The Dreadnought Boys on Battle Practice Read online

  CHAPTER IV.

  THE DREADNOUGHT BOYS HAVE AN ADVENTURE.

  The _Rhode Island_, the largest and fleetest of the big passengervessels plying Long Island Sound between New York and New Englandports, was ploughing her way through a wild, bitter night in the latterpart of March, down the narrow, tempestuous passage of water dividingthe mainland from the low-lying expanse of Long Island.

  Although the snow swirled and the wind screamed through the vessel'sfunnel stays and lofty wireless aerials as if it would root themout, every window and porthole on her three lofty decks glowed witha cheerful yellow light. The lively strains of an orchestra wereoccasionally swirled away on the fierce wind, when the door of the mainsaloon swung open to admit or give egress to a passenger.

  The laboring vessel had run into the storm at sundown that evening,and now, as she forged her way through the choppy seas off PointJudith, she was, despite her great size, thrown and tossed about likean empty bottle at the mercy of the seas.

  As the vessel gave an unusually heavy plunge, the companion door oncemore opened, and in the sudden flood of light that illumined the darkdecks for a brief interval, the stalwart figures of the two DreadnoughtBoys were revealed. Both wore heavy "service" overcoats buttoned up totheir chins, and these they secured more tightly about themselves asthey faced the storm.

  Both lads were heavier, even more bronzed, and keener of eye than whenwe saw them last. Their four months of vigorous training had, too,given them a manly air of self-reliance.

  "Wow!" exclaimed Herc, as the wind hit them full and square and gavepause for a second even to their well-knit frames. "This is a hummer,and no mistake, Ned!"

  "Nothing to what we'll get when we go cruising under Uncle Sam's flag,"laughed the other. "I tell you, Herc, that this isn't a circumstance tothe gales I've heard they get off Cape Hatteras."

  "Why, what are you talking about?" rejoined Herc, pulling his capcloser over his head of bright red hair. "This wind is worse than theone that blew the roof off gran'pa's barn last New Year's eve, and thatwas a hummer, if you like it!"

  "Still thinking of the old farm and Lambs' Corners, eh?" laughed hiscompanion, with a hearty chuckle that sounded as if it came from thedepth of his full, deep chest and excellent lungs. "Well, now thatyou're a full-fledged jackie, Herc, it's time to forget the stock andthe barnyard, and think of the big guns and the fighting tops."

  "Well, anyhow," grunted Herc, as if to change the conversation,"blowing as it is, I'd rather be out here than in that stuffy saloon,for all the lights and the music and the dressed-up ladies."

  "Same here," rejoined his companion. "Crickey! that was a lurch, if youlike! Hold on, Herc!" he shouted, as the other went sliding off acrossthe slippery deck, under the impetus of the plunge. "We don't want tolose you just yet, you know. And, moreover, this is no skating rink,but a passenger steamer carrying two new-fledged ordinary seamen----"

  "Blamed ordinary!" grunted Herc, in parenthesis.

  "From the Naval Training School at Newport to New York, to join theirship, the U. S. S. _Manhattan_," went on Ned.

  "Dreadnought, isn't she?" sputtered Herc, as a great, hurtling mass ofspray was flung aboard by the angry wind.

  "That's right. The newest vessel in the navy. We're mighty lucky boysto have got the berths."

  "I agree with you," rejoined Herc, brushing his hand across his eyes,where the tang of the salt water still stung him. "I'd be altogetheras satisfied as a woodchuck in a corn patch if only that fellow HankHarkins hadn't been detailed to the same squadron. He means to give ustrouble, Ned. I'm sure of it."

  "I'm not afraid of any trouble that a bullying cad like Harkins canmake," was Ned's brisk reply. "Anyhow, he is detailed to duty on the_Illinois_; and now, Herc, we've been standing here long enough. We'lltake a brisk walk around the decks, to get the cobwebs out of ourbrains, and then we'll turn in--how's that suit you?"

  "Fine," rejoined Herc, as the two young seamen started to circle theswaying decks at a good brisk pace. "I'm as sleepy as Uncle Fred'sprize Berkshire after a bran mash."

  Immediately on being passed at the New York recruiting office, thelads, as we know, had been ordered to report at the training station atNewport, where they had remained for the prescribed four months, beinggiven in that period a thorough schooling in the detail work of theordinary seaman in the United States navy. They had also gone throughsetting-up exercises that had, even in that short period of time,changed their physiques from the somewhat round-shouldered, slouchingaspect peculiar to country boys to the smart appearance and trim get-upof Uncle Sam's sailors.

