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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42940 ***
+
+          The Battleship Boys in Foreign Service
+
+                          OR
+
+           Earning New Ratings in European Seas
+
+                   By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+
+    Illustrated
+
+    THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
+    Akron, Ohio             New York
+    Made in U. S. A.
+
+    Copyright MCMXI
+    _By_ THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+    PRINTED IN U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "Hip, Hip, Hooray!" Yelled Dan.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER PAGE
+
+I. BATTLESHIP BOYS TO THE RESCUE 7
+
+II. A SERIOUS CHARGE 20
+
+III. AMBASSADORS ON THEIR TRAIL 32
+
+IV. ICE CREAM COMES HIGH 42
+
+V. A PLUNGE INTO SOCIETY 52
+
+VI. STRANDED IN A STRANGE CITY 59
+
+VII. UNDER THE FLAG ONCE MORE 66
+
+VIII. HIS FIRST COMMAND 74
+
+IX. ROUNDING UP THE STRAGGLERS 83
+
+X. OUTWITTED BY A BOY 95
+
+XI. BETWEEN SKY AND SEA 106
+
+XII. IN THE COILS OF A "TWISTER" 118
+
+XIII. TWO ARE MISSING 127
+
+XIV. DOWN THE AMMUNITION HOIST 136
+
+XV. LAND HO! 146
+
+XVII. ON GIBRALTAR'S PEAK 154
+
+XVII. ON THE BLUE MEDITERRANEAN 167
+
+XVIII. JOLLY TARS IN EGYPT 178
+
+XIX. ON THE SHIPS OF THE DESERT 193
+
+XX. CALLING ON THE MUMMIES 201
+
+XXI. CONCLUSION 209
+
+
+
+
+The Battleship Boys in Foreign Service
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BATTLESHIP BOYS TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+"This is the famous Bois de Boulogne Sam."
+
+"The what?"
+
+"Bois de Boulogne, one of the most popular drives in Paris."
+
+"Huh!" grunted Sam Hickey. "That sounds to me like some kind of sausage.
+What do they ever name their streets that way for in Paris?"
+
+"All the names in this great, gay city mean something," answered Dan
+Davis. "This park here bears the same name. It was infested by desperate
+robbers as far back as the fourteenth century."
+
+"Robbers!" exclaimed the red-haired boy.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are they here yet?"
+
+"No; Napoleon cleaned them out. We shall soon be out by the Arch. The
+Frenchmen call it Arc de Triomphe."
+
+"They do?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Just like that?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"I'll bet there isn't a Frenchman in France who would know what you were
+talking about if they heard you call it by that name. I don't know
+anything about French, but if that is French give me plain United
+States. You are sure there are no robbers left in the Bologna sausage?"
+
+"Bois de Boulogne, Sam," corrected Dan. "No; there are no robbers here.
+You need not be afraid."
+
+"Afraid! What do you take me for, Dan Davis. I----"
+
+"Hark!"
+
+"Nothing of the sort. I'm no coward. I, a sailor in Uncle Sam's Navy,
+and afraid of robbers? Pooh!"
+
+"Listen! Did you hear that, Sam?"
+
+"Hear what? No; I didn't hear anything. But--wow! What's that?"
+
+Hickey gave a sudden startled jump.
+
+"It's a woman's scream," breathed Dan, listening intently. "Did you hear
+it?"
+
+"I--I should say I did. Yes, and there it goes again. She's some sort of
+foreigner. I wonder what is going on?"
+
+The scream was repeated. Though the lads were unable to understand what
+the voice was saying, it was evident that the woman, whoever or whatever
+she might be, was in dire distress.
+
+"Where is it--where is it?" demanded Sam, now very much excited.
+
+"The sound came from off yonder, where the trees are thickest."
+
+"I see nothing."
+
+"I do," answered Dan. "See, yonder is a carriage. Come on! There's a
+woman in trouble. What is it?" shouted the boy, raising his voice.
+
+"Help! Help!" came the answer in plain English.
+
+"It's one of our own countrywomen--our own United States. We're coming,
+madam!"
+
+Dan was off with a bound, followed a few paces behind by his red-haired
+friend, Sam Hickey.
+
+As they ran they made out a coupé that had been drawn up beside the
+road. One man was holding the horses by the heads, while a group of
+others were standing by the door of the carriage.
+
+"What's going on there?" demanded Dan.
+
+"I--I guess Napoleon didn't chase all the robbers out," stammered Hickey
+in a doubtful tone.
+
+"They are robbers and they're robbing two lone women," exclaimed Dan.
+
+"I guess we're Johnnie-on-the-spot, then," answered Sam. "Me for the
+party holding the horses. He looks kind of weak like."
+
+Two women, attired in evening gowns, were standing beside their
+carriage, which, at a glance, was seen to be an elegant private
+equipage. The men surrounding the women wore small, black caps with the
+visors pulled down over their eyes, and long, flowing handkerchiefs
+about their necks.
+
+As the lads drew near they saw two of the men strip the handkerchiefs
+from their necks, quickly twisting the cloths about the necks of the
+women. The cries of the latter were stilled almost instantly.
+
+"Break away, you villains!" roared Dan Davis.
+
+"Yes; chase yourselves or you'll get your faces slapped," added Sam.
+"Vamoose! Allez vous--scat!"
+
+"We're coming, ladies! Charge them, Sam! They're thugs! Look out for
+yourself!"
+
+"I've got one of them!" yelled Sam Hickey triumphantly.
+
+In passing the horses he had sheered close to the fellow who was
+holding them, hitting the man a blow on the jaw that tumbled him over in
+a heap. The man did not rise, but Sam was too excited to notice the
+fact.
+
+"Whoop!" he howled, making a rush and coming up by his companion. "We're
+the wild men from the land of the cowboy!"
+
+The boys swept down on the robbers, the formers' fists working like the
+piston rods of a locomotive.
+
+The ruffians turned on them instantly.
+
+"Quick! Into your carriage!" called Dan. He had neither the time nor
+opportunity to assist the ladies in doing so. Both boys were now
+altogether too busy to give further heed to the frightened women.
+
+Smashing right and left, they fell upon the robbers.
+
+Bang!
+
+A bullet whistled close to the head of Sam Hickey. The latter made a
+dive for the man who had fired the shot, and ere the fellow could pull
+the trigger for another shot, Hickey's fist had struck him on the jaw,
+laying the fellow flat on his back.
+
+"Whoop!" howled the boy. "That's the way we do the thing in the good old
+United States."
+
+Dan was having a lively battle with two men, each of whom held a knife
+in his hand and was making quick thrusts at the lad, who was quickly
+diving in and out.
+
+All at once Dan's foot came up. It caught one of the men on the wrist of
+his knife hand. The fellow uttered a yell and his knife went soaring up
+into the air. Dan tried to serve the other assailant in the same way,
+but instead of reaching the man's wrist, the kick caught the fellow in
+the stomach. This answered quite as well. With a groan the robber fell
+down heavily.
+
+"Lay in! We've got them!" yelled Davis.
+
+"I am laying in," answered Sam. "Lay--lay in yourself. Whoop! That was a
+beauty. I spun him like a top. He's spinning yet! Watch him, Dan!"
+
+Dan knew better than to turn his head. Three desperate men were now
+seeking to surround and put an end to his fighting abilities. Dan found
+them more difficult to handle than he had those others who had gone down
+under his sturdy blows.
+
+In the meantime the women had sprung into their carriage, and the
+driver, whipping up his horses, had started away.
+
+Attracted by the uproar, a squad of gendarmes were bearing down on the
+scene on the run.
+
+"Robbers!" yelled the driver in French as he swept past the officers of
+the law.
+
+"Where?"
+
+The driver pointed with his whip toward the trees under which the battle
+was being waged.
+
+"The police!" yelled one of the robbers, catching a glimpse of the
+gendarmes, as the latter ran into the light of a street lamp.
+
+Instantly every man of the robbers plunged into the bushes and
+disappeared, those who had been knocked down by the two brave lads
+having gotten to their feet just in time to get away.
+
+"Follow them!" cried Dan. "We'll capture a couple of them, anyway."
+
+Sam caught a foot on the curbing and fell headlong. His companion
+hesitated for one brief instant. Both lads thought they had put the
+robbers to flight. They did not know that the desperate men had seen the
+police coming, for the cry of "police" had been uttered in French.
+
+"Look out! Here they are again!" warned Dan. "Sail in, Sam! They've
+surrounded us."
+
+Sam was up like a flash. They were now well off the road. The spot was
+dark and the boys did not know that it was the police who had come upon
+and surprised them.
+
+Dan Davis laid low the first gendarme just as the man placed a hand on
+his shoulder. Sam gave the next officer a good stiff punch that must
+have made the man's head swim, for it sent him staggering away.
+
+Hickey uttered a yell of triumph. His fighting blood was up. He went at
+them with a rush, punching with both hands, nearly every blow taking
+effect.
+
+All at once Dan Davis made a discovery.
+
+He caught the glint of a brass button.
+
+"Cease firing!" he roared.
+
+"Not on your life! Not till I've licked this heathen----"
+
+"Sam! Sam! Stop! It's the police we are fighting! Stop, I tell you!"
+
+Hickey's ready fists dropped to his sides. He stepped back, half
+inclined to run.
+
+"Well, well! What do you think of that?" he growled.
+
+Dan, too, had stopped fighting the instant he made the discovery that it
+was the police whom they had assaulted. He sprang back, gazing almost in
+awe at the rest of the squad of gendarmes who were bearing down upon
+them.
+
+"This is the time we have put our foot in it. Gentlemen, I beg----"
+
+He did not finish the sentence.
+
+A blow from one of the gendarmes laid him flat on the ground. At the
+same instant three men jumped on Sam Hickey. They took him so utterly
+unawares that he had not made the slightest resistance.
+
+"Get away, you fools! Don't you know----"
+
+Hickey's breath was fairly knocked out of him. He was at the bottom of
+the pile, unconscious almost the next second.
+
+The Battleship Boys had gone down fighting valiantly, the lads whom the
+readers of this series now know so well. They were the same boys who, in
+"THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA," enlisted in the United States Navy,
+serving their apprenticeship at the Training Station in Newport. It was
+there that they proved by their faithful attention to duty, their
+courage and fitness to serve the Flag of their country. Then, on board
+the battleship "Long Island," it will be recalled how Dan Davis whipped
+the bully of the ship in a fair stand-up battle; how Hickey was punished
+for an offence for which he was not wholly to blame, being confined to
+the brig on rations of bread and water; and how finally both lads proved
+themselves by their heroic rescue of a drowning diver. The latter was
+the man who had been responsible for all their trouble on shipboard. For
+their bravery in facing almost certain death the boys were rewarded by a
+grateful government in the bestowal of that much-coveted decoration, the
+medal of honor.
+
+Again, in "THE BATTLESHIP BOYS' FIRST STEP UPWARD," the reader will
+remember Sam Hickey's having sighted a "shooting star," while on lookout
+duty, and that the shooting star was a rocket signal of distress from a
+sinking schooner. It will be recalled how Dan Davis was left alone on
+the doomed ship; how the battleship turned its big guns on the schooner,
+shooting the decks from beneath his feet, and how, in the end, the
+plucky lad saved the schooner and its cargo. Dan's heroic effort in
+saving a boat load of men from almost certain destruction by a rushing
+torpedo, and his winning of a promotion to the grade of petty officer
+will also still be fresh in the reader's mind.
+
+And now the boys were on their first foreign cruise. The battleship
+"Long Island" had come to anchor off Boulogne, France. The Battleship
+Boys had asked for a shore leave of one week, which was readily granted
+to them. In that time they had planned to visit Paris and London, which
+they would have ample time to do, and rejoin their ship before their
+leave of absence expired.
+
+They had arrived in Paris that morning, after an all-night ride on one
+of the fastest express trains in France, but which Sam Hickey had
+referred to under the undignified title of "milk train."
+
+After considerable difficulty they had secured lodgings at a pension, as
+the boarding houses in France are called, and had at once started out to
+see the city. This they did with the aid of a map. They were
+self-reliant boys, and the thought of getting lost did not trouble them
+at all.
+
+During the afternoon they had wandered off along the fashionable avenue,
+the Bois de Boulogne, and into the beautiful park of the same name,
+where they lingered until nearly night. Hunger alone brought them to a
+realization that it was time they sought their lodgings. So anxious were
+they to see Paris, that they had forgotten all about breakfast, and,
+when noon arrived, they saw no place where they could procure food.
+
+They were on their way back when they met with the adventure that now
+promised to involve them in serious difficulty. They had assaulted a
+body of men who were police officers of the republic of France.
+
+The gendarmes had not seen the robbers. They had seen only Dan Davis and
+Sam Hickey, who now presented a most disreputable appearance. The boys
+had lost their caps bearing the name of their ship, their blouses were
+torn and covered with dirt, while Dan's shirt was ripped in several
+places where the knives of the desperate men had made great rents in
+it, his trousers were torn, and his face bruised where he had been
+struck by one of the robbers. Hickey was in a similar condition.
+
+The gendarmes were chattering loudly, accompanying their words with wild
+gestures.
+
+Making sure that their prisoners were wholly overpowered, they quickly
+secured them, one of the number in the meantime having sent in a call
+for a patrol wagon. Soon the auto wagon came puffing up and backed down
+to the curb.
+
+Quite a crowd had gathered, attracted to the scene by the uproar.
+
+"What is it?" questioned one after another.
+
+"Apaches!" answered the officer in charge.
+
+A growl of rage ran over the gathering. There is no criminal in Paris so
+dreaded or so hated as the one who belongs to the so-called "Apaches."
+These men have but two aims in life--to rob and kill. It is nothing to
+them who the victim may be, or how innocent. They are infinitely worse
+than the worst red Indian of the past.
+
+The Apaches are found everywhere in Paris, and woe to the stranger in
+the gay city who happens to stroll out alone at night, for the Apache
+will track him to the death if he chances to strike the stranger's
+trail.
+
+It was this desperate band of criminals to which Dan Davis and Sam
+Hickey were supposed by the police to belong. On the contrary, the
+Battleship Boys had met and practically whipped a band of Apaches single
+handed and without weapons. It was an achievement to be proud of, had
+they known it, but at that moment neither lad was in a condition to
+realize anything.
+
+Searching the clothes of their prisoners for weapons, and finding none,
+the gendarmes picked Dan up by the head and heels, hurling him into the
+patrol. Next came Hickey. He was thrown in on top of his companion.
+
+Half a dozen officers piled into the wagon and sat down on their
+prisoners. At that moment the patrol started away with the two boys,
+moving over the smooth pavements of the French capital almost without a
+jar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A SERIOUS CHARGE
+
+
+By the time the patrol reached headquarters the Battleship Boys had
+recovered consciousness. They were half-smothered, lying on their faces
+as they were.
+
+Sam began to fight and kick.
+
+"Get off my neck!" he howled, in a muffled voice. "Get off, or I'll pass
+you a punch when I get out of this!"
+
+"Keep quiet, Sam," advised Dan. "They will use you roughly if you
+don't."
+
+"Keep quiet, nothing! I'll show them they can't use an officer in Uncle
+Sam's Navy this way."
+
+His further remarks were lost, for the man who was sitting on Hickey's
+neck moved over, throwing his weight on the lad's head.
+
+Soon after that the wagon drove up before the dingy headquarters. The
+prisoners were jerked from the wagon rather than lifted out, and were
+dragged into the building, up a pair of stone steps and along a dimly
+lighted corridor.
+
+Arriving in front of a grated door, the policemen in charge of the boys
+waited until an attendant had unlocked and opened it, whereupon they
+threw the Battleship Boys inside.
+
+The door shut with a loud clang, and the gendarmes marched away, down
+the corridor without a word to their prisoners.
+
+For a moment the boys lay where they had been thrown. Then Dan sprang to
+his feet, and, going to the door, peered out into the corridor. All he
+could see was a brick wall in front of him.
+
+Sam sat up, rubbing his red head reflectively.
+
+"I wonder where we are?" muttered Dan.
+
+"Where we are?" repeated Sam.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Don't you know?"
+
+"I do not."
+
+"I know."
+
+"Where are we?"
+
+"We're in the brig again."
+
+"In the brig? Why, we are in Paris. Have you forgotten? I guess your
+shaking up must have resulted in a loss of memory."
+
+"I have forgotten nothing. I'll never forget the wallop I got. Say, Dan,
+do you know what they hit me with?"
+
+"No, that is what I have been trying to decide in my own case."
+
+For a few minutes there was silence.
+
+"This is a nice mess--a fine mix-up!"
+
+"Yes," agreed Dan Davis. "I fear we have gotten ourselves into a lot of
+trouble. We have assaulted the Paris police. I wonder what the captain
+of the 'Long Island' will say when he hears of it?"
+
+"If it's left for us to tell him it will be a long, long time before he
+hears anything about it."
+
+"Don't be foolish. We will tell the police the truth and they will have
+to let us go; but the question is, when are we going to be allowed to
+tell the truth? It doesn't look as if we were even going to be
+questioned to-night."
