which they came by their cut faces, and they were obliged to take refuge under the strict order of the first lieutenant that they were to say nothing about it.

Fortunately the next day the “Falcon” received orders to proceed to the Bosphorus, and got up her anchor and steamed up the Dardanelles before dark.  Presently Mr. Hethcote came up to Jack, who was on duty on the quarter-deck.

“I tell you what, Jack,” he said quietly, “it is very lucky for you that we are away.  The French officer died during the night.  I hear that his lungs were pierced.  Sir George Brown is said to be furious, and threatens to try Tewson by court-martial, for entering a gambling-house in spite of strict orders to the contrary.  Of course it is well known that scores of other officers have done the same, but it is only when a thing is found out that there is a row about it.  Tewson had been dining on board a French ship, and was going home with the two French officers, who were also there.  None of them had been in a gambling-house before, but it seems they had heard of this place, which was one of the most notorious dens in the town, and agreed to look in for a few minutes to see what it was like.  They began to play and had an extraordinary run of luck, winning something like four hundred pounds.  The bank was broken, and the Greeks wanted them to stop till some more money was procured.  This they would not do, and the Greeks then attacked them.  Tewson has strong interest, and the affair will probably, in his case, blow over.  The Greeks have made a complaint against them for wilfully setting fire to the house, and this is the most serious part of the affair.  I am told that both Tewson and the French officer deny having done so.  They say that it was done in order to effect a diversion, by two officers who came in to their assistance in the middle of the fight, and both declare that they do not know who they were or anything about them, as they only saw them for a minute in the middle of the confusion.  Some one has said that two young naval officers were seen just at the beginning of the fire, and no doubt inquiries will be set on foot.  But now that we are fairly off, they will find out nothing at Gallipoli, and it’s likely that it will all blow over.  The authorities have plenty to think about at present without troubling themselves very much in following up a clue of this kind.”