



Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England




The Three Commanders, by W.H.G. Kingston.

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This is the third in the tetralogy commencing "The Three Midshipmen" and
ending with "The Three Admirals," so the three principal characters will
have been familiar to Kingston's youthful readers.  As with the other
books it is a very good introduction to Naval life in the middle of the
nineteenth century, but there are other things we can learn from this
book, as well.

The action soon after the start moves to East Africa, where we see how
the anti-slave trade was pursued. The British were against slavery, but
the Portuguese, the Americans, the Arabs, and some of the East African
states were getting on with it whenever the British backs were turned.

Then we move to the Crimea, where we get a very good view of the naval
participation in that war.  If you want to know more about the Crimea,
you should definitely read this book.

Finally we move to the Pacific, to Sydney and to Hawaii.  Here again it
is interesting, particularly with regard to the volcanoes of the Hawaii
group of islands.

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THE THREE COMMANDERS, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON.



CHAPTER ONE.

MURRAY'S HIGHLAND HOME--A VISIT FROM ADMIRAL TRITON--ADAIR AND HIS
NEPHEW APPEAR--MURRAY APPOINTED TO THE OPAL, ADAIR FIRST LIEUTENANT--
PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE--ADMIRAL TRITON AND MRS DEBORAH INVITE MRS
MURRAY TO STAY AT SOUTHSEA--THE OPAL AND HER CREW--A POETICAL
LIEUTENANT--PARTING BETWEEN MISS ROGERS AND ADAIR--THE OPAL SAILS FOR
THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA.

Alick Murray had not over-praised the Highland home of which he had so
often spoken when far away across the wide ocean.  The house,
substantially built in a style suited to that clime, stood some way up
the side of a hill which rose abruptly from the waters of Loch Etive, on
the north side of which it was situated.  To the west the hills were
comparatively low, the shores alternately widening and contracting, and
projecting in numerous promontories.  The higher grounds were clothed
with heath and wood, while level spaces below were diversified by
cultivated fields.  To the east of the house, up the loch, the scenery
assumed a character much more striking and grand.  Far as the eye could
reach appeared a succession of lofty and barren mountains, rising sheer
out of the water, on the calm surface of which their fantastic forms
were reflected as in a mirror.  Across the loch the lofty summit of Ben
Cruachan appeared towering to the sky.  The scenery immediately
surrounding Murray's domain of Bercaldine was of extreme beauty.  At
some little distance the hill, rising abruptly, was covered with oak,
ash, birch, and alder, producing a rich tone of colouring; the rowan and
hawthorn trees mingling their snowy blossoms or coral berries with the
foliage of the more gigantic natives of the forest, while the dark
purple heath, in tufted wreaths, and numerous wild-flowers, were
interspersed amid the rich sward and underwood along the shore beneath.
Behind the house were shrubberies and a well-cultivated kitchen-garden,
sheltered on either side by a thick belt of pines; while in front a
lawn, also protected by shrubberies from the keen winds which blew down
from the mountain heights, sloped towards the loch, with a gravel walk
leading to the landing-place.  Murray had added a broad verandah to the
front of the house, to remind himself and Stella of Don Antonio's
residence in Trinidad, where they had first met.  Indeed, in some of its
features, the scenery recalled to their memories the views they had
enjoyed in that lovely island; and though they confessed that Trinidad
carried off the palm of beauty, yet they both loved far better their own
Highland home.

It was a lovely summer day, and Stella was sitting in the verandah with
a small stranger, whom her faithful black maiden, Polly, had just placed
in her lap.  She was fully employed in bestowing on him those marks of
affection which a loving mother delights in affording to her first-born.
Alick stood by her side, watching her and their child with looks of
fond pride.  He had just come in from the garden, which it was one of
his chief occupations to tend, and had taken off his gardening gloves,
that he might pat his child's cheek and tickle its chin to make it coo
and smile.  He might have been excused if he was proud of his boy, for
he was a noble little fellow,--a "braw chiel," as he was pronounced to
be by his grand-aunt, Mistress Tibbie Mactavish, who had presided at his
birth,--and likely to do no discredit to the name of Murray.