+
+For full two hours the boys sat on the hard stone floor, discussing
+their predicament, trying to plan some way of extricating themselves
+from their present unfortunate position. No conclusion was reached. All
+they could now do was to wait and trust to luck.
+
+"Well, I'm going to bed," announced Sam Hickey.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Right here on the floor. It isn't much of a hammock, but I'm going to
+pipe myself down just the same. I wish I were back on the battleship.
+Don't you, Dan?"
+
+"Yes, I do. Good night, Sam."
+
+"Good night."
+
+Sam rolled over on his back, using his arms for a pillow, and was soon
+snoring loudly. This made Dan feel sleepy, and he, too, shortly toppled
+over sound asleep.
+
+How long they had lain thus they did not know. Sam suddenly awakened.
+Some one had hold of one of his feet and was dragging him across the
+cell.
+
+"Leggo my foot!" yelled the red-headed boy, struggling to get up.
+
+Dan, hearing the commotion, bounded to his feet. He was quickly seized
+and jerked out into the corridor, where he was soon joined by Sam. Then
+they discovered that they were in the hands of officers, though not the
+same ones who had arrested them.
+
+Neither of the officers said a word, but, taking firm hold of the arms
+of their prisoners, marched them rapidly down the corridor.
+
+"I guess they must be going to hang us," said Hickey.
+
+"They don't hang people over here," answered Dan.
+
+"They don't?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What do they do with them?"
+
+"Guillotine them."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"In other words, they cut your head off here in France," answered Dan,
+with a short laugh.
+
+"Wow!" exclaimed Sam with such vehemence that the officers in charge of
+him gave him a violent shake, uttering some rapid commands in his own
+language.
+
+"I guess we'd better not stir up the animals any more," said Sam, with a
+wink at his companion.
+
+"No. And be careful what you say. Do not volunteer any information. It
+will perhaps be better for me to answer the questions, unless they
+question you directly."
+
+The officers conducted the lads into a sort of reception room, where
+they stood holding tightly to their prisoners until a door was opened at
+the far end of the room and another man in uniform beckoned them to
+enter. The officers did so, thrusting their prisoners into the room
+ahead of them.
+
+Unlike the outer room, this one was brilliantly lighted; so much so that
+the boys blinked vigorously for a few seconds. Then, becoming used to
+the light, they began to take stock of their surroundings.
+
+The first thing that caught their attention was a keen-faced man sitting
+behind a flat desk, industriously twirling his moustache as he surveyed
+them keenly from beneath half-closed eyelids.
+
+The boys gazed at him intently. There was no quailing on their part,
+though had they realized what a questionable looking pair they were,
+they might have lost some of their assurance.
+
+The officer behind the desk addressed them in French.
+
+"We do not speak your language, sir," spoke up Dan.
+
+"Ah, so I perceive," answered the man in very good English. "You are
+English?"
+
+"Not much. We're Yankees," Sam blurted out with considerable emphasis.
+"And you'd better not monkey with us unless you want the United States
+Government to get you by the collar and jerk you seven different ways at
+the same time."
+
+"Be silent!" thundered the officer.
+
+"I'm mum," answered Sam, with a sheepish grin.
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Sam Hickey, sir."
+
+"And yours?" glancing at Dan.
+
+"Daniel Davis."
+
+"Residence of both?"
+
+"United States of America," answered the boys with one voice.
+
+A clerk was noting down their replies.
+
+"May I ask, sir, why we are thus detained? We have done no wrong."
+
+"Stop! I will ask all the questions here. What is your business, if you
+have any?"
+
+"We are sailors on the U. S. S. 'Long Island.'"
+
+"Sailors, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"If this be true, where are your uniforms?"
+
+"We are wearing what is left of them, sir."
+
+The officer glanced at the trousers of the lads and observed that they
+were such as were worn by sailors.
+
+"A very excellent disguise."
+
+"Disguise!" exclaimed Sam with explosive force. "What are you talking
+about?"
+
+"Be quiet," warned Dan. "You are only making it the harder for us. He
+doesn't believe our story, as it is."
+
+"I don't care whether he does or not. I'm getting warm where my collar
+was until it was torn off. Disguise! The idea!"
+
+"What are you doing in Paris?"
+
+"Getting into trouble, principally," muttered Sam under his breath.
+
+"We came here to see the city, sir," answered Dan.
+
+"When?"
+
+"This morning, or yesterday morning. I do not know whether it is morning
+or evening now," he answered.
+
+"You say you are from a United States ship?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"What is the captain's name?"
+
+"Captain Farnham, sir."
+
+"Where is your ship?"
+
+Dan told him.
+
+"When did the ship arrive?"
+
+"Yesterday morning."
+
+The officer went over some papers on his desk, finally selecting one
+which he consulted, then replaced it on his desk with a nod.
+
+"Where is the rest of your gang?"
+
+"What do you mean, sir?"
+
+"The other men who ran away."
+
+"I am sure I do not know. We were trying to catch up with them when we
+were caught."
+
+"Ah! You admit!"
+
+The officer spoke rapidly in French to the clerk, who scribbled
+industriously.
+
+"Well, sir, what have you to say for yourself?" demanded the officer
+abruptly, turning toward Sam.
+
+"I've got a lot that I should like to say, if you will give me half a
+chance," said Sam promptly.
+
+"I'll hear your story. Bear in mind that whatever you say will be used
+against you. It is being taken down by the secretary. Speak! I shall
+listen."
+
+"It was this way," began Hickey.
+
+"Be brief!" commanded the officer sternly.
+
+"We were walking along Sausage Avenue, peaceable like----"
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"He means the Bois de Boulogne," explained Dan, with the trace of a
+smile on his face. "Never mind, Sam; I will tell the officer, if he will
+permit."
+
+"Silence!"
+
+He motioned for Hickey to continue.
+
+"As I was saying, we were walking along Bologna Avenue----"
+
+"Bois de Boulogne," again corrected Dan.
+
+"Yes; something of that sort. We were talking, when, all at once, my
+friend here heard a woman scream. Then two women screamed. We didn't
+know what they were screaming about, because they were screaming in some
+language we didn't understand. Maybe they were talking in French. I
+guess they were. Well, we didn't know what kind of trouble it was, but
+we knew it was a woman in trouble, and that was enough."
+
+"Proceed!"
+
+"We sailed in. There were a lot of fellows attempting to rob a couple of
+ladies beside a cab. We thought so, anyway, and we mixed it up right
+away. I gave the fellow who was holding the horses a short arm punch
+over the eye with my left, and hooked his jaw with my right. You ought
+to have seen him curl up and go to sleep," added Hickey, with a laugh.
+
+"Never mind that; tell me what happened."
+
+"That's what I'm trying to do, if you will let me alone. While I was
+doing that, my friend Dan had fired himself right into the bunch. He put
+several of them out and by the time I mixed in everybody was fighting.
+Some of the fellows tried to stick us with knives, and one miserable
+coward fired a shot at me. I guess he came pretty near winging me. His
+bullet nearly clipped a lock of hair from my head. Well, anyway, we had
+them pretty well thrashed when, all of a sudden, one of the robbers let
+out a yell and in a minute they had hit the trail for the bushes, with
+Dan and myself after them. If I hadn't fallen over a curbstone maybe we
+would have caught them. About that time the police jumped on us, and I
+don't remember very much after that, until we were taking a ride in the
+automobile."
+
+"Your story is well told, but it is not in accordance with the facts."
+
+"You mean that I lie?" demanded Sam belligerently.
+
+"Why did you assault the gendarmes?" demanded the official, ignoring
+Sam's question.
+
+"We did not know they were the police, sir," spoke up Dan Davis. "We
+could not see plainly in the darkness under the trees. We thought the
+robbers had returned. We defended ourselves as best we could, sir. I am
+sorry we struck any of your men; it was a mistake."
+
+The official, with chin in hand, regarded the boys thoughtfully for a
+minute or so.
+
+"Your story is not satisfactory."
+
+"I am sorry, sir," answered Dan.
+
+"We might give you another one. Perhaps that would please you more,"
+growled Sam, whose temper was rising.
+
+"Oh, Sam!" exclaimed Dan.
+
+The eyes of the official narrowed.
+
+"I have no doubt of your ability to do so," he said sarcastically.
+
+The officer pressed a button, whereupon four police officers entered the
+room. Addressing them in French, he said:
+
+"Remove the prisoners to the Conciergerie," this being the detention
+prison where those awaiting trial were confined. "I am satisfied that
+they are desperate characters."
+
+"What are you going to do with us?" demanded Sam Hickey sullenly.
+
+"Put you both in prison."
+
+"Sir," spoke up Dan, "may I not ask why you are doing this--what charge
+is made against us?"
+
+"Yes, seeing you are so innocent, I will tell you. You were caught red
+handed. You are accused of attempting to rob two women--you are accused
+of assaulting police officers of the republic of France, and, further,
+you are believed to belong to the desperate band of Apaches with which
+our city is infested."
+
+Dan uttered an exclamation of surprise.
+
+"Well, I must say you're the worst lot of thick-heads I ever saw in my
+life," remarked Sam in deep disgust.
+
+The official waved them away, whereat the officers led the boys from the
+room.
+
+"I wish we could get word to the battleship," said Dan in a low tone. "I
+wish I had thought to ask him to permit us to do so."
+
+"It wouldn't do any good. They're determined to make a mark of us. But
+wait till the Old Man hears of this. Won't he raise a row? Won't he make
+these chattering Frenchmen stand around lively? Well, I guess he will!"
+
+"Perhaps Captain Farnham may not know anything about it, and when we do
+not return on time we will be black-listed as deserters. That will be
+awful."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+AMBASSADORS ON THEIR TRAIL
+
+
+The entire matter was laid before the Prefect of Police shortly after
+the Battleship Boys had been removed to another cell in the
+Conciergerie. He listened gravely to all the facts, nodding his approval
+of the work of his assistants.
+
+At the direction of the police head a message flashed over the wire half
+an hour later, as follows:
+
+     "Farnham,
+
+     "Commanding U. S. S. 'Long Island':
+
+     "Two men giving the names of Davis and Hickey, accused of having
+     held up and robbed two women in this city to-night, claim to be
+     sailors on your ship. Do you know them? Not only this, but they
+     assaulted the officers who sought to arrest them. The prisoners are
+     believed to be Apaches. The courtesy of a reply is solicited.
+
+     "Lepine,
+
+     "Prefect of Police."
+
+Day had barely dawned, when another message was flashed over the wires.
+This one, however, came from Boulogne and was addressed to the American
+Consul to France, instead of to the prefect of police. It read as
+follows:
+
+     "Hamlin, Consul,
+
+     "Paris:
+
+     "Those crazy French police say they have two men, Davis and Hickey
+     from my ship, locked up accused of highway robbery. Preposterous!
+     They are two of my best men. Get the men out at once, please. No
+     finer types than these two to be found in the enlisted force.
+     Kindly acknowledge at once.
+
+     "Farnham,
+
+     "Commanding U. S. S. 'Long Island.'"
+
+Consul Hamlin was a man of action as well as a diplomat. Urgent though
+the captain's message was, however, international diplomacy would not
+permit the consul to go direct to the office of the Prefect of Police.
+There were certain set forms that must first be observed. But the consul
+lost no time. The wheels of the great government machine were set in
+motion on the instant. The first move was to communicate with the French
+foreign office.
+
+"The American consul desires an immediate audience with the premier, if
+possible," was the message that the former's secretary telephoned to the
+foreign office.
+
+This request being granted, Consul Hamlin entered his carriage and was
+driven to the foreign office, where an audience with the premier was
+accorded him at once. This meeting, though cordial, was extremely
+formal.
+
+"Your excellency," began the consul, "two of my countrymen are, I am
+informed, held by the police department, charged with having held up and
+robbed two women last evening. Has the matter been brought to your
+attention, may I ask?"
+
+"It has not."
+
+"Then I will give you such information as I possess in regard to the
+matter," said Mr. Hamlin.
+
+The consul stated his case, adding that if the men under arrest were the
+men he believed them to be, a very serious mistake had been made.
+
+The premier promptly put himself in communication with the Ministry of
+Justice, and the latter in turn with the Prefect of Police. All the
+facts in the possession of the police on this particular case were
+returned through the same channel.
+
+"I have the honor to inform you," said the premier, "that I have ordered
+the release of the men Davis and Hickey. They will be turned over to
+you, as you request, by the prefect in person."
+
+"I thank you--my profoundest thanks----"
+
+"No; it is for me to offer you an apology," interrupted the premier
+quickly. Then, with many expressions of good will on both sides, the
+consul took his leave. Half an hour later Mr. Hamlin was received by the
+Prefect of Police with great ceremony.
+
+"You are here," began the police official, "in behalf of the two young
+men whom we have in our charge----"
+
+"Accused of the attempted robbery of two women last evening. I am,
+monsieur."
+
+"And I am most happy to say that later investigations have made it easy
+for me to grant your request that they be liberated. I am now well
+satisfied that they are not guilty of the attempted robbery."
+
+"Naturally not."
+
+"But of the assault on my officers there can be no doubt. They----"
+
+"That was surely a mistake on their part, Monsieur le Prefect."
+
+"Yes, yes; no doubt----"
+
+"I am too glad to hear you say that, Monsieur le Prefect. These young
+men, I am informed by the commanding officer of their ship, are above
+reproach. A grave mistake has been made."
+
+The prefect bowed humbly.
+
+"A thousand pardons."
+
+"Will you be good enough to summon the young men here?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+A few moments later the Battleship Boys were standing in the presence of
+Mr. Hamlin and the Prefect of Police.
+
+"Well, lads, your appearance is certainly against you. Indeed, you look
+as if you might be all they have accused you of being," exclaimed Mr.
+Hamlin with a laugh.
+
+The faces of the Battleship Boys brightened. It was one of their own
+countrymen who was speaking.
+
+"What is your name?" he asked, addressing Dan.
+
+"I am Daniel Davis, sir. This is Samuel Hickey. I am a gunner's mate on
+board the 'Long Island,' he being a coxswain on the same ship."
+
+Mr. Hamlin nodded affirmatively.
+
+"How did you happen to get into the difficulty?"
+
+Dan related in a straightforward way all that had occurred on the
+previous night, not omitting their brief battle with the police, whom he
+said they had taken for the robbers attacking them again.
+
+Mr. Hamlin and the prefect listened attentively until the narrative came
+to a close.
+
+"The way of the peacemaker is hard indeed," smiled Mr. Hamlin.
+
+"But you see, sir, we were not exactly peacemakers," announced Davis.
+
+"I am forced to agree to that. Monsieur le Prefect, I presume there is
+no objection to these young men accompanying me from this place at once,
+is there?"
+
+"They may accompany you, certainly. That is in accordance with the
+request of the premier."
+
+"I thank you, Monsieur le Prefect. I hold myself wholly responsible for
+these young men."
+
+"Monsieurs, a thousand pardons," said the prefect, turning to the
+Battleship Boys with a profound bow. "You are at liberty to go where and
+when you please."
+
+"Come, lads; I take it you have no desire to remain here longer?"
+
+"I should say not," spoke up the red-headed Sam.
+
+Dan saluted the prefect, but Sam hardly more than glared at the police
+head as the boys left the office in company with the ambassador.
+
+"Well, lads, what do you propose to do now?" questioned Mr. Hamlin, when
+they had reached the street.
+
+"I think we shall finish our sight-seeing, sir," replied Dan.
+
+"Very good, but you need clothes, both of you. Have you a change of
+clothing with you?"
+
+"We have only these uniforms, sir."
+
+"Come with me, and I will see that you are fitted out."
+
+"Thank you very much, sir. We have money; but, if you will be good
+enough to show us where we can purchase clothes, we shall be under a
+further great obligation to you," answered Dan.
+
+Mr. Hamlin accompanied them to a store, where the boys were soon
+supplied with shore clothes, hats and all. They presented a far
+different appearance now. It was the first time they had worn citizens'
+clothes since they had entered the Navy, but they did not enjoy the
+change as much as they had expected. They would have preferred to be in
+their uniforms.
+
+"Now, my lads, keep out of trouble. I do not believe you need advice
+from me. You seem well able to take care of yourselves. Yet, should you
+have further difficulty, or if you wish to see me, come or send word to
+me at once. Here is my card."
+
+"We thank you very much, sir. Will--will you tell Captain Farnham that
+we are all right?"
+
+"Certainly. I shall wire him at once. By the way, where are you boys
+living?"
+
+"We have a room at 33 Place de la Concorde, sir. We have not slept
+there," added Dan, with slightly heightened color; "but we hope to do so
+to-night."
+
+Bidding Mr. Hamlin good-bye, the Battleship Boys started away for their
+lodgings. At about that time another gentleman called at the office of
+the prefect. The card that he send in read, "Guillermo Martinez,
+Ambassador."
+
+He was the Spanish ambassador to France.
+
+Señor Martinez's greeting was most cordial, but the ambassador lost no
+time in stating the object of his visit.
