And so it befell that when the good ship _Fearless_ drew up to the dock at San Francisco, the young wireless operator, much to his surprise as well as distaste, found that his quick wit and unfailing courage had made of him a popular hero. But he steadfastly disclaimed having done anything unusual. If he had fought a good fight and "kept the faith," it was, after all, only his duty.
"Well, yes, but admitting all that," said Dick, "it's so unusual for a fellow to do even that, that when it does happen the world insists on crowning it. You know.
"'The path of duty is the road to glory.'"
Neither knew at the moment how much of prophecy there was in that quotation. For Glory beckoned, though unseen, and Bert in the near future was destined to win fresh laurels. How gallantly he fought for them, how splendidly he won them and how gracefully he wore them will be told in
--Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
--Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.
--Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
--Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
--Page 149: oe ligature expanded (manoeuvering).
End of Project Gutenberg's Bert Wilson, Wireless Operator, by J. W. Duffield