When my ancestors were burglar-barons, his were men-at-arms.

When we went on the Crusades they went too; when we raised a regiment for the King against the Parliament they were naturally the first to enlist in it; and as we gradually settled down into peaceful respectability they did the same.

Lastly, when we went into trade as ironmasters and engineers they went in too.

This Murgatroyd, for instance, was master-foreman of my works at Smeaton, and he was the only man I dared trust with the secrets of the _Astronef_, and the only one I would trust myself on board her with, and that's why we're a crew of two.

You see the command of a vessel like this is a fairly big business, and if it got into the wrong sort of hands----" "Yes, I see," said Zaidie with a little nod.