+
+"You have two young men here, I believe, Monsieur--young men who are
+said to have robbed or attempted to rob two women in the Bois de
+Boulogne last evening?"
+
+"Two young men were arrested," he replied.
+
+"They were sailors?"
+
+"I believe they are."
+
+"English sailors?"
+
+"No; American."
+
+"Ah! It is well. I have come here, with the permission of the premier,
+to request that those young men be liberated at once."
+
+"I have but now received a message from the Ministry of Justice,
+requesting that I receive you. I am honored, señor. May I inquire your
+interest in this matter?" questioned the prefect, shrewdly suspecting
+the truth.
+
+"Because I have reason to believe that a serious error has been
+committed."
+
+"Indeed, señor! On whose part, may I ask?"
+
+"I should say that it was on the part of your department, Monsieur
+Prefect--that a great injustice has been done to two very brave young
+men, who risked their lives to serve two women in dire distress."
+
+The prefect smiled.
+
+"If these men whom you have in custody are American or English sailors,
+I beg that you may quickly convince yourself of their innocence and
+liberate them. I ask this in my official capacity."
+
+"The foreign governments appear to be taking a deep interest in the case
+of these young men, señor."
+
+"Why say you that, Monsieur le Prefect?"
+
+"Because you are the second official who has been here this morning
+demanding that they be set free," answered the police officer,
+smilingly. "It is most surprising."
+
+"Indeed."
+
+"They may not be, and probably are not, guilty of the robbery charge,
+but at least the men assaulted my officers."
+
+"I am sure that feature of the case could be easily explained."
+
+"You would have difficulty in convincing the officers who were assaulted
+of that," laughed the chief.
+
+"Will you release the men?"
+
+"It will give me great pleasure to serve you, señor, in any manner in my
+power. Do you know the women who had such a narrow escape last evening,
+may I ask, señor?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Would it be proper for me to ask their names!"
+
+"They are my wife and daughter," announced the ambassador. "Both ladies
+were positive of the facts as I have stated them----"
+
+"That the men were sailors?"
+
+"Yes. And when they read this morning that two sailors had been
+arrested, accused of the attempted robbery, the ladies were greatly
+disturbed. They insisted that justice be done, that I spare no efforts
+to obtain the release of the brave young sailors."
+
+"Disturb yourself no more, Señor Ambassador."
+
+"You mean?"
+
+"That the men have been discharged. They are free."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ICE CREAM COMES HIGH
+
+
+"Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream! Can't you understand that much
+English?" demanded Sam Hickey.
+
+The Battleship Boys had entered the first restaurant they found. This
+proved to be none other than the Café de la Paix, one of the fashionable
+resorts of Paris. The waiter who attended their table was unable to
+speak a word of English, nor could either lad make his wants known, but
+the waiter quickly brought an employé to whom the boys stated their
+wishes.
+
+"Four dishes of ice cream, and in a hurry," commanded Sam Hickey. "What
+are those things in the basket there?"
+
+"I do not know," answered Dan. "They are some kind of cake. I see them
+on each of the tables."
+
+"I'm going to help myself. They don't look very nourishing for a good,
+healthy appetite like mine, but they are better than nothing at all."
+
+Sam helped himself liberally. The cakes tasted so good that he ate ten
+of them; then, motioning a waiter, he ordered another basketful. By this
+time the ice cream was served. Ice cream was a luxury that the
+Battleship Boys did not get on shipboard, so they ordered another plate
+each.
+
+"There, I guess that will keep me going until supper time," decided Sam.
+"I wonder how much we owe him?"
+
+"I should say about a dollar," answered Dan, motioning for the garçon
+and asking for their check.
+
+Dan's eyes grew large as he examined the bill that had been laid beside
+him.
+
+"I'm hungry yet. I could eat another round of the same thing," announced
+Sam. "How much does he say it amounts to?"
+
+"I'm trying to figure it out. Six ice creams, thirty francs. Twenty-five
+biscuit at a franc apiece, twenty-five francs. Fifty-five francs
+altogether."
+
+"Fifty-five francs!" exclaimed Sam. "Wha--wha--how much is that--how
+many cents is that in plain United States? I never could figure this
+heathen money."
+
+"Five francs make a dollar," figured Dan, talking to himself. "Five goes
+into fifty-five eleven times. That's eleven dollars' worth of ice cream
+and cakes we have eaten."
+
+"Eleven dollars?" gasped the red-haired boy.
+
+"Yes, that's it," answered Dan ruefully, gazing at his companion in a
+dazed sort of way.
+
+"But we didn't order any cakes, Dan."
+
+"It's those round cakes that were in the basket. They were put here so
+we would eat them. That's a trick we didn't know anything about."
+
+"Eleven dollars," groaned Sam. "It's highway robbery. I wish we had held
+up the women and----"
+
+"Sam!"
+
+Dan's tone was sharp.
+
+"Don't let me hear you speak like that again."
+
+"No; I'm to be the easy mark. I'm to be frisked eleven dollars' worth,
+and----"
+
+"Don't grumble; let's pay and get out, or they----"
+
+"Yes, they'll be charging us rent for the chairs we are sitting in,
+first thing we know. Can't we steal some spoons to get even?"
+
+Dan was handing the waiter the money, which he did without comment, Sam,
+meanwhile, slowly counting out his share of the check, which he passed
+over to his companion.
+
+"What do they call this place, Dan?" questioned the red-haired boy as
+they started away.
+
+"Café de la Paix."
+
+"That's it. We should have known better. I see it all now. Why didn't we
+look at the sign over the place before we went in?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Café de la Pay. That's it; that's the place."
+
+"Sam Hickey, have you gone crazy?"
+
+"Café de la Pay--that's the place where you pay. And we did pay. I never
+knew a place that was so well named," continued Sam with a sickly grin.
+"We paid, didn't we?"
+
+"'Leven dollars' worth," answered Dan sheepishly. "Are you still
+hungry?"
+
+"Hungry? No; I've lost my appetite; I've changed my mind. I shan't dare
+get another appetite while I am in Paris. Say, it's lucky they locked us
+up in the brig over at police headquarters, isn't it?"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because we'd be about a million dollars in debt by this time. Whew, but
+they've got the original get-rich-quick scheme in this burg. Come on;
+let's go out in the park where we will not see things to eat. They
+excite me too much. I'm liable to lose control of myself and eat again.
+If I change my mind again we're lost."
+
+As they stepped out a group of men made a sudden rush toward them.
+
+"Guide, guide, guide, sir--guide? Have a guide? Show you all the sights
+of Paris----"
+
+"We do not wish a guide, thank you," answered Dan.
+
+"Guide, guide, guide, guide----"
+
+"Say, why didn't you fellows come around, last night?" demanded Sam. "We
+needed a guide then. We don't now. We've been guided up against pretty
+nearly everything that ever happened, as it is."
+
+By this time others of the same sort had hurried to the scene. All were
+shouting at once. It seemed as if all the guides in Paris had
+congregated in front of the Café de la Paix for the sole purpose of
+waylaying the unsuspecting Battleship Boys.
+
+Several guides grabbed Dan by one arm, while as many more caught hold of
+Sam. Now others took a hand, pulling this way and that.
+
+"Show you everything for five dollars, that's all. Show you----"
+
+"See here, you fellows!" demanded Hickey, whose color was rising with
+his temper. "I cleaned out a bunch of Apaches last night and I licked
+half a dozen policemen to rest myself. If you want the same kind of a
+hand-out just keep right on. Leggo my arms!" he roared. "Shove off!"
+
+For an instant the men did let go.
+
+"Give them the flying wedge, Dan!"
+
+The boys bolted through the throng of guides, bowling two or three of
+them over, sprang out into the street, then ran across to the opposite
+side.
+
+"Let's get out of this confounded town," grumbled Sam. "First thing you
+know I'll be getting into a fight. I shouldn't like to get mixed up in
+one, 'cause I promised the captain I'd behave myself while I was over
+here."
+
+"Come along," said Dan, taking his companion by the arm. "We will go to
+see the sights by ourselves. I guess we shall see as much without a
+guide as with one. No telling what sort of trouble these fellows would
+get us into. I don't like their looks at all."
+
+"They'll look worse if they ever grab hold of me that way again."
+
+The boys hurried around a corner and down the Avenue de L'Opera. They
+looked very neat and well groomed in their new suits. They strolled
+along after getting out of sight of the guides, visiting some of the
+smaller parks of the city. Chancing to come across a tourist agency they
+bought seats on a "Seeing Paris" car, and were driven about the city
+with a lot of other tourists, most of whom were Americans. With some of
+these they got quite well acquainted.
+
+The visitors inspected the Cathedral of Notre Dame, erected in the
+twelfth century; stood within the portals of the Madeleine, the famous
+little edifice occupied by the insurgents during the Commune, and in
+which building three hundred of them were shot down.
+
+The Battleship Boys also visited many other famous churches and noted
+public buildings. The other Americans, having learned who the lads were,
+made it their business to explain to them all about the places visited,
+relating many interesting historical stories, some of which were already
+familiar to Dan Davis, who had read widely for his age.
+
+The day that had begun so unhappily for the boys came to a close all too
+soon, and they decided to return to their boarding house, which was not
+far from where the tourist automobile stopped to discharge its
+passengers.
+
+They had paid for their accommodations at the pension for the full time
+they expected to be in Paris, so they had no fear of being overcharged
+for their meals there.
+
+The table looked most inviting as they entered the dining room, taking
+the places assigned to them.
+
+The boys had just begun their dinner when they were summoned to the
+drawing room, where they found a foreign-looking man in livery awaiting
+them.
+
+"Are you Monsieur Dan Davis?" he asked in English, but with a strong
+foreign accent.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You are to go with me, you and your friend."
+
+"Go with you?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Look out," whispered Sam. "I'll bet this is another pay-as-you-enter
+game; then they won't give you anything to eat after you get in."
+
+"I do not understand you, sir. Why should we go with you?"
+
+"The carriage awaits you at the door."
+
+"'The carriage awaits you, sir,'" mimicked Sam, with a grimace at his
+companion.
+
+"Be still, Sam. I do not understand at all what you mean, sir. Have you
+not made a mistake? We know no one in Paris--no one would send a
+carriage for us."
+
+For answer the servant extended an envelope, bearing a coat of arms. Dan
+opened it wonderingly.
+
+     "Mr. Daniel Davis and Mr. Samuel Hickey are requested to dine with
+     the Spanish ambassador, Señor Guillermo Martinez, this evening at
+     8.30 o'clock."
+
+Dan opened his eyes wide when he read this, then passed the invitation
+to his chum. Sam perused it, cocked one eye up and winked at Dan.
+
+"We seem to be getting quite popular. What are you going to do?"
+
+"I do not know what it all means, but I'm going to accept the
+invitation, though I am not sure I am right in doing so. What do you
+think about it, Sam?"
+
+"I don't think. I've gotten past thinking. Things are moving too fast
+for me. I'm out of commission."
+
+"Do you know why the ambassador wishes to see us?" he asked of the
+servant.
+
+"No, sir. He did not say, sir. He said he would tell you when you
+arrive. Will you be ready soon?"
+
+"We are ready now. We will be with you as soon as we get our hats."
+
+It took the lads but a few moments to make themselves ready, after which
+they hurried down to the street. There they found a handsome carriage,
+with a coachman on the box, awaiting them.
+
+Entering, they were driven rapidly away.
+
+"This is different," laughed Dan, settling back among the soft cushions.
+
+"Yes; it's somewhat different from last evening," answered Sam. "We
+didn't have any soft things like these to sit on then."
+
+"No; and we knew little more about what was going to happen then than we
+do now."
+
+"I'm willing to take a lot of chances on this, just the same," retorted
+Sam, with an audible chuckle.
+
+The carriage drove up in front of a handsome residence on the Champs
+Elysées, almost directly opposite the Elysée Palace Hotel, the door of
+the vehicle was opened and the Battleship Boys stepped out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A PLUNGE INTO SOCIETY
+
+
+"Welcome, my lads!" greeted the Spanish ambassador, grasping the lads
+warmly by the hand. They had been led into a broad hall by a footman and
+then on into a drawing room brilliantly lighted.
+
+The boys had never gazed upon such a brilliant scene; for a moment they
+were too dazed to speak. Suddenly they realized that the ambassador was
+introducing his wife, Madame Martinez. Then a beautiful, dark-eyed girl
+was led forward.
+
+"This, young gentlemen, is my daughter, Señorita Inez Martinez, to whom
+we hoped you might owe your liberty. Happily, however, for you, your own
+consul succeeded in getting you released before the matter was brought
+to my attention. I trust you have suffered no ill effects from your
+unjust imprisonment?"
+
+"No; thank you," answered Dan.
+
+"On the contrary, it was a mighty good thing for us," spoke up Hickey.
+
+"How so?" asked the ambassador.
+
+Dan nudged his companion, but there was no stopping Sam when he once got
+started.
+
+"Why, sir, these get-rich-quick people would have had all our money by
+this time. I never saw anything like it."
+
+"You do not mean that you have been robbed?"
+
+"Oh, no," interrupted Dan. "You see, we do not know the ways of the
+country. We thought we had paid too much for some things. It is all good
+experience, however, and we are not finding fault."
+
+"Ah! I hope you like Paris? I take it, this is your first visit here?"
+suggested the ambassador's wife.
+
+"Is it not a glorious city?" added the daughter.
+
+"Yes," agreed Dan, "it is a wonderful city."
+
+"I don't think so," objected Sam. "I've had a hard time of it ever since
+I came here--that is--until--until to-night," as he noted the eyes of
+the beautiful señorita fixed upon him.
+
+Somehow her voice had a strangely familiar ring to him. He felt sure
+that he had heard it before, but the more he thought about it the more
+perplexed did he grow. The young woman seemed to divine what was passing
+through the red-headed boy's mind. She smiled teasingly, then began
+talking as if to give him further opportunity to make up his mind where
+he had seen her before.
+
+Dan, too, was puzzled, but he concealed his perplexity better than Sam
+had. Davis was growing quite at his ease. It seemed to him as though he
+had always been with people of this sort, and he found himself talking
+easily and well, discussing many subjects with which the average sailor
+is not expected to be familiar.
+
+"I take it that you lads hope to be petty officers one of these days,"
+said Señor Martinez.
+
+"We have already won our ratings in that class, sir."
+
+"Indeed. What is your rating, if I may ask?"
+
+"I am a gunner's mate on the Battleship 'Long Island.' My friend is a
+coxswain connected with the same ship."
+
+"Do you--do you shoot the big guns?" questioned Señorita Inez, with a
+brilliant smile.
+
+"I hope to do so, some day--that is, I hope to do so at target practice,
+though I trust the time may never come when I shall have to train a gun
+on the ship of another government."
+
+"I am with you in that, my lad. I hope it may never be your lot to do
+so. Of course you have ambitions to rise in your profession?"
+
+"Yes, sir; it is our hope to become officers of the line at some time in
+the distant future."
+
+The ambassador nodded thoughtfully.
+
+"It is a splendid career that your Navy offers. Any man who has it in
+him to advance himself may do so. The opportunities are unlimited."
+
+"Yes, sir; but the way is hard."
+
+"All things worth having are difficult of attainment. Were they not,
+there would not be rooms for those at the top," smiled the Señor.
+
+The dinner was the most elaborate that the Battleship Boys had ever sat
+down to. Their host was in uniform and the ladies were in evening gowns,
+while behind the chairs of each stood a servant in livery.
+
+The Battleship Boys were filled with wonder over what had befallen them.
+Strangely enough, their host seemed quite familiar with their records,
+and all about their experiences with the Paris Apaches and gendarmes.
+
+Señor Martinez appeared to take a keen enjoyment in their perplexity,
+though he was forced to admit that Gunner's Mate Davis was sufficiently
+well-bred to hide his curiosity.
+
+At last the dinner came to an end, whereupon the party withdrew to the
+drawing room.
+
+"Shall I sing for you?" asked the señorita, with a flash of her black
+eyes.
+
+"I should be most happy to hear you," replied Dan courteously.
+
+"Yes; I like singing," added Sam. "The singing we hear on board ship,
+sometimes, makes you wish you could jump overboard."
+
+A well-bred laugh greeted his announcement.
+
+"Do you sing?" questioned the young woman.
+
+"I thought I did once."
+
+"When was that?"
+
+"At a Sunday-school picnic that I attended at home in Piedmont."
+
+"Oh! And did you sing?"
+
+"They all said I didn't. They said my voice was a poor imitation of a
+steam calliope."
+
+The well-bred laughter of the little company was lost in a roar. A
+glance at Hickey's twinkling eyes told them that he was far from dull,
+and that he was enjoying the fun he was creating fully as much as the
+rest were.
+
+"So, you didn't sing after all?"
+
+"No, I didn't sing. I just made a noise that might have been singing--if
+it had been."
+
+Thus the evening passed, full of song, of laughter and brightness.
+
+Dan, after a time, glanced at a French clock on the mantle. He gave a
+start when he noted that it lacked but fifteen minutes of midnight.
