"'Who sighted the gun?'
"'I did, sir.'
"'Why did not the regular gunner do that?'
"'He did, sir, but I also took observations, and raised the muzzle
.000327 of an inch.'
"'Was your gunner inaccurate, then, to that extent?'
"'No, sir, but I had weighed the ammunition, and found it short by two
ounces and thirty-seven grains.'
"I must not bore you with all the questions and answers. I merely give
these as samples. They questioned me about the recoil, the action of
the gun, the state of this, that and the other after firing, and
luckily I was able to answer to a dot every query put to me. At the
finish one of the judges asked me to give in my own words my opinion
of the gun. Admiral Sir John glared at him as he put this question,
for of course to any expert the answers I had furnished, all taken
together, gave an accurate verdict on the gun, assuming my statements
to have been correct, which I maintain they were. However, as Sir John
made no verbal comment, I offered my opinion as tersely as I could.
"'Thank you, Lieutenant Drummond,' rumbled Sir John in his deep voice,
as if he were pronouncing sentence, and, my testimony completed, the
Committee rose.
"I was out in the street before Billy Richardson overtook me, and then
he called himself to my attention by a resounding slap on the
shoulder.
"'Alan, my boy,' he cried, 'you have done yourself proud. Your
fortune's made.
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