"The cutter ought to have been back by this time," said Alick at length,
looking at his watch; "Archie has had a fair tide from Oban, and a
leading wind up the loch.  I hope that he has not managed to run the
_Stella_ ashore.  Ben Snatchblock knows the coast, and he himself should
be pretty well acquainted with it."

"Perhaps Mr Adair did not arrive at the time expected, and Archie
would, of course, wait for him," observed Stella.

"That may be the case," said Alick, taking the telescope from a bracket
on the wall, and looking through it down the loch.  "There is no sail in
sight like her, but I see a four-oared boat, which has just passed Bunaw
Ferry, pulling up the loch.  Can Adair by any means have missed the
cutter, and be making his way alone to us?"

"Probably she contains a party of tourists on an excursion," said
Stella.

"She is, at all events, steering for Bercaldine," observed Murray; "if
she does not bring Paddy Adair, you will have the opportunity of
exhibiting the small Alick to some other visitor.  I will go down to the
pier to receive him, whoever he is, with due honour."  Saying this,
Murray, having bestowed a kiss on his wife's brow, and given another
tickle to his baby's chin, which produced an additional coo of delight,
hurried down to the landing-place, towards which the boat was rapidly
approaching.  He had his telescope in his hand.  He stopped on the way
to take another look through it.

"It is not Terence, but--who do you think?--our old friend, Admiral
Triton!" he shouted out, as he looked back to his wife; and then hurried
on to the landing-place, that he might be there before the admiral could
step ashore.  In a few minutes he was receiving the old man's hearty
grasp of the hand, as he helped him out of the boat.

"I had long promised to pay a visit to some friends in the Highlands,
and I determined to make a trip a few miles farther and take you by
surprise, for I knew that I should be welcome at whatever time I might
arrive," said the admiral.

"Indeed you are, my dear sir," answered Murray; "most sincerely I say
it.  We are flattered by your visit."

"Give me your arm, my boy, for I don't walk up hill as easily as I used
to do a few years back," said the admiral, leaning somewhat heavily on
the young commander as he stumped along with his timber toe.  "Stay! by
the bye, I must dismiss my crew," he exclaimed, stopping short.

"Let them come up to the house first, admiral," said Murray; "they would
consider otherwise that we were forgetful of Highland hospitality at
Bercaldine.  You will find your way up to the kitchen, my lads, by
yonder path," he added, turning round to the boatmen.  "The cook will
have a snack for you before you pull back to Oban."

The men touched their bonnets, and gratefully grinned their assent to
the laird's proposal, as they tumbled out of the boat; while Murray
conducted Admiral Triton by the centre path, which led through the
grounds to the house.

Mrs Murray, having deposited the wee Alick in the arms of Polly, stood
ready to receive them.

"I am delighted to see you looking so bright and blooming, my dear Mrs
Murray!" exclaimed the old admiral, shaking her warmly by the hand; "it
shows that the Highland air agrees with you, notwithstanding your long
sojourn in the West Indies."

"Except in being more bracing, the climate differs but little from that
to which I was accustomed in the north of Ireland till I grew up; and I
was scarcely long enough in the West Indies to become acclimatised,"
answered Stella, and a shade passed over her countenance as she
recollected the trying scenes she had gone through during the time to
which the admiral referred.

He observed it, and changed the subject.  "And so you are expecting to
see our old shipmate, Terence Adair?" he remarked, as he sat himself
down in a chair which Murray placed for him.  "I shall be heartily glad
to shake him by the hand again, and to talk over old times.  I haven't
forgot his making me carry his portmanteau for him, the rogue!" and the
admiral chuckled and laughed, and told Stella the story while he rubbed
his hands.  "I made him pay, though.  He thought he was going to do me
out of that, but I was too sharp for him.  Ha! ha! ha!" and he laughed
till the