+
+"Oh, we must be going, sir. I did not know it was so late," he said,
+half rising.
+
+"In a moment, my lad. I presume you are somewhat curious as to why I
+invited you to my home this evening?" questioned Señor Martinez
+quizzically.
+
+"We are, indeed, sir. I have been wondering why you should do such a
+thing. We are just plain American sailors, sir, serving our country as
+best we know how. We are not used to being received in the splendid way
+you have received us to-night."
+
+"My lad, that was well said. It has been an honor to have you here. We
+have felt the keenest pleasure in being able to ask you. As for your
+being plain American sailors, let me say that such men as you and your
+friend would be a credit to any Navy. I congratulate yours in possessing
+you. Can you not guess why you have been invited here this evening?"
+
+"I have not the slightest idea, sir."
+
+"No, we're all at sea, and I guess that's the proper place for sailor
+lads," added Sam.
+
+"I had very good reasons. You have done myself and family a very great
+service."
+
+"A service?" exclaimed Hickey wonderingly.
+
+"Yes. And let me say here that perhaps I never should have known of you,
+had not my wife and daughter insisted that I look you up and ask you to
+come here. They have purchased a little gift for each of you, which you
+will find at your pension upon your return. I have had it sent there so
+that you may have a little surprise when you reach your lodgings."
+
+The boys did not answer. There was nothing they could think of to say.
+
+"Have you not noted anything that struck you as familiar about my wife
+and daughter?"
+
+"Mr. Hickey has," interjected the young woman, with a merry twinkle in
+her eyes, "He has been wondering all the evening where he has seen me or
+heard my voice."
+
+"That's the time you hit the target right in the center," answered the
+red-headed boy. "If I'd been a ship, and that had been a projectile you
+had fired at me, I'd been headed for Davy Jones's Locker by this time."
+
+The girl laughed merrily.
+
+"I'll tell you, my lads; you saw my wife and daughter last evening."
+
+"Last night!" exclaimed the boys.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Where, may I ask?"
+
+"On the Bois de Boulogne. It was they whom you saved from the terrible
+Apaches, who no doubt would have put them to death after having robbed
+them. You see, my lads, myself and family have reason for feeling that
+we owe you a deep debt of gratitude."
+
+"Is it possible?" muttered Dan Davis, looking from one to the other of
+the smiling faces.
+
+"Well, all I've got to say is that it was worth going to jail for,"
+added Sam Hickey, with an admiring glance at the señorita.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+STRANDED IN A STRANGE CITY
+
+
+"Dan, I've been touched!"
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Touched, I tell you! Touched," persisted Sam Hickey, raising his voice
+with each word.
+
+"You--you don't mean you've lost your money?" demanded Dan Davis
+incredulously.
+
+"No; I mean I've been touched for it."
+
+"Nonsense! You have lost it, if you haven't it. Look through your
+pockets again. You have put it in some other pocket; that's all."
+
+The boys were strolling slowly toward the pension where they were
+staying. They had insisted on walking back to their lodgings, after
+having left the residence of the Spanish ambassador, and this despite
+his warnings that it was not safe for them to do so at that hour of the
+night.
+
+"Have you found it?"
+
+"I have not. And that's not the worst of it."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I never shall find it."
+
+A troubled expression appeared on Davis' face.
+
+"How much, did you have with you?"
+
+"You mean how much did I have left?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I don't know. I never can learn to count this foreign money. I had
+quite a bunch of it. Maybe twenty dollars or something like that."
+
+"I am surprised, Sam. You are so careless. It's a wonder you did not
+lose your money before this. I take care of my money. You never heard of
+my losing any, did you?"
+
+"How about the café where you pay?"
+
+"That was different. That money was not lost."
+
+"Not lost?" exclaimed the red-headed boy. "Well, if it wasn't lost, will
+you tell me where it is? Will you tell me that?"
+
+"I spent it."
+
+"You bet you did. And I've spent mine, only I didn't get anything for
+it. This town is the limit. I don't wonder they had a revolution here.
+They will have another, too--you mark me! Now, you've had so much to say
+about my being careless with money, suppose you examine your own
+pockets. Maybe you've been touched, too."
+
+Dan laughed.
+
+"No danger of that. No one could go through my pockets without my
+knowing it."
+
+"Couldn't, eh? Why these Frenchmen could touch you through a stone
+wall, and never move a stone. Just for the fun of the thing, shell out
+and let's see what you have in your pockets."
+
+"All right; if it will please you. My money is safe."
+
+Dan thrust a confident hand into his trousers' pocket; then he went into
+the other pocket.
+
+An expression of surprise appeared on his face, as he drew forth a
+handful of small silver from a vest pocket.
+
+"Well, what about it?" demanded Sam. "Got it?"
+
+"I've--I've lost my money, too; almost every cent of it."
+
+Hickey uttered an uproarious laugh.
+
+"How much have you there?"
+
+"About five hundred centimes, that's all."
+
+"Five hundred centimes! You don't mean it?"
+
+"Yes; that's all."
+
+"All? Good gracious, isn't that enough? Why, man, it's a fortune. We're
+all right, even if I have lost mine."
+
+"Wait a minute. Do you know how much five hundred centimes is?"
+
+"No; ask me something easier."
+
+"Well, it is about the equivalent of a dollar in American money."
+
+Sam groaned.
+
+"Broke!"
+
+Dan nodded.
+
+"I don't understand it at all. Where could we have lost our money?"
+
+"Lose it, nothing! I tell you we have been touched--touched good and
+properly. It's a wonder they didn't take our clothes while they were
+about it. By gracious, they even got my jack-knife. I'll fight somebody
+in a minute."
+
+Dan did not answer. He was too amazed and upset to talk just then.
+
+"So no one can touch you without your knowing it!" jeered Hickey. "You
+are an easy mark. I am not in the same class with you. Hold me up while
+I laugh."
+
+"Don't laugh, Sam; this is serious."
+
+"Of course it is. I wouldn't laugh at it if it weren't. Most of the
+funny things aren't worth laughing at. The serious things are, most
+always."
+
+"Very well; laugh if you wish. I shan't. I am wondering what we are
+going to do. We certainly are in a fix."
+
+"You've got five hundred what-do-you-call-thems, haven't you?"
+
+"Five hundred centimes, yes. They will not go far. A dollar will not
+purchase much in France."
+
+"But the five hundred sounds big enough to buy a house and lot with. I
+could put up a pretty good bluff on five hundred of anything."
+
+"We had better go home. The hour is late. We can talk there, though
+talking will not help us out of this trouble at all."
+
+"Yes; that's a good idea. These Paris folks will have the shirts off our
+back if we stay out here much longer. What time is it?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+The boys wandered on, finding their pension without difficulty. Once in
+their own room, they sat down facing each other.
+
+"This is a nice mess we're in, Sam."
+
+"We've been in worse," answered the red-headed boy wisely.
+
+"It is fortunate for us that we have paid our board."
+
+"How about the return tickets? Have you lost those, too?"
+
+Dan went through his pockets again. The more he searched, the more
+excited he grew.
+
+"I--I----"
+
+"Stung again?" jeered Sam Hickey. "Maybe I got touched for my money, but
+I didn't lose my tickets. You lost them both. But have you lost them?"
+
+Dan nodded helplessly.
+
+"Oh, this is too bad!"
+
+"Yes; I wish I'd changed my mind and stayed aboard ship. Let's get back
+there right away."
+
+"How?"
+
+Sam reflected.
+
+"That's so," he said, with a grin.
+
+"There is no other way for it, but to walk."
+
+"How far is it to Boulogne?"
+
+"It must be all of a hundred miles."
+
+"Not for me," declared the red-headed boy, with an emphatic shake of the
+head. "Hello, what's that on the table there?" he demanded, suddenly
+espying a neatly wrapped package.
+
+Dan rose and took up the package. It was addressed to Daniel Davis and
+Samuel Hickey.
+
+"Open it."
+
+Davis was already doing so. He tore off the wrapping, disclosing a neat
+plush box underneath.
+
+"This must be the package that the ambassador referred to, Sam."
+
+"Yes, that's it. Hurry up and open it. I hope there's some money in it."
+
+"No; we could not accept it if there was. Ah!"
+
+"Well, what do you think of that!" muttered Sam.
+
+The ease upon being opened disclosed, to their amazement, two handsome
+gold Swiss watches, with solid gold chains attached. On the back of the
+first case Dan found his initials engraved. Opening the case, he read
+the inscription, "Presented to Gunner's Mate Daniel Davis for heroic
+conduct in saving two women from the Paris Apaches." Sam's case bore a
+similar inscription.
+
+"Beautiful!" breathed the Battleship Boys in one voice.
+
+"We're all right now," exclaimed Hickey.
+
+"How so?"
+
+"We can borrow some money on the watches."
+
+"I guess not," answered Dan firmly. "We'll walk first!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+UNDER THE FLAG ONCE MORE
+
+
+"I'm going to see the consul," announced Dan Davis next morning as they
+were dressing for breakfast.
+
+"Better wait until he gets out of bed," suggested Hickey.
+
+"Yes; we will walk about until ten o'clock; then I will go over. He will
+no doubt loan us enough money to pay our fares to Boulogne."
+
+"Sure thing. What's a consul for, if it isn't to help a
+fellow-countryman who is in trouble?"
+
+To their disappointment, they found the consul out. The boys called
+several times that day. At last, late in the afternoon, they found him
+at his office, when they quickly made known their predicament.
+
+"Certainly I will help you, my lads. I will send over and have your
+tickets bought for you. That will save you all trouble in the matter. I
+do not think you will be able to get a train until late this evening,
+however."
+
+"You are very kind, sir," said Dan. "As soon as possible after reaching
+the ship we will send you the money you have advanced to us."
+
+"Never mind that. It is but a trifle."
+
+"Oh, no, sir; that will not do. We shall return it."
+
+"If you wish to remain in Paris longer I will loan you more money."
+
+"Thank you, but we think it best to get back to the ship. Our leave has
+not quite expired, but we shall feel better to be back."
+
+The tickets were brought to them in due time. Late that evening the boys
+presented themselves at the Gare du Nord, the station from which they
+were to take a train for Boulogne. It was not yet train time, however,
+so the boys strolled about watching the people.
+
+"Guide, sir? Show you all about the city, young gentlemen?" questioned a
+man in fairly good English.
+
+Sam fixed him with a stern eye.
+
+"Get out!" he commanded.
+
+"Guide, sir?"
+
+"No, sir; we do not need a guide," spoke up Dan.
+
+"How much do you charge?" questioned Sam.
+
+"Two dollars for two hours."
+
+"Humph! I'll tell you what I'll do. If you'll stand up before me for two
+minutes I'll send you two dollars as soon as I get back to the ship."
+
+"Stand up before you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"For what?"
+
+"So I can knock your head off! I owe you fellows a thrashing."
+
+"And so do I," broke in Dan. "You go away from here and let us alone, or
+I'm liable to forget myself and give you a thumping that you won't
+forget for the rest of the season. Now, beat it!"
+
+"Yes, scat!" added Sam.
+
+The guide gazed at them for one apprehensive moment.
+
+The Battleship Boys made a threatening move in his direction, whereat
+the guide turned and beat a hasty retreat.
+
+Half an hour later, after much difficulty, the young sailors managed to
+find their way to a second-class carriage on the Boulogne train.
+
+At last they were on their way to their ship. The boys breathed a sigh
+of relief.
+
+"It has been a great experiment," said Dan.
+
+"Fine!" laughed Sam.
+
+"And we've seen a lot."
+
+"And got 'done' a whole lot more," added the red-headed boy. "If there
+is anything we haven't bumped up against I should like to know about
+it."
+
+Dan nodded reflectively.
+
+"Let me see; we have visited pretty nearly every point of interest in
+the French capital; we have had a battle with the Paris Apaches, got
+arrested and locked up; got our names in the Paris papers; had two
+government officials working on our behalf, and have been dined by the
+ambassador of a foreign power. That's going some, isn't it, Sam?"
+
+"Yes; but you have forgotten the most important part of it all."
+
+"What have I forgotten?"
+
+"That we got touched for our rolls, and went broke in Paree."
+
+Dan laughed happily.
+
+"The next question is, where are we going to sleep?"
+
+"We shall have to sleep sitting up."
+
+"Yes; these railway carriages, as they call them, are built on the bias.
+I'd like to see a fellow try to sleep on these seats, divided off by
+arms, without being crippled for life."
+
+Dan was looking about the carriage. Sam observed that his companion's
+face had suddenly lighted up.
+
+"Made a discovery, eh?"
+
+"Yes, and I have an idea."
+
+"Good! Get it off your mind before you lose it. What's the idea?"
+
+"I'm going to sleep in the upper berth."
+
+"The upper berth?" wondered Hickey.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I don't see any upper berth."
+
+"Then watch me."
+
+Dan proceeded to remove his coat and vest, collar and tie. Next he took
+off his shoes, Hickey in the meantime watching his companion with
+suspicious eyes.
+
+Along either end of the compartment, over their heads, was a luggage
+rack extending the entire length, or rather, width, of the compartment.
+
+Dan grasped the rack, pulled himself up to it and lay down as snug as if
+he were in reality in the upper berth of a sleeping car.
+
+"Hooray!" shouted Sam.
+
+"Can you beat it?"
+
+"Not this trip. You're a wonder, Dan. That's almost as good as the
+hammock on shipboard. Will the thing hold you?"
+
+"I hope so. It seems secure. You try the other one."
+
+"I don't know whether I want to trust myself in that spider web or not."
+
+"It's made of woven leather strands. It holds me all right. Try it."
+
+Hickey pulled himself up to the rack, lay down, then peered over the
+edge, grinning.
+
+"This isn't so bad, after all. But I dread to think what will happen to
+me if I should have the bad luck to walk in my sleep."
+
+"Don't do it. You must get used to it, for to-morrow night we shall be
+sleeping in our hammocks again."
+
+A few minutes later the boys were sound asleep, unmindful of the swaying
+of the rapidly moving carriage, which was almost like the roll of the
+ship. They did not awaken until daylight. The carriage had stopped and
+they could hear talking outside.
+
+"Breakfast time; get up!" shouted Hickey.
+
+A guard opened the door and peered in.
+
+"Hello, down there!" called Dan.
+
+"Yes; is that the way you bolt into a gentleman's bedroom without
+knocking?" demanded Hickey.
+
+The guard glanced up with a puzzled expression on his face, then slammed
+the door shut.
+
+"We'd better get out of here, Sam, or they will have the police after us
+again," muttered Dan, scrambling to the floor.
+
+Hastily pulling on their clothes, they got out to the platform, having
+recognized the station as Boulogne.
+
+"We've got to go without our breakfast this morning, Sam."
+
+"I suppose so," replied the red-headed boy ruefully. "My, but I've got
+an appetite!"
+
+"So have I, but it will keep."
+
+"I guess it will have to."
+
+Half an hour later the boys were standing on the quay. Off just outside
+the breakwater lay the battleship "Long Island."
+
+"Doesn't she look good?" breathed Dan. "I'm really happy to get back."
+
+"I'd be happier if I knew there was a square meal awaiting me," answered
+Sam. "How are we going to get aboard?"
+
+"I'll show you."
+
+Dan pulled out his handkerchief and began wig-wagging with it. After a
+little a signal flag was observed on the forecastle. It was waving a
+question.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"We want to come aboard," answered Dan.
+
+About that time the officer of the deck had leveled his spyglass upon
+the boys.
+
+"Messenger!" he called.
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+"Tell the captain that two men in citizen's clothes are on the quay
+asking to be put aboard."
+
+The messenger returned a moment later.
+
+"The captain wants to know who they are, sir."
+
+"Tell him they look to me like two of our men, Seamen Davis and Hickey.
+I do not know why they should be in citizen's clothing, however."
+
+Again the messenger hurried below with the information.
+
+"The captain says it is all right, sir. He says have a cutter go out to
+meet them, sir, and bring them aboard."
+
+A cutter was launched, and a few minutes later was plunging through the
+green seas, headed for the quay. Great seas were breaking over the dike,
+drenching those in the cutter as they shot alongside the quay.
+
+The Battleship Boys were taken off, and shortly afterwards they stepped
+to the deck of the "Long Island," coming to attention as they saluted
+the Flag.
+
+"Home again," said Dan, his eyes glowing happily.
+
+"You bet," answered Sam Hickey. "Got any real food aboard? I'm half
+starved. No more French biscuit diet for mine!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HIS FIRST COMMAND
+
+
+"The captain wishes to see you, sir," said an orderly, approaching Dan.
+
+"I am in shore clothes, orderly."
+
+"The captain knows that. You are to come at once."
+
+Dan hurried below, leaving Sam to tell the admiring sailors of the
+experiences through which they had passed in Paris.
+
+"Well, my lad," greeted the captain, with a laugh, "you are back, I
+see."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You did not stay your leave out?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Get tired of it?"
+
+"Well, yes, sir--rather."
+
+"How was that?"
