I have had more than
an ordinary sailor deserves."
"But you are not an _ordinary_ sailor," said the girl quickly. "Father
knows of your people--" She paused. "Oh, I beg your pardon," she
cried.
"Listen," said Dan, quietly. "When I was younger, about to enter
college, a careless, happy life ended. I began all over again then. I
date everything from that beginning--from the time I went aboard a
tug-boat--the Lord knows why--and tried to do something. What I have
done, what I shall do, dating from that time, I stand on. Before that
my battles were fought for me. After that the fight was my own. And I
have never regretted one bit of it; nor am I ashamed of one single
minute from the time I slung hawsers on the _Hydrographer_ until I
commanded the _Fledgling_. And I shall always rejoice, and my friends
must rejoice, in that part of the fight, and never seek to hide a
single incident. It's all behind now, but it was worth while. And a
man must go on--"
"Yes, I know," replied the girl, softly. She turned her face from the
silvery path on the water.
"And you are not going to stop fighting. Oh, you will not stop! You
will go on and on. Men like you never stand still. I know it is the
truth. What difference can your past life make to your friends? It is
never what a man was or might have been that counts, or what he may be;
it is what he is.
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