THE NEEDS OF THE NAVY 
 
 
The air of the room was quite sweet and heavy 
with the savour of forbidden kisses ;  a faint moist 
sense of sweat steamed up in the twilight, and 
there was a sound of breath that did not dare to 
breathe, of sighs choked by fear.  The midship-
man’s head silently turned round and his tongue 
pushed languidly forward to touch the lips of the 
lieutenant.  A sound in the next room ;  both trem-
bled violently, sprang from the sofa where they had 
been lying and hastily arranged the disorder their 
passion had made necessary.  The middy took his 
lover’s hand, raised it to his lips, bit it hard with 
sudden mad desire and whispered, in a voice 
shuddering with un-satiated lust “ Ah God !  Ah 
God !  I love you now ! ”  He slipped through the 
door and left Andrew Clayton to sweet memories 
and disquieting thought of the future.  For Monty 
Le W... had never given him his love before.  Monty 
was a dark, languid-eyed boy with jetty hair ;  there 
was about him the indefinable air that sexual per-
verts recognize so quickly, a closer union than ma-
sonry can boast.  In fact, he had not been on board 
H.M.S. Osiris a week before the Captain had pro-
moted him to a dignity sufficiently high to excite 
the envy of the boys who had till then held the 
proud distinction of favourite catamite.  A furious 
battle between the jealous beauties ended in their 
growing so excited over the spilt blood and the vio-
lent physical pain that the spectators were scan-
dalized by the sight of an impromptu orgie as infu-
riate as the fight had originally been.  The boys were 
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