+
+"We had a pretty good time. We saw everything worth seeing, I guess."
+
+"What is this that I hear about you lads trying to rob a couple of
+women?" questioned the captain, with a quizzical smile.
+
+Dan flushed rosy red.
+
+"Did you hear about that, sir?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Oh, yes, I remember! the consul said you had telegraphed to him. I am
+sorry, sir, that we got into so much trouble, but we did what we thought
+was right."
+
+"Indeed you did," answered the captain, dropping his quizzical tone.
+"Not only that, but you proved yourself real men. But did you really
+assault some of the French police?"
+
+"I am afraid we did," answered Dan, meeting his commanding officer's eye
+squarely.
+
+"Bad, very bad. But how did it occur?"
+
+Dan related, briefly, their meeting with the Apaches, and the fight with
+the police a few minutes later. From that he told of their arrest and
+imprisonment. Davis told the story well, the captain listening intently
+until the narrative was finished.
+
+"You boys certainly have had an experience. But you have not told me why
+you cut your leave short?"
+
+"We lost our money, sir."
+
+"Lost your money?"
+
+"Yes sir."
+
+"How did that happen?"
+
+"As my friend Hickey would put it, we were 'touched,' sir."
+
+The captain threw back his head, laughing heartily.
+
+"That is not a new thing to happen to a sailor. Do you know how it
+occurred?"
+
+"We can only guess at it, sir. We had been dining with the Spanish
+ambassador----"
+
+"Dining with the Spanish ambassador?" questioned the captain in
+well-feigned surprise.
+
+"Yes, sir; did I not tell you about that?"
+
+"No."
+
+"It seems that it was his wife and daughter whom we rescued from the
+Apaches. We did not know that until some time afterwards. The ambassador
+invited us to dine with them at the embassy; then later in the evening
+he told us who the women were that we had rescued."
+
+"Well, I must say you lads are getting on in the world pretty fast."
+
+"Yes, sir; it seems to me that we have not been losing any time."
+
+"I should say you had not. But about losing your money?"
+
+"We walked home from the ambassador's residence, sir. On the way we sat
+down on a seat in one of the little parks. We had not sat there long
+before two gentlemen came along and sat down. There was one on either
+side of us."
+
+"They began talking to us in English, and, learning who we were, became
+quite friendly. They were very pleasant gentlemen, sir."
+
+"So I should imagine."
+
+"After talking for some time, we decided to move on, and, bidding them
+good night, went to our pension."
+
+"Then you think those pleasant gentlemen were those who got your money?"
+
+"They must have been, sir. We were not near enough to any one else to
+give him a chance to get into our pockets. I am ashamed of myself, sir,
+to have been so easily fooled."
+
+"Many men more experienced than either of you lads have been taken in,
+my boy. You did very well. I commend you both for the way you have
+conducted yourself in the trying experiences you have had. The American
+consul said some very pleasant things about you."
+
+"We had to borrow some money off him to get back to ship, sir," said
+Dan. "I should like to return it to him at once. Shall I be able to put
+a letter ashore?"
+
+"I am afraid not. We shall be sailing very shortly now. We were
+waiting----"
+
+Some one knocked at the door.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Orderly, sir."
+
+"Yes, what is it?"
+
+"The master-at-arms reports that twelve men are ashore, having
+overstayed their leave, sir."
+
+"Thank you. Send the executive officer here to me."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+"Davis, go to the canteen at once, and procure your uniform. See that
+your rating badge is sewed on the sleeve; then report back to me here."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+Dan hurried away, delivering the captain's order to the keeper of the
+canteen. He was quickly furnished with a new uniform and a rating badge,
+the latter showing that he was a petty officer. This rating badge
+consisted of two white crossed cannon with three red chevrons beneath,
+all surmounted by a white eagle, worn on the sleeve.
+
+Dan went out on the spar deck where he changed his clothes abaft of the
+second stack.
+
+While he was thus engaged, the executive officer reported to his
+superior officer. The two officers were engaged in conversation for some
+moments.
+
+"See that the master-at-arms is informed immediately of my wishes. I am
+sending Davis because I wish him to have the experience."
+
+"Are the men to carry arms, sir?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has authority been obtained from the local authorities, sir?"
+
+"Yes; that has been arranged for, in case we found it necessary to land
+a patrol."
+
+"Very good, sir. Shall I send Davis to you?"
+
+"I already have ordered him to report. See that the master-at-arms has
+everything arranged at once. I desire to get away from here to-day if
+possible."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+The executive officer saluted and left the captain's cabin. He had been
+gone but a few moments when there came another knock at the door.
+
+"Seaman Davis, sir."
+
+"Come in."
+
+Dan Davis, in his new uniform, stepped into the room, looking very
+handsome and manly. He stood erect, with shoulders well back, in perfect
+military position.
+
+The captain surveyed him with critical but approving eyes.
+
+"I wish you to perform a service, Davis," announced the captain in a
+business-like tone.
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+"I am giving you this detail that you may get the experience. By rights,
+the marines should do it, though it is discretionary with me to send
+whom I choose. I have decided to send you."
+
+Dan did not reply. He could not imagine what was wanted of him.
+
+"You will take a detail of six men, armed, carrying five rounds of ball
+cartridges. Proceed ashore in steamer number one, and round up the
+delinquents. Bear in mind that you are on foreign soil, and that any
+indiscreet act on your part might involve the United States in trouble
+with the French government."
+
+The captain paused to give his words force.
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+Dan's eyes were sparkling, strive as he might to appear as if it were
+nothing unusual to be sent ashore at the head of a patrol.
+
+"Twelve delinquents are ashore, having overstayed their leave. Bring in
+all you can find, reporting to the American consul as to those whom you
+fail to round up. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You will use no unnecessary force, but simply bring in the men. You
+will remember that you are clothed with no little power. Exercise it
+discreetly. I know that I can depend on you. That will be all. Report at
+once to the master-at-arms, who has instructions and orders in this
+matter. Make all possible haste, as I desire to sail this afternoon, or
+as much earlier as is possible."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir. Is that all, sir?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The Battleship Boy saluted and retired. Proceeding directly to the
+forecastle, he reported to the master-at-arms, who had already ordered
+out the men who were to constitute the patrol.
+
+Dan's companions were looking on smilingly, for the lad was popular
+among his fellows.
+
+"Here is the list of the men whom you are to bring in," said the
+master-at-arms.
+
+Davis took the list, going over it deliberately and fixing the names in
+his mind, after which he stowed the paper in his blouse pocket.
+
+"You have your orders?"
+
+"Yes, sir; the captain has given me my instructions. You have no idea
+where I shall find the men, sir?"
+
+"No; that is for you to find out when you get ashore. Are you ready?"
+
+"All ready, sir."
+
+"Take charge of the patrol."
+
+"Carry arms!" commanded Davis, turning to his squad. "Right face,
+forward march! Board steamer!"
+
+The men scrambled over the side, going down the Jacob's ladder into the
+steamer that lay awaiting them below.
+
+"Cast off!" commanded the Battleship Boy. The steamer whistled once and
+headed for the landing stage.
+
+Dan sat on the stern rail alone. He was impressed with the importance
+of his assignment. He realized that he had it in his power, perhaps, to
+bring on war between two friendly powers. Every minute the steamer was
+drawing nearer and nearer to the landing stage.
+
+Dan felt no nervousness. He did not try to make up his mind what he
+should do when he got ashore. Time enough for that when he got there.
+
+The landing stage reached, the men were piped out.
+
+"Fall in, forward march, by twos!"
+
+The men fell into step and marched steadily up the street.
+
+It was a small command that Dan Davis had under him, but he was as proud
+of it as if he had been commanding a company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ROUNDING UP THE STRAGGLERS
+
+
+"Halt!"
+
+The men came to a quick stop in front of a resort where Dan thought he
+might possibly find some of the absent sailors.
+
+Instead of ordering his men to go in, he entered alone.
+
+"Have you any American sailors here?" he asked.
+
+The proprietor shook his head. He did not understand the words, perhaps,
+but he had seen the detail of armed sailors halt before his place, and
+well knew the meaning.
+
+"You are sure you have none of our men here?"
+
+"Non." (No.)
+
+"Who went into that room there?" pointing to a door that had closed with
+a bang as Dan pushed open the front door.
+
+The proprietor shrugged his shoulders and turned away.
+
+The boy's mind was made up at once. A few quick strides brought him to
+the door in question. He threw it open and sprang in.
+
+A pair of legs, clad in the blue of the Navy, were protruding from
+beneath a table. Dan grabbed the legs, giving them a mighty tug. The
+result was that a sailor was jerked out into the middle of the room.
+
+"So you thought you would get away from me, did you, Anthony? Stand up."
+
+Anthony did stand up. He sprang to his feet, launching a terrific blow
+at Seaman Davis. Dan merely parried the blow, making no attempt to
+return it.
+
+"Anthony," he said, stepping back. "I have a patrol outside. Do you want
+me to call them in?"
+
+"I'll lick you first," growled the man.
+
+"Stop where you are! You are not wholly responsible for what you are
+doing or saying, but you know what will happen to you if you resist. I
+came in here to get you, and I'm going to take you out with me."
+
+Dan whirled at that instant. He had caught an expression in the eyes of
+his man that told him something was going on behind him. The boy ducked
+like a flash, thus avoiding a vicious blow that had been aimed at him by
+the proprietor of the place.
+
+"Don't you do that again!" warned Dan sternly. "You are facing the
+United States Government now, remember. Stand aside!"
+
+With this he grabbed Anthony by the arm. The sailor struggled to release
+himself, but Davis' grip was too strong to enable him to break away
+easily. Anthony swung his free hand. That was just what Dan wanted.
+
+With a quick twist he brought both the sailor's arms behind the latter's
+back, giving the fellow a violent push.
+
+There was nothing for Anthony to do but to go ahead. He did so with a
+rush, Dan running behind him and pushing with all his might. They struck
+the swinging doors with a bang. The doors flew out, the Battleship Boy
+and his prisoner landing with a bump against the astonished jackies of
+the patrol, who were waiting outside.
+
+"Two of you men take this fellow down to the steamer and tell those
+aboard that he is under arrest. Tell the coxswain I shall hold him
+personally responsible for the man's safe keeping. Hurry back. You will
+find us up the street somewhere. Anthony, you had better go peaceably
+unless you want to spend the next three months in the brig."
+
+The two men detailed for the purpose led the ugly sailor away.
+
+"Twos right, forward march!" commanded Dan.
+
+The little company trudged up the street, many persons pausing to look
+at the slim, well-set-up fellow who was plainly in command of the four
+remaining men of the squad.
+
+The part of the town in which they now found themselves was the location
+of most of the sailor boarding houses in Boulogne. Somehow, Dan had an
+idea that some of their men would be found there. He kept his eyes open,
+slowing his men down.
+
+"Halt!" he commanded.
+
+Dan had espied a sailor from one of the trans-atlantic ships on the
+other side of the street. He crossed over to the man.
+
+"Good morning, shipmate," greeted Davis. "I'm looking for some of our
+delinquents. Have you seen any of our men in this quarter within the
+last hour or two?"
+
+"You from the 'Long Island'?"
+
+"Yes. Have you seen any of our fellows?"
+
+"I guess I have. One of them gave me this black eye 'bout half an hour
+ago. I'd have trimmed him proper if he hadn't had a gang back of him."
+
+"Where was that?"
+
+"Down the street a piece."
+
+"Where is the man now?"
+
+"See that two-story building down there?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, that's a sort of hotel; that's what they call it; but I reckon
+it's a joint where they shanghai fellows for the long cruises. I
+wouldn't go in there for the price of a round-trip voyage."
+
+"Thank you. I'll soon find out."
+
+"You ain't going in there, are you, shipmate?"
+
+"Sure. Why not?"
+
+"Why, they'll knock your block off, the first thing if you try to get a
+man out of there."
+
+"Don't be too sure about that," answered Dan, with a smile. "I guess
+they had better not try it."
+
+"Take my advice and take your men in with you. I see they have their
+guns, and you'd better see to it that the guns are loaded, while you are
+about it."
+
+"Thank you very much. I will look out for myself."
+
+By the time the young commander rejoined his squad the two men who had
+taken their prisoner down to the ship's steamer had returned. Dan now
+had six men that he could use.
+
+"Forward march!" he commanded.
+
+They continued on until they reached the place that the merchant sailor
+had indicated.
+
+"Men, I want you to wait here. Do not enter unless I give three short,
+sharp whistles, then come quickly. But do not lose yourselves. Under no
+consideration use your guns. It is not necessary. We have our fists if
+it comes to a fight."
+
+"Hadn't you better take a couple of us with you?" questioned one of the
+men.
+
+"No, it is not necessary. An armed force might stir up trouble."
+
+Dan entered the place, and he saw at once that the sailor had not
+overdrawn the character of the house. It was about the worst he ever had
+seen. The place was thronged with tough characters, few of whom were
+sailors; or, at least, they did not appear to be.
+
+"I don't believe a man of them has ever smelled salt water unless he's
+been out on the breakwater," thought Dan.
+
+Glancing about, he failed to see any of the men for whom he was looking.
+He strolled about, attracting as little attention as possible, though
+several of the men regarded him suspiciously.
+
+The front room was a sort of office and lounging room. A small desk, on
+one side, was walled off by a rusty iron screen. Around by the lower end
+of the desk was a door opening into a rear room.
+
+Dan decided to investigate. He made his way as quietly as possible to
+the end of the desk, pushed the door slightly ajar, peered in and
+sneezed.
+
+The odor of bad tobacco was almost over-powering. The boy blinked and
+sneezed again.
+
+"Shut that door, you lubber!" roared a voice from the rear room.
+
+Davis shut it, but when the door closed he was on the inside, with his
+back against the door.
+
+It was with difficulty that he made out the faces of the men congregated
+there. Not one of them paid the least attention to him.
+
+"Ah, there's one of my men now," muttered the boy.
+
+The man indicated was an ordinary seaman, who had been aboard but a
+short time. His name was Kuhn. He was in deep conversation with a man
+better dressed than most of the others. The older man appeared to be
+seeking to convince the sailor of something that he was telling him.
+
+Dan edged over near them and listened. Perhaps he suspected what was
+going on, for Dan Davis was a shrewd lad, and he was learning many
+things about the life of the sailor and the snares that are set for him.
+
+A moment's listening convinced him that he was right. The well-dressed
+stranger was trying to induce Kuhn to desert and join a ship bound for
+China. A large increase in wages was promised, good grub and a real
+berth to sleep in.
+
+"But they'll come and get me and lock me up," protested Kuhn. "I'll be a
+deserter."
+
+"Nothing of the sort, my lad. How are they going to get you when you are
+in China? Why, you'll never be heard from again. I'll tell you what the
+skipper of the schooner is willing to do for a likely lad like you."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Sh-h-h, don't say anything about it, but he's promised to make you
+first mate."
+
+"He has?"
+
+"Sure thing."
+
+The sailor's eyes glowed with anticipation.
+
+"All right; if you will get me out of this uniform, so I shall not be
+recognized, I'll----"
+
+"You'll come with me," finished a voice behind Kuhn, as a hand was laid
+lightly on his shoulder.
+
+The sailor leaped to his feet, his face flushing. An angry light flashed
+to his eyes as he recognized the features of Gunner's Mate Davis
+confronting him.
+
+Dan had heard enough. He understood. He did not blame the young,
+inexperienced sailor so much, but he felt rising within him a righteous
+indignation toward the Englishman who was seeking to induce the young
+fellow to desert the Flag under which he was serving.
+
+"Come, Kuhn; it is time you were getting back to the ship," said Dan in
+a quiet tone.
+
+"I--I am not going."
+
+"Not going?"
+
+"No. I----"
+
+"Never mind, Mr. Sailorman. The boy and me is friends. You just let him
+alone. I'll see that he gets back to the ship afore you get there
+yourself."
+
+Dan turned upon the Englishman.
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"I just told you. I'm a friend of the shipmate here."
+
+"A nice sort of friend you are," replied Dan witheringly. "Are you
+coming with me, Kuhn? You know what it means to refuse to return to ship
+as you have just done. The ship is preparing to sail. If I have to use
+force it will be the worse for you. I know what this man is trying to do
+with you. He is a bad man, Kuhn. He is trying to induce you to
+desert----"
+
+"You go away and let me alone----"
+
+"See here, young fellow," commanded the Englishman savagely, "if you
+know what is good for you, you get right out of here, and don't you come
+back again. It'll be the worse for you if you do. Understand?"
+
+"Look out that you do not get into trouble yourself. Kuhn, you are
+coming with me."
+
+The Battleship Boy laid a firm grip on the arm of his shipmate and began
+moving toward the door by which he had entered the room.
+
+Suddenly Kuhn was jerked violently from his grasp. Dan made a spring,
+recovering his prisoner.
+
+All at once the Englishman uttered a series of short, sharp exclamations
+in French. Like magic, nearly every man in the room was on his feet.
