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Myself, I had taken a boat out to the _Bulwark_, the great battleship
flying the Admiral's flag, and was sitting on deck with my old friend
Captain Jack Durnford, of the Royal Marines. Each year when the fleet
put into Leghorn we were inseparable, for in long years past, at
Portsmouth, we had been close friends, and now he was able to pay me
annual visits at my Italian home.
He was on duty that morning, therefore could not get ashore till after
luncheon.
"I'll dine with you, of course, to-night, old chap," he said. "And you
must tell me all the news. We're in here for six days, and I was half a
mind to run home. Two of our chaps got leave from the Admiral and left
at three this morning for London--four days in the train and two in
town! Gone to see their sweethearts, I suppose."
The British naval officer in the Mediterranean delights to dash across
Europe for a day at home if he can get leave and funds will allow. It is
generally reckoned that such a trip costs about two pounds an hour while
in London.


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