  While in the school they had received a salary of seventeen dollarsand sixty cents a month, and as uniforms, food and washing wereall provided by the government, they had incurred no expenses, andhad a good part of their money in their pockets when they left thetraining-school with their "papers" endorsed "Excellent" in red ink,with a special "good-conduct" mention.

  That afternoon they had embarked on the _Rhode Island_ for New York,where the vessels of the North Atlantic squadron lay in the NorthRiver, awaiting the command to leave for the naval base, at Guantanamo,Cuba, for battle practice.

  "Well, Herc," said Ned, after the two lads had circumnavigated theslippery decks a few times, "let's turn in, for, if I'm not mistaken,we have a trying day in front of us to-morrow."

  As the boys were unlocking the door of their stateroom, which openeddirectly onto the deck, the _Rhode Island_ gave a plunge that broughther almost on her beam-ends, and sent Herc, who was balancing himselfas best he could, while Ned fiddled with the lock, careening fullagainst a tall, gray-mustached man of upright bearing, who was justabout to open the door of the stateroom adjoining the boys'.

  Herc's heavy frame, with the added impetus given to it by the swerve ofthe vessel, banged into the other with the force of a projectile, andthe two went struggling helplessly toward the scuppers.

  Strive desperately as he would, Herc could not regain his balance, andafter waving his long, sinewy arms round a couple of times in a vaineffort to recover his equilibrium, he collapsed in a heap at the edgeof the deck. In his fall he brought down the dignified gentleman, whoin the meantime had been striving as hard as Herc to keep upright.

  "I--I--I beg your pardon, I'm sure!" sputtered Herc, as he scrambledto his feet and reached out a hand to assist the other to a standingposition. "It was quite an accident--as gran'pa said when Betsey, ourmuley cow, kicked Lem Betts in the eye."

  "Thank you, my lad," responded the other, accepting Herc's aid andstanding erect once more. "I am sure that, as in the case of yourgrandfather's cow, the disaster was unintentional."

  The boys, for Ned had by this time unlocked the door, and had beentaking in the embarrassing incident, regarded the tall stranger withsome interest. He was distinctly different from the ordinary citizen.His skin was bronzed and weather-beaten, and, beneath his close-croppedgray mustache, his mouth quivered humorously at poor Herc's obviousembarrassment.

  "Why," went on the object of their attention, regarding them in thelight which streamed from the open cabin door of the boys' stateroom,"I see that you lads are both recruits to the navy. What ship, may Iask?"

  "The new Dreadnought _Manhattan_, sir," said Ned, proudly throwing outhis chest, as he always did instinctively when he mentioned the name ofthe big fighting ship to which they had been assigned.

  The gray-mustached man's eyes twinkled more than ever.

  "The _Manhattan_, eh?" he repeated reflectively. "Well, in that casewe shall probably see more of each other. In any case, I thank you foryour assistance"--turning to Herc--"rendered after you had 'boarded' mein such unceremonious fashion."

  With a pleasant smile, he turned into his cabin, picking up as he didso a suitcase which had been deposited by him at the stateroom door,just before the unhappy Herc went careening across the deck.

  "Say," whispered Herc, in an awed tone, as their new acquaintancevanished into his room, "did you see the letters on the end of thesuitcase?"
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  "No," answered Ned sleepily, "I'm too tired to pay attention toanything but that snug-looking bunk there."

  So saying, he closed the door on the storm, and, seating himself onthe edge of a lounge at one end of the cabin, began to remove his shoes.

  But Herc would not let the subject drop.

  "Well, _I_ noticed them," he continued in the same awed voice, "and Ibelieve that we've got ourselves in bad right on the start."

  "Why, what's the trouble, Herc?" inquired Ned, interested despitehimself in his red-headed companion's eager tone.

  "Well," said Herc impressively, "it said 'F. A. D., Commander U. S.N.,' on that suitcase, and it looks to me as if we had started ourcareer in the navy by an act 'of gross insubordination,' as they'd havecalled it at Newport."

  "How do you mean?" asked the sleepy Ned, stifling a yawn.

  "Why, here am I, Herc Taylor, ordinary seaman, of Lambs' Corners, NewYork, butting commanders about as if they were ninepins and I was abowling ball, that's all!" groaned Herc. "And that looks to me like afirst-class way to get in bad."

  "Herc, you are incorrigible," groaned Ned; "and I agree with you. Ifthis adventure of yours doesn't turn out badly for both of us, I shallbe much surprised."