+They appeared to understand perfectly what was wanted of them, and with
+one accord made a rush for Seaman Davis.
+
+"Stand back!" roared the young officer, boldly facing the mob. "You will
+have to answer to your government if you dare lay hands on me."
+
+They gave no heed to his warning, but threw themselves upon the lad. Dan
+fought manfully, using his fists to good purpose, and many a hardy
+stoker and sailor went down before Little Dynamite's sturdy blows.
+
+Not daring to cease fighting long enough to reach for the boatswain's
+whistle with which he had provided himself before leaving ship, he
+uttered three sharp whistles with his lips, but in the din about him the
+whistles failed to carry beyond the room.
+
+The whistles did, however, have the effect of quieting the uproar. The
+men interpreting them as some sort of a signal, hesitated, looked at
+each other inquiringly, then at the cool, hatless young fellow who was
+facing them, working his way determinedly toward Ordinary Seaman Kuhn.
+The latter was standing with a half-frightened expression on his face.
+He had begun to realize the enormity of his proposed act.
+
+"Kuhn, come here!" demanded Dan sternly.
+
+The sailor made a move as if to comply with the order. Ere he had taken
+a step forward, however, the Englishman had fastened upon his arm.
+
+"You're in it now. You can't get out. If you go back to the ship they
+will put you in the brig. You just stay here till the ship has sailed,
+and you'll be all right."
+
+"But where--where? They'll come here and get me."
+
+"We'll see to that."
+
+Again Dan had forced his way to where Kuhn was standing, but before he
+was able to lay his hands upon the young fellow a dozen men threw
+themselves upon the Battleship Boy.
+
+Davis struggled with all the strength that was in him. His struggles
+were fruitless. Men of brawn and muscle had hold of him now. He was as a
+child in their hands, though, had his hands been free, he would have
+given a good account of himself.
+
+Some one gave a few brief directions in French. The men picked Dan up,
+bearing him through a door, into a long, dark hallway, down which they
+carried him until they reached a door at the end. Opening the door, they
+threw the Battleship Boy in bodily, slamming and locking the door.
+
+"I've made a mess of it," groaned the lad, "but I'll beat them yet."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+OUTWITTED BY A BOY
+
+
+The room was quite dark, except for the light that came in through an
+open skylight above Dan Davis' head. A glance about him told the boy
+that he had been thrown into a storeroom. All about him were boxes,
+cases and trunks.
+
+"It will do me no good to shout. If I do, I'll give them the
+satisfaction of knowing that I'm done for. No; I won't yell. My men
+could not hear me if I did."
+
+Dan pondered for a few moments, and an idea came to him.
+
+"I believe I could batter that door down," he mused. "I'll take a look
+at it."
+
+A brief examination convinced him that such an attempt would be foolish.
+The door was constructed of heavy plank, and had been made to withstand
+assaults. The room in which he had been made a prisoner was a place
+where sailors' chests were stored, a sort of safe deposit vault. There
+were no windows on either side, only the skylight in the ceiling, some
+twelve feet above the boy's head.
+
+Dan gazed up at it longingly.
+
+"I wonder if I could do it," he thought. "I cannot more than fail,
+anyway."
+
+He quickly went to work, piling up boxes and chests. The latter were so
+heavy that he was unable to handle them and get them up more than three
+high. On top of these he piled boxes and climbed to the top of the pile.
+He found that he was still some distance from the skylight. This was a
+double affair, with the lights turning up on either side of a brace
+between them.
+
+Dan crouched down, measured the distance and made a leap straight up
+into the air. His fingers barely touched the frame of the opening, then
+down he shot.
+
+The lad landed on the edge of the upper packing case. It toppled over
+with him, and nearly every one of the boxes he had piled up came down
+with a crash that made that part of the building shake.
+
+An empty case turned over Dan, imprisoning him beneath it. At first he
+lay still, not knowing whether he had been injured or not. Finally
+concluding that he had not been hurt, he eased the case from his body
+and crawled out.
+
+"Either they are all deaf and dumb, or else they have deserted the
+place," he said out loud. "I don't believe I shall try that again. I'll
+try some other plan, and----"
+
+Footsteps were heard coming down the hall. A new idea occurred to the
+lad. In an instant he had flattened himself on the floor, pulling the
+packing case over him as it had been before.
+
+A key grated in the lock and several men entered. Among them was the
+Englishman. Dan recognized his voice, though the fellow was speaking in
+French. The men set up a great chattering when, as they thought, they
+found the room empty. It appeared plain to them how their man had made
+his escape.
+
+"He's climbed out of the skylight!" cried a voice in good English.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if he is up there now. He can't get down," answered
+the Englishman with whom Dan had had the trouble out in the other room.
+
+"Get him, quick! Somebody climb up there!"
+
+The men began chattering in French again. Instantly they started piling
+boxes on top of the chests which they had put in place on the pile
+again.
+
+"This is the time I lose," muttered Dan.
+
+Fortunately for him, however, they were getting their cases from the
+other side. They found light and empty cases for their purpose, and it
+required but a moment to fling them up in place.
+
+Three men instantly clambered to the top of the pile thus made. One man
+was lifted by the other two and boosted to the skylight. He grasped the
+frame, holding on, his feet standing on the hands of the other two
+beneath him.
+
+The pile of boxes wavered and swayed beneath the weight placed upon
+them.
+
+In the meantime Dan Davis had raised the box from his own body just far
+enough to enable him to peer out. He saw what was going on, and his eyes
+lighted up with joy as a sudden idea occurred to him.
+
+"I'll show them they can't beat a Yankee tar," he thought, raising the
+box little by little. Fortunately for him, the men on the floor were at
+the other side of the pile of boxes, while those on top were too busy
+with their own affairs to look down.
+
+Crouching for a spring, he gathered himself.
+
+All at once the box over him landed several feet away with a crash.
+
+Dan was on his feet in a twinkling. The door leading into the hallway
+stood open. Freedom was at hand, but the boy was not yet ready to take
+advantage of the opportunity offered him.
+
+With a bound he threw his whole weight against the pile of packing
+cases.
+
+For one giddy moment the cases trembled, then fell inward toward the men
+on the floor. Those above emitted a yell. Down they went, howling and
+shouting, their companions not having had time to get out of the way,
+being caught under the falling boxes and buried beneath them. All of the
+men were fighting, kicking and struggling to extricate themselves from
+the wreckage.
+
+"Hip, hip, hooray!" yelled the Battleship Boy, unable to control his
+delight at the downfall of his enemies. "Next time maybe you'll think
+twice before you try to beat the United States Government."
+
+With that Dan sprang out into the hallway. He slammed the door, turned
+the key in the lock, then hurled the key from him.
+
+"Let them stay there and think it over for the rest of the day. It will
+do them good," he laughed, starting for the other end of the hall. He
+stepped into the room from which he had been taken a short time before.
+
+There were still a number of men there, but they had not observed his
+entrance. Dan's eyes swept the room. In a far corner, crouching low in
+his chair, sat Kuhn, making himself as inconspicuous as possible. There
+was a frightened expression on the young sailor's face.
+
+Dan walked quickly around the outer edge of the room. Kuhn did not
+happen to look his way. The fellow's eyes were fixed on the door leading
+out into the office in momentary expectation of seeing a squad of blue
+jackets enter the place.
+
+"I've got you this time, young man!" exclaimed Davis, pouncing upon the
+sailor.
+
+Kuhn toppled from his chair to the floor, with Dan on top of him.
+
+"Get up!" commanded the Battleship Boy, scrambling to his feet and
+jerking his prisoner up beside him. "Out of here, before I serve you
+worse. I'm getting angry. You'll regret acting the way you have to-day.
+Come along!"
+
+Ere the others in the room had an opportunity to protest, Dan had
+dragged his man to the door, which he kicked open, pushing his man
+through, then running him to the front door. With a shove, Dan sent his
+prisoner staggering to the sidewalk. Ere Kuhn stopped going he had
+measured his length in the street before the eyes of the jackies who
+comprised the patrol.
+
+"Hold him, men!" commanded Davis. "That's it. Take him down to the
+steamer, two of you. I believe there are other men in this place. It is
+taking long chances, but I am going in to find out. Two of you come in
+with me this time. Be careful that you do not start anything. Take no
+part in any fight that may occur unless I tell you to do so."
+
+At a carry arms, two of the detail followed Dan into the office of the
+place.
+
+Approaching the proprietor, he said:
+
+"Do you speak English?"
+
+The man, a fat, red-faced Frenchman, nodded surlily, his eyes on the two
+armed men standing at attention at one side of the room.
+
+"Are any of our men in your place?"
+
+The fellow shook his head.
+
+"I have reason to believe there are."
+
+"No men here."
+
+"Do you wish me to report your conduct to the Prefect of Police?"
+
+The fellow's face took on a darker shade.
+
+"Unless you convince me that none of our sailors are under your roof, I
+shall place a guard at the door to see that none of our men leave; then
+I shall go to the police and enter a complaint against you. They don't
+love you any too well now, you know."
+
+Davis had taken a long shot, but he saw, from the expression on the
+proprietor's face that it had reached the mark.
+
+Just then the Englishman, followed by the other men whom Dan had
+imprisoned in the store room, burst into the office. Espying the
+Battleship Boy, the Englishman made a dash toward him.
+
+"There he is! Grab him!"
+
+The men behind the Englishman started forward. None had observed the two
+jackies standing rigidly at one side of the room with eyes front.
+
+"Stop where you are!" commanded Davis.
+
+They paid no attention to his command.
+
+"Port arms!" he commanded sharply, turning to his own men. "Load!"
+
+Two audible metallic clicks sounded above the noise in the room.
+
+"Take aim! Steady, there," he ordered, in a voice just loud enough for
+his men to hear. "I wouldn't have you pull the triggers for a million
+dollars. Don't get excited."
+
+The rush stopped instantly.
+
+"Now, you fellows, I want you to stand out of my way. At the first sign
+of opposition on your part I shall order my men to fire. Mr. Proprietor,
+lead the way through your place."
+
+Backed by the two armed men, Davis started in the wake of the
+proprietor. They examined all the rooms on the ground floor, after which
+Dan, leaving his men in the hallway to guard the rear, proceeded
+upstairs where a number of rooms had been arranged for lodging places.
+In one of these he found three sailors sound asleep on the floor. They
+were awakened with no little difficulty.
+
+"Guard, there!" called Dan down the stairway.
+
+"Aye, aye."
+
+"One of you come up here. Take these men out to the patrol with
+instructions for two of them to march these fellows down to the steamer.
+Tell the men to report back at once. If the other two have returned,
+send one of them in to me!"
+
+The sailors, rubbing their eyes, rose, grinning sheepishly.
+
+"Where are we heading, matey?" demanded one of them.
+
+"For the ship and perhaps the brig," answered Dan shortly.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Overstaying your leave. Come, hurry out of here!"
+
+The men ruefully made their way down the stairs, and a few minutes later
+were on their way to the landing stage, where the steamer was waiting to
+receive them. Dan was convinced that the men had not intentionally
+overstayed their leave. Still, he had little sympathy for men who had so
+light a regard for their duty as to forget it entirely.
+
+"Now, Mr. Proprietor, what other rooms have you in this establishment?"
+
+"None."
+
+"I am afraid I can't take your word for anything after the way you have
+tried to deceive me. We will look about below a little. Where does that
+door lead to?" he asked, espying a small door under the stairway after
+they had reached the hallway again.
+
+"To the cellar. There's nothing down there."
+
+"Open the door."
+
+The owner of the place did so. Dan peered down into the darkness and was
+about to turn away, when he thought he heard voices. He listened
+intently.
+
+"Who is down there?" he asked of the proprietor.
+
+"No one."
+
+"Get a light and lead the way."
+
+The proprietor did so, his face working convulsively as he sought to
+control his rage.
+
+Leading the way across the cellar, the fellow threw open a door. A great
+wave of damp, smoky air smote the newcomers in the face.
+
+"So that's the game, is it?" demanded Dan triumphantly. There were the
+others of the missing men, enjoying themselves immensely. They were
+laughing and joking.
+
+"Attention!" commanded Davis.
+
+A loud laugh greeted his order.
+
+"Bring him in here. It's Little Dynamite!" shouted the men. "Hurrah, for
+Little Dynamite! Hurrah!"
+
+Sudden silence settled over the room. Behind the stern-faced Battleship
+Boy the eyes of the occupants of the room all at once made out their
+companions, armed with Krag rifles.
+
+They understood.
+
+"Attention! Forward march!" ordered Dan.
+
+The men rose, hesitated, then bowing before the authority that they knew
+represented the United States Government, they filed from the room, up
+the stairs and into the hallway, where another guard stood at attention.
+
+Dan led the way through the hall, on through the two rooms. He paused at
+the street door, while the men filed past him. They lined up in the
+street where Dan had halted them.
+
+"Right dress. Twos right, forward march!"
+
+The disconsolate sailors started away down the street, guarded in front
+and rear by armed men, with the Battleship Boy at their head.
+
+Dan had had a lively time, but he had carried out his orders faithfully.
+
+No conversation was indulged in, and, reaching the landing stage, the
+men were ordered into the little steamer, which quickly got under way
+and headed for the battleship. Shortly after that the delinquents were
+climbing up a sea ladder to the deck, the gangways having been taken in
+in preparation for getting under way.
+
+"All present, sir," announced Dan, saluting the officer of the deck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+BETWEEN SKY AND SEA
+
+
+"You got them all, did you?" questioned the captain.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Good work! Did you have any trouble?"
+
+"Nothing very much, sir."
+
+"You look it," the captain laughed. "You will appear at mast this
+afternoon, at one o'clock, and give such evidence as you may have
+obtained, relating to where you found the men, and who of them offered
+resistance."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+"Mr. Coates, are all our men accounted for?"
+
+"I will ascertain, sir."
+
+The executive officer returned a few minutes later and saluted.
+
+"The master-at-arms reports that the ship's crew is on board."
+
+"Very good; we will get under way at once. Davis, I take pleasure in
+commending you for your excellent work. You have done much better than I
+had any idea you could possibly do. That will be all. Your uniform needs
+attention."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+Dan seemed fated to lose his clothes. He was without a hat, his garments
+were torn and soiled and his hair looked as if it had not felt the touch
+of a comb in many days. His condition necessitated another visit to the
+canteen for fresh supplies.
+
+"If this keeps on I shall be spending all my wages for uniforms," said
+the boy with a happy laugh, as he drew a cap, a new jacket, a blouse,
+and a new rating badge.
+
+The forecastle presented a scene of activity when finally Dan emerged
+upon it from the forward companionway. Orders were being passed rapidly,
+boatswain's mates were piping up their different watches and jackies
+were making all snug about the decks.
+
+"I think we are ready, Mr. Coates," announced the captain.
+
+"Up anchor!" roared the executive through his megaphone.
+
+Chains rattled and clanked as the powerful electric apparatus began
+hauling in the heavy anchors.
+
+"Anchors shipped, sir," sang a midshipman from the forecastle.
+
+"Slow speed ahead, both engines," ordered the captain.
+
+The ship swung slowly about, clouds of black smoke belching from her
+funnels. Poking her nose out into the English Channel, the battleship
+headed southward for a long cruise.
+
+The band on the quarter-deck about this time struck up "The Red, White
+and Blue," every jackie on the decks raising his voice in the words of
+the song. It was an inspiring scene.
+
+Dan Davis felt an unusual pride that afternoon. He had accomplished
+something of which he was proud, and for which he had a right to be
+proud.
+
+Shortly after mess the mast court was called, at which all the
+delinquents that the Battleship Boy and his squad had rounded up were
+arraigned on deck. This was the part of his work that the boy did not
+like. He was placed in a position where, if he should tell the truth, he
+would be obliged to give information that would send some of his
+shipmates to the ship's brig for many days. It was a foregone conclusion
+that Dan would tell the truth, and he did. He related the story of the
+arrest of each man, leaving out his own part in the affair as much as
+possible. However, the facts were skilfully drawn out by the commanding
+officer.
+
+Most of the men who had overstayed their leave were remanded for trial
+by summary court, and two days later, at muster, sentence was
+pronounced.
+
+The "Long Island" was now starting on a long cruise to southern waters.
+The Battleship Boys were looking forward to new sights and new scenes,
+as well as new experiences, of which they were to have a full measure.
+
+The English Channel was left behind two days later, the battleship
+beginning once more her strife with the broad Atlantic. The skies were
+gray and the water of that dull leaden hue which to the experienced eyes
+of the sailor means trouble.
+
+Before that afternoon had come to a close huge seas were breaking over
+the forecastle, sending the spray over the bridge and high up on the
+military masts.
+
+"The glass is falling, sir," announced the navigating officer.
+
+"Yes; we are in for a rough night," answered the captain. "Is all
+secure, Mr. Coates?" he asked, turning to the executive officer.
+
+"All is secure, sir."
+
+The quarter-deck, long since, had begun shipping seas, so that now it
+was wholly awash, the deck being buried beneath tons of water, save now
+and then when it would rise, dripping, from the sea, only to bury itself
+again a few minutes later, the after flag staff disappearing beneath the
+green seas that swept over it.
+
+Sea after sea would rise over the forecastle, leap the forward turret,
+striking the weather cloths of the bridge with a swish and a thud, then
+go hissing past the officers on the bridge with terrific speed.
+
+Watches had been set as if the hour were late, for it was becoming more
+and more difficult to see ahead, in the blinding salt spray that hung
+over the ship like a fog.
+
+As far as the eye could reach the sea was a mass of angry, swirling
+waters, here and there rising into great white-capped mountains.
+
+All at once the voice of the lookout in the tops sang out a new call.
+
+"Waterspout off the starboard bow!"
+
+Instantly every man within sound of the lookout's voice sprang up to
+view the sight.
+
+"Pipe all hands up to see waterspout!" roared the executive officer.
+
+It was dangerous business coming on deck in that sea, but the men knew
+how to look out for themselves. They came piling from hatchway and
+companionway like as many monkeys.
+
+"Where away?" called one.
+
+"Off the starboard bow," answered a voice from the bridge.
+
+When the battleship rose on a great heaving billow a splendid sight was
+obtained of the twister. The swirling pillar of water appeared to reach
+high up into the skies. The column was traveling at tremendous speed.
+
+"What would happen if the thing should hit us?" questioned Sam Hickey
+apprehensively.
+
+"It would rake your red hair and turn it green," jeered a companion.
+
+"I'd hate to be on board a ship that it did hit," added a boatswain's
+mate.
+
+"I was on a barkentine, trading between New York and Brazil once, when
+we got hit by a twister," said a machinist's mate.
+
+"Do any harm?"
+
+"Not much. Stripped her clean, washed seven sailors overboard and a few
+other trifles."
+
+"Do you mean it washed a few other trifles overboard?" questioned
+Hickey.
+
+"No; I don't mean anything of the sort. I mean that it cut up a few
+other capers. We were picked up by a coasting steamer three days later,
+half drowned."
+
+"Any danger of her coming our way?" asked Sam a little apprehensively.
+
+"I guess not. The officers will look out for that."
+
+The officers on the bridge were looking after the waterspout, and very
+carefully at that. An extra watch was posted in each of the military
+tops, with instructions to keep a keen lookout. Hickey was one of these.
+His station was on top of the forward cage mast, a hundred feet from
+the deck.
+
+The red-haired boy's head swam as he clung desperately to the rope
+ladder in his perilous ascent. Now and then the battleship would heel
+over until it seemed as if she never would come back.
+
+When half way up he paused a few seconds, to turn his head aft and get a
+free breath, for water was smiting him at every step. He saw a signal
+wig-wagged to him from the after mast. It was from Dan Davis, who was
+going up on the same duty.
+
+"I'll race you to the top," signaled Davis.
+
+"Go you!" answered Sam, starting up the ladder at a lively clip. Dan was
+not caught napping. He was off with Sam. Every little distance up these
+masts is a landing made of woven leather strands, and a person mounting
+to the top has to cross each one of these, taking a ladder on the other
+side.
+
+The Battleship Boys barely struck the high places in crossing the
+landings. It seemed as if they surely must fall.
+
+"Look careful, aloft there!" roared a voice from the bridge.
+
+"Aye, aye, sir," floated back the reply from Hickey.
+
+They had reached next to the last landing, far up there in the
+spray-laden air, when a shout attracted all eyes aft.
+
+A man was seen hanging from the platform by his feet. With each roll of
+the ship his body would swing far out from the mast, as he hung
+suspended between sea and sky.
+
+"Man the main mast!" thundered an officer, his voice being heard above
+the roar of the storm.
+
+Half a dozen jackies sprang for the mast.
+
+"Who is the man aloft there?" demanded the captain.
+
+"It's Gunner's Mate Davis, sir," answered the executive officer.
+
+The captain groaned.
+
+"He'll be lost. Look alive there, men! Quick! Quick!"
+
+Sam had seen and understood, but he did not halt. He was under orders to
+go to the top, and to the top he went as fast as his feet and hands
+would carry him. Not until he had reached the swaying platform at the
+top of the cage mast did he venture to look astern.
+
+The lad's heart fairly leaped into his throat as he saw his companion's
+terrible peril.
+
+In running across the landing, Dan had been caught by a sudden violent
+lurch of the ship and thrown forward. He felt his head and shoulders
+going through between the braces of the mast. With quick instinct he
+spread both legs, turning his toes outward.
+
+Nothing else saved him from plunging a hundred feet into the sea. And
+there he clung by his feet, every muscle in his body strained to its
+utmost tension. With each roll of the ship he felt that he would be
+unable to hold on through another.
+
+"Hold fast!" shouted a voice far below him.
+
+[Illustration: "Hold Fast!" Shouted a Voice Below.]
+
+"Hold fast--they're coming!" howled Sam Hickey from his perch high in
+the air. His voice was lost on the roar of the gale, but he did not know
+it.
+
+"Where's that confounded waterspout?" he muttered. "Oh, I see it. The
+thing is going to come pretty close to the ship, I'm afraid. But I don't
+care. I'm too high up to get hit by it."
+
+His mind turning from the waterspout to Dan Davis, Sam wheeled,
+steadying himself by holding tightly to the railing that extended around
+the top. Every lurch of the ship was like "cracking-the-whip" at school.
+It seemed to make every bone in one's body snap.
+
+Sam groaned as he saw Dan swaying back and forth.
+
+"Oh, why doesn't he grab the mast? Why doesn't he?"
+
+Sam did not know that Dan was making desperate efforts to do this very
+thing, but thus far had been unable to.
+
+All at once the lad's feet slipped out of position.
+
+"He's going! He's going overboard!" yelled Hickey in a voice that was
+heard on the bridge and to the stern of the superstructure.
+
+Sam shut his eyes and stood there trembling. He had forgotten
+waterspout, raging sea and all--all save the fact that his companion was
+falling.
+
+A yell aroused him. The yell was different from the rest. It was a yell
+of joy. Sam opened his eyes, blinked, rubbing the salt water out of
+them, then gazed aft through the mist.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN THE COILS OF A "TWISTER"
+
+
+"There he goes! Oh, that's too bad!" groaned the captain.
+
+He had seen the boy's body shoot outward.
+
+"No, he's struck something. He's caught a stay," cried the executive
+officer.
+
+"He'll never hang there. He'll surely go over now."
+
+Dan was hanging with desperate courage to the rope that he had caught.
+
+"Such grit! What a pity!"
+
+By this time the jackies had reached the platform, but they could be of
+no assistance to their shipmate. Dan was hanging twenty feet out from
+where they were.
+
+He seemed to have lost his bearings, and, for the moment, appeared not
+to realize where he was. Little by little his power of reasoning
+returned to him, while all hands were watching him with breathless
+interest. The stay to which he was clinging extended forward to the
+foremast, running from the middle of the mainmast to the middle of the
+foremast.
+
+Hand over hand the plucky lad began moving along the rope brace. It was
+slow progress at best. At last he was directly over the huge funnels.
+Hot, suffocating smoke, belching from the funnels, hid him from the view
+of those on deck. The smoke and coal gas well-nigh strangled the boy,
+but he kept on. A cheer reached his ears as he at last emerged from the
+cloud of black smoke.
+
+"Keep it up, Dynamite! Keep it up!" howled a dozen voices.
+
+"Steady now! Hold to your course. You're on the last lap!"
+
+"Come on, Dan!" howled Sam Hickey, dancing about on his insecure
+foothold, almost beside himself with excitement.
+
+On the other hand, at that moment, Dan Davis was perhaps the least
+excited of all that ship's company. He was in full command of himself,
+though his arms ached and he had to exert great self-control to keep
+from letting go. Now and then he would pause, hanging by one hand to
+rest the other arm, then he would go on again, moving more rapidly than
+before.
+
+"Bridge, there!" roared Sam.
+
+"Aye, aye."
+
+"Can't somebody come aloft to give Davis a hand when he reaches the
+foremast?"
+
+"Get aloft, there!" bellowed the executive officer.
+
+"Yes, the boy Hickey has more sense than all the rest of we officers
+down here," exclaimed the captain.
+
+Men ran up the ladders in a squirming white line, and quickly clambered
+out into the steel rigging. As Dan neared them they stretched forth
+their hands.
+
+"Only a little way further, matey," they encouraged. "That's the boy!
+You'll make a tight-rope walker one of these days, only you want to
+learn to walk with your feet instead of your hands."
+
+"Grab me!" called Dan.
+
+"Got him!" yelled a jackie at the top of his voice.
+
+The word carried to the bridge and to the superstructure, where a
+hundred or more sailors were crouching trying to peer up into the mist.
+They broke forth into a wild yell of applause.
+
+In the meantime strong hands had grasped Dan, pulling him in among the
+steel supports of the cage mast, where they held him while he rested
+from his great ordeal.
+
+Sam Hickey was dancing a jig on the top of the military mast, yelling as
+if he had suddenly gone mad.
+
+"The boy is safe, sir," announced the executive officer.
+
+"Thank God!" breathed the captain. "Aloft, there!"
+
+"Aye, aye."
+
+"Is Davis all right?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Send him below as soon as he is able."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+"I'm able now," said Dan. "I'm going below. I've got to get back to my
+station."
+
+"All right, matey. Want any help?"
+
+"No; I can get down alone."
+
+Dan's arms ached, and his muscles were pretty well stiffened, as he
+started to make his way down the rocking mast.
+
+At last he reached the foot of the mast, which was the navigating bridge
+of the ship, and started to run down the steps to return to his post.
+
+"Davis!" The voice was sharp and commanding.
+
+"Aye, aye, sir," answered the boy, halting and saluting.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"To my post, sir," he answered, as he faced the commanding officer.
+
+"You need not return to your post. There are enough men aloft in the
+mainmast now. You have done quite enough. How did you happen to fall?"
+
+The boy explained, not omitting the fact that he and Sam were running a
+race for the tops.
+
+The captain did not rebuke the boy for this, perhaps realizing that Dan
+had already been severely punished for his foolhardiness.
+
+"That is all for the present. Aloft, there!"
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+"How about that waterspout!"
+
+The seas were engulfing the ship so that the officers could not see the
+waterspout at all. They had wholly lost sight of it.
+
+"Yeow! Wow!" yelled a voice far above their heads.
+
+Looking up, they saw the red-headed Sam dancing again, shouting lustily
+and pointing off the starboard bow.
+
+"Aloft, there, what is it?"
+
+"Waterspout! Waterspout!" howled Hickey.
+
+"Where away?"
+
+"It ain't away at all."
+
+"Where away? Answer, you lubber!"
+
+"Right off the starboard bow, sir. Look out, she's going to hit us!
+Lo-o-o-o-k out! Ye-ow!"
+
+"Hard aport!" shouted the captain. "Hold fast on the bridge! Look alive,
+men aft, there! Waterspout coming aboard. Every man look out for
+himself!"
+
+All tried to do so, but not all were quick enough to get under cover.
+Only a few of them succeeded.
+
+With a terrifying roar the waterspout swept down on the ship. It towered
+above them like a huge mountain, bearing to the northeast. It struck the
+battleship on the starboard bow, sending a shiver through the ship,
+hurling to the deck every man who was not clinging to some support.
+
+The twister recoiled after sending tons of water over the ship--recoiled
+as if to gather strength for a final crushing blow. The quartermaster,
+who had been holding the steering wheel, had been wrenched from the
+wheel and hurled down a flight of steps to the spar deck. Not an officer
+on the bridge was on his feet.
+
+Dan Davis, who had crept up the companionway to get a better view of the
+waterspout, was huddled against the cage mast, clinging to one of its
+supports.
+
+All at once he discovered that no one was at the wheel. Without waiting
+for an order, he leaped forward. Grasping the wheel, he swung it sharply
+to port. The thought suddenly occurred to him that the best way to meet
+the twister would be head-on. He did not know what the result of such a
+meeting might be, nor did he have time to think. As it was, the ship
+was laboring in the trough of a terrific sea, and might be swamped.
+
+The bow of the ship pierced the base of the waterspout. With a mighty
+roar the towering column of water suddenly collapsed. The sound was like
+thunder, as tons upon tons of water beat down on the decks. The whole
+ship seemed to be under water. Everything movable was moving. The
+officers lay prone upon the narrow navigating bridge, clinging to its
+stanchions for their lives.
+
+At the wheel a hatless boy, fairly swimming in salt water, was working
+to get a foothold that would enable him to swing the ship. At last he
+managed to wrap both legs about the wheel frame, and there he clung,
+tugging at the wheel with all his strength.
+
+Very slowly, at first, the ship began to respond. First the battleship
+seemed to shake itself, trying to throw off the great weight of water
+upon its decks; then its blunt, stubborn bow rose clear of the seas. A
+moment, and the shining decks themselves cleared the water, every
+scupper discharging a green salt flood overboard, every deck below
+soaked with brine.
+
+The captain was the first to regain his feet. He sprang up, his eyes
+taking in the after part of the ship in one sweeping, comprehensive
+view. Then his eyes rested on the man at the wheel.
+
+"Davis, is that you?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You weren't at the wheel before we were struck?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"How did you happen to get there?"
+
+"I guess I must have been washed here, sir.
+
+"Where is the quartermaster who was at the wheel?"
+
+"I saw him falling down the after companionway, sir. I think you will
+find him on the spar deck, sir."
+
+"You steered us out?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Where is the spout?"
+
+"I smashed it, sir."
+
+"You what?"
+
+"Smashed it."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I steered the ship into it."
+
+"You did that?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Dan, now expecting that he was in for a severe
+rebuke.
+
+"Explain."
+
+"I saw, immediately after the wheelman had been swept away, that the
+ship was in a bad position. The waterspout was going to hit us,
+quartering on the starboard bow. It seemed to me that the best thing to
+do would be to split it. I didn't know whether I could do it or not, but
+I made up my mind to try. There was no one to ask, nor time to do so. I
+had to do something in a hurry."
+
+"So you rammed the waterspout, eh?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"What do you think of that, Coates?" as the executive officer picked
+himself up, wet, capless, very much the worse for his encounter with the
+waters of the twister.
+
+"What is that, sir?"
+
+"Davis rammed the twister."
+
+The captain then went on to relate in detail what had happened while
+they were on their faces, holding fast to the bridge stanchions to keep
+from going overboard.
+
+"Davis, I shall have to commend you again and for this--perhaps saving
+the ship--I shall send your name in to the department. Quartermaster,
+here!"
+
+"Aye, aye, sir."
+
+"Man the wheel!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+TWO ARE MISSING
+
+
+Night came on; dark, heavy clouds were hanging low in the sky, the wind
+shrieking dismally.
+
+The jackies, however, were happy. They were not disturbed by the roar of
+the gale. So rough was the sea, however, and so heavy the roll of the
+ship, that it was decided not to set the mess tables for the evening
+meal. The men sat around on the lower decks, legs crossed, balancing
+themselves and their plates of food, joking and laughing over the little
+mishaps of their companions.
+
+Down in the captain's quarters matters were little better. Most of the
+time the commanding officer was holding to his own table with both
+hands. A plate of hot soup had just turned turtle, landing in his lap,
+soiling the spotless uniform that he had put on after returning from the
+bridge. The officers in the ward room, where all the other commissioned
+officers eat, were having their own troubles.
+
+All at once there was a yell. Some tumbled over backwards in their
+chairs, while others sprang up and scrambled out of harm's way, as a
+huge object came hurling through the air. It landed full force on the
+mess table, the table going down beneath it with a mighty crash.
+
+The dark object was the ward-room's upright piano. The captain, hearing
+the crash, rushed in from his quarters adjoining.
+
+"What's wrong?" he shouted.
+
+"Nothing, captain. There's music in the air, that's all," answered the
+ship's surgeon. This put all hands in good humor, even though a quantity
+of china had been utterly ruined.
+
+China was not troubling the jolly tars forward, nor were they disturbed
+over the wet decks on which they were sitting. Every man of them was
+soaked with salt water.
+
+In the galley kettles were sliding across the range, and from there out
+on to the deck. Food was everywhere, except where it should have been.
+
+Suddenly the jackies on the seven-inch gun deck set up a yell of
+delight. A steward descending a ladder carrying a kettle of hot beans
+suddenly lost his hold.
+
+With a howl, he plunged headlong. Sam Hickey chanced to be right in the
+path of the human projectile. The kettle of boiling hot beans turned
+turtle just as it was hovering over the red-headed boy's head. Down came
+kettle, beans and all over Sam's head. Part of the contents scattered,
+catching other unlucky jackies who were sitting near him.
+
+Hickey's yells could be heard above the roar of the storm, as he
+scrambled madly to his feet, tugging at the kettle to get it off his
+head. The handle had dropped down under his chin.
+
+Shipmates sprang to his rescue, else Sam would have been seriously
+burned. As it was, his face was red and swollen, his hair was matted
+with beans and his eyes glared angrily.
+
+"You did that on purpose," he howled, starting for the unlucky steward.
+
+"Yes, of course he did," urged several voices. "He ought to be dumped
+overboard for the fishes."
+
+"No; he's too tough, they wouldn't eat him."
+
+The steward himself settled the question of his disposal, by scrambling
+up the companionway as fast as he could go. He knew the jackies well
+enough to be aware that they would like nothing better than having some
+sport with the "sea cook," as they call every man connected with the
+kitchen department.
+
+"Hello, Sam, what's the matter?" questioned Dan Davis, as he shot across
+the deck head first, having lost his grip on the frame of the
+water-tight door where he had been standing for a moment.
+
+"Look out! Here comes the dynamite projectile!" warned a voice.
+
+Dan landed among a group of sailors, and what food they had in hand was
+scattered all over that part of the deck. The next second he found
+himself sprawling in the middle of the deck, where they had hurled him.
+
+Hickey grinned.
+
+"What's the matter with you?"
+
+"I must have been fired with a charge of smokeless powder, as I don't
+see any smoke," laughed Dan. "Well, you are a sight! What happened to
+you?"
+
+"Beans!" jeered the jackies.
+
+"I thought you looked like one of the fifty-seven varieties," laughed
+Dan Davis, at which there was a loud uproar.
+
+"Throw him overboard. It's them kind of jokes that causes waterspouts
+and earthquakes. Don't you ever dare say anything like that again,
+Dynamite, or we'll forget you're a shipmate and bounce you!"
+
+"You had better begin right now, then," retorted Dan defiantly. "I'm
+ready for any kind of a row you want to start. It's a good night for a
+rough-and-tumble. We haven't anything else to do. Come on, if you are
+looking for trouble."
+
+Dan squared off as if ready for a fight. Just then the ship gave a
+heavy lurch. The Battleship Boy disappeared under one of the big guns.
+His messmates hauled him out by the feet, amid shouts of laughter, and
+began tossing him about as if he were a ball.
+
+Davis took his rough treatment good-naturedly.
+
+"Thought you were going to fight?" jeered the jackies.
+
+"No; like Sam Hickey, I've changed my mind," laughed Dan.
+
+"Hark!"
+
+"What is it?" All hands stopped to listen.
+
+"It's the bugle. They're piping some squad to quarters. I wonder what's
+up now?"
+
+"That's the whaleboat crews they're piping up," nodded Dan. "I guess the
+boats are being washed away."
+
+"There goes another call."
+
+"Starboard seven-inch gun crew called to quarters!" shouted Gunner's
+Mate Davis. "Jump for it, boys!"
+
+There was a rush of those of the gun crew who were on the deck with Dan.
+They well knew that something was wrong at their station. For all they
+knew they might have been called to work the gun; still such a call was
+hardly to be looked for during the mess hour.
+
+Reaching the seven-inch turret, they found the place flooded with salt
+water. With every lurch of the ship a great column was forced in, as if
+through a gigantic hose. The first charge of this caught Sam Hickey,
+sweeping him clear out into the corridor.
+
+Sam came back, choking and coughing, yelling at every one in his
+excitement.
+
+"Attention!" roared the gun captain.
+
+"Attention!" repeated Dan Davis. He saw instantly what had happened.
+
+"The steel buckler plates have been wrenched loose!"
+
+These buckler plates are employed to cover the opening in the side of
+the ship about the guns. Without them the ship would be flooded in heavy
+weather.
+
+It was not an easy task that had been set for the gun crew. Every man
+knew that.
+
+"Who will volunteer to do the work outside?" demanded the gun captain.
+
+"I'll attend to that," answered Dan promptly.
+
+"Me, too," added Sam, without hesitation. "I can't get any wetter than I
+am."
+
+"You'll get something besides wet," said the captain. "Very well, you
+two go out. Hold fast! Look out for yourselves."
+
+The Battleship Boys were climbing from the turret ere the words were out
+of his mouth.
+
+"Don't try any tricks, Sam," advised Davis.
+
+"Better take that advice to yourself. If I remember rightly you were
+running a race, or something, when you fell off the cage mast to-day.
+Woof!"
+
+A heavy sea smashed into them, laying them flat on the deck. The boys
+hung on until the sea had rolled over them. They were high up on the
+superstructure, where the seven-inch guns are located. Not a thing could
+they see in the darkness, but they knew their way about as well as if it
+had been broad daylight.
+
+The buckler plates were thrust in from the inside of the turret, the
+duty of the lads outside being to make fast the catches which were
+employed to hold the buckler plates in position in heavy weather. Under
+ordinary conditions it was not necessary to set these emergency catches.
+It had not been done in this instance, consequently the plates were
+battered in, flooding the deck and all that part of the ship.
+
+"All ready out here!" shouted Dan.
+
+With a grating sound the bucklers were shoved into position.
+
+"Click!"
+
+The catches snapped into place.
+
+"Right!" bellowed Hickey, placing his lips close to the side of the
+muzzle of the gun.
+
+"Come, let's get out of here," called Dan.
+
+"Look out for yourself. Duck! Grab!" roared Sam.
+
+"Wha--what----"
+
+Dan did not complete the sentence. A wall of water struck the turret
+with a report like that of the three-inch forward rifles.
+
+From the depths of the great green wave came a muffled yell. Sam
+Hickey's grip had been wrenched loose from the guard rope at the side of
+the muzzle of the seven-inch.
+
+At the same instant both lads felt themselves lifted from their feet.
+
+Then down, down they dropped. It seemed to them that hours were consumed
+in that terrible drop. They felt themselves falling into an abyss of the
+sea. Such was not the case, however, though their situation was, at that
+instant, every bit as serious as if they had in reality been falling
+into the sea. As it was, they were being swept toward it.
+
+The smash of the wave having carried them from their feet, rolled them
+along the upper or spar deck, dropping them down some twenty feet to the
+quarter-deck, that was all awash. Fortunately the water below caught
+them, or they might have been killed in the twenty-foot fall to the
+quarter-deck.
+
+Suddenly Sam came into violent contact with something that he gripped
+anxiously. That something did not give way. Dan met with a similar
+experience, and there the lads hung, neither knowing what had become of
+the other, seas smiting them, threatening every second to hurl them on
+and into the sea itself.
+
+In the meantime those of the gun crew had returned to the gun deck to
+dry their clothes. The gun captain, however, waited for the return of
+the boys who had gone outside.
+
+"I wonder what has become of those boys," he mused, peering out through
+the hatchway that he opened the merest crack. There was neither sight
+nor sound of them.
+
+"Davis! Hickey!" he bellowed.
+
+His effort brought no answer.
+
+The gun captain knew no personal fear. He stepped out, closing the hatch
+behind him quickly. He clung there, watching, listening, then shouting.
+All at once he turned and hurried back to the gun deck. Sending word to
+the executive officer, he informed that officer of the absence of the
+two boys.
+
+The captain heard the news a moment later, and a stir ran all through
+the ship.
+
+"They're overboard. Nothing could save them, sir," advised the executive
+officer.
+
+"Man the searchlights. Both tops!" commanded the captain, now all
+activity. "Pipe all hands to stations!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+DOWN THE AMMUNITION HOIST
+
+
+The searchlights flashed out over the troubled sea. Nothing but
+water--angry, foaming water--could be seen. Not a sign that looked as if
+it might be a man were they able to pick up.
+
+"They're trying to find us. They think we have gone overboard," muttered
+Dan Davis. He uttered a loud shout.
+
+At that instant there sounded another shout close by him. At first he
+thought it was the echo of his own voice. All at once he made the
+discovery that some one else was near.
+
+"Hello!" shouted Dan.
+
+"Hello yourself!"
+
+"Is that you, Sam?"
+
+"No, it's only part of me. Most of me has been blown overboard. That
+you, Dan?"
+
+"Ye-e-e-s," answered Davis in a choking voice. "Yell, Sam, if you've got
+any voice left. Yell for your life. They don't see us."
+
+Hickey uttered a lusty howl. Dan saw at once that the men in the tops
+were unable to depress the searchlights enough to sweep the quarter-deck
+with the light rays.
+
+"They don't see us, Sam. Yell louder."
+
+"I'll have to borrow a stomach pump to jerk the salt water out of me,
+before I can yell any more at all. I'm afloat, inside and out, and not a
+compass to guide me. Where are we?"
+
+Dan felt about him cautiously.
+
+"I think we are astern somewhere. Judging from the position of the
+searchlights, I think we must be somewhere on the quarter-deck."
+
+"How'd we get here?"
+
+Another wave made it impossible for Davis to answer for a minute or so.
+When finally he had gotten his breath he said:
+
+"I think we must have been washed here. But----"
+
+"Say, let's get out of here, Dan."
+
+"But how we ever dropped from the topside to the quarter-deck without
+being killed is more than I can figure out."
+
+"I'm going to try to cross the deck."
+
+"Don't do it, Sam. You will be swept into the sea instantly. Wait! I
+have a plan."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Can you work your way along the rope railing to where I am?"
+
+"I can swim over to you."
+
+"Come on, then, but keep tight hold of the rail."
+
+"Here's the flagstaff," shouted Sam. "I've got my bearings now."
+
+"You will need something more than that to get you out of this scrape.
+Come up close to me and I'll tell you what to do."
+
+"Here I am. Where are you?"
+
+Dan reached out a hand, grasping the arm of his companion.
+
+"There ought to be a rope right at the foot of the staff, here. Yes,
+here it is. Hold fast to me, so I don't go overboard, while I untie the
+knot."
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"I'll show you in a minute."
+
+Dan made the rope fast to a cleat on the after stanchion, then took a
+twist about his own arm with the free end.
+
+"Now, I want you to stand right here until I give three tugs on the
+rope."
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"I don't know what I am going to do, but I'm going to try to get to the
+twelve-inch turret with this rope."
+
+"You'll have to swim for it, then."
+
+"I expect to have to swim part of the way, but leave that to me. When I
+give three long tugs on the rope you start working along it."
+
+"But where will we go? The water-tight doors are fastened on the inside;
+we can't get in. We shall be swept from the deck. I guess I'll stay
+where I am, and hang on until morning."
+
+"No; you can't do it. You will be washed overboard. Watch the rope. I
+may go over, too, but you can tell by the feel of the rope, and if you
+think I'm going over, haul in. I'll yell, too. The wind is this way and
+you can hear me. Now, don't bother me. I'm going in a minute."
+
+Dan hung to the rail, rope in hand, watching the roll of the ship, which
+he was obliged to observe not by sight, but by the sense of feeling.
+
+All at once, as the stern rose into the air, he darted forward. He was
+in water nearly up to his waist, but as the quarter-deck rose the water
+rushed to the sides of the ship in a raging flood.
+
+Suddenly Dan felt himself being drawn backward. At first he could not
+understand the meaning of it. Then he realized. Sam was hauling him in.
+
+"Stop it! Stop it!" yelled Davis.
+
+Sam kept on hauling. Losing his foothold on the slippery deck, Dan went
+down. At the same time the quarter-deck shipped a big wave and Dan was
+swimming blindly. Through it all he managed to keep hold of the rope
+with one hand. He was being dragged along the deck so fast that he
+could not get to his feet, even after the water had receded a little.
+
+Finally, yelling at the top of his voice, Hickey finished his work,
+grabbed Dan from the deck and slammed him against the rail.
+
+"I got you! I got you! I saved your life, didn't I?"
+
+"Sam--Sam Hickey, you're the biggest fool I ever bumped into in all my
+life!"
+
+"A fool--a--see here, is that all I get for saving you----"
+
+"What did you haul me back for?"
+
+"Because you yanked on the rope."
+
+"I did nothing of the sort."
+
+"You did."
+
+"I didn't."
+
+"We--we won't argue the question. I--I haven't enough breath left in me
+to argue. Now, next time, don't you pull on the rope until you hear me
+yell, or until the rope swings way over to port. I am going to run
+quartering so that if I get caught by another wave I will be washed
+toward the twelve-inch turret. Understand?"
+
+"Sure, I understand."
+
+Waiting until the stern rose again, Dan made another dash. This time he
+had, as he had planned to do the other time, reached a spot opposite
+the turret before the deck sank under another wave. He was washed right
+up against the turret when the wave did come.
+
+The instant the wave left him, he took a turn about a big ring-bolt on
+the turret.
+
+"Sam! Sam!"
+
+A faint "hello" was wafted to him on the gale.
+
+"Come on!"
+
+Dan waited and waited, but no Sam came. He began to grow worried.
+
+"Sam!"
+
+"Yeow!"
+
+"Come on. I'm waiting for you."
+
+A strain on the rope told Davis that his companion had started, and a
+few minutes later Sam Hickey stood beside him.
+
+"What's the matter, Sam?"
+
+"Nothing, except that I'm wet."
+
+"Why didn't you come when I called you?"
+
+"I was watching the sparks up there on the wireless aerials. Say, it is
+just like a lot of lightning bugs. Did you ever watch the sparks at
+night?"
+
+"Yes, but not when I was trying to save my life and another's. I don't
+believe it was half worth the effort. I am beginning to think that there
+doesn't much of anything matter, so far as you are concerned. Let's get
+inside now."
+
+"How are you going to do it?"
+
+"We will climb up under the turret, through the manhole."
+
+"I never thought of that."
+
+Dan unfastened the opening on the under side of the turret projection,
+and, sending Sam ahead, climbed in after, closing the opening behind
+them. It was intensely dark in the turret and the room was so small that
+it was with difficulty that the boys could find their way through.
+
+For a minute or so they were engaged in climbing up to get into the
+enclosure from where a ladder led down into the lower part of the
+turret.
+
+"Now, Sam, be very careful that you don't fall. This is a bad place to
+be fooling around in when it is dark. I wish I could turn on the
+electric lights here, but I don't know where the button is."
+
+"Shall I light a match?"
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Supposing there should chance to be some powder scattered on the floor,
+and----"
+
+"Wow! That would be a nice thing, wouldn't it? There'd be an explosion,
+eh?"
+
+"There might be. Better take the chance of bumping our heads----"
+
+"Say, Dan, where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to follow you. Come here. Give me your hand."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Get in here. Make yourself as small as possible."
+
+Hickey crawled into the small opening, though he did not know where he
+was.
+
+"What is this place you're stowing me in?" he demanded.
+
+"It's the ammunition hoist," answered Dan, as he began to pull down on a
+rope.
+
+The ammunition hoist for the twelve-inch guns is a sort of dumb waiter
+that is raised and lowered by pulling on a rope attached to its top and
+bottom.
+
+A few minutes later the guard on duty in the magazine corridor was
+startled by a creaking and groaning sound. After listening a moment, he
+traced the sound to the ammunition hoist.
+
+All at once the hoist came down with a bang, spilling Hickey full length
+on the floor of the corridor. The guard made a grab for the newcomer,
+and, at the same instant, Sam Hickey wrapped both arms about the legs of
+the marine who was on guard duty.
+
+That worthy went down on top of Sam. For a minute there was a lively
+tussle, but ere it had come to an end, the ammunition hoist shot down
+again and Dan Davis leaped out into the passageway. He gazed in
+astonishment at the two men on the floor.
+
+"Get up, Sam! What in the world are you trying to do?"
+
+Sam threw the guard off.
+
+"This chocolate candy soldier jumped on me when I came down. Let me at
+him----"
+
+Davis pulled his companion away.
+
+"You'll have to come with me," announced the guard. "I shall be obliged
+to arrest you. Your conduct is suspicious."
+
+"Well, I like that!" grumbled Sam. "First you get tossed overboard and
+then you get arrested because you didn't go drown yourself. I won't be
+arrested."
+
+"Take us to the master-at-arms; he understands," said Dan.
+
+They were led to the upper deck, where they were suddenly confronted by
+Captain Farnham.
+
+"What's this, what's this?" he demanded.
+
+The marine guard explained.
+
+"You may release them, guard. Now, lads, explain how you got into the
+ship? I can see from your appearance that you must have had a hard
+time."
+
+"We got in through the twelve-inch turret," explained Dan, after having
+told the captain of their experiences.
+
+"Most remarkable. I have come to the conclusion that there is no use in
+worrying about you boys. It is evident that there is nothing on land or
+water that can kill you. But you are shivering, Davis."
+
+"I am a little cold," admitted Dan.
+
+"Go to the chief steward and tell him I order that coffee be made for
+you. How about you, Hickey? Are you in a chill also?"
+
+"No, sir; my hair keeps me warm, sir. At least that's what the
+boatswain's mate says."
+
+The captain laughed heartily.
+
+"Run along, both of you, and get warmed up. It will soon be time to turn
+in. Good night."
+
+"Good night, sir," answered the Battleship Boys, saluting and turning
+away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+LAND HO!
+
+
+The following days passed uneventfully. The storm abated late the next
+afternoon, for the ship was running into southern seas where the skies
+took on a deeper blue, the water a golden hue under the southern sun.
+
+One afternoon a few days later the lookout sang out, in a voice that had
+a note of gladness in it:
+
+"Land ho!"
+
+"Where away?"
+
+"Three points off the port bow."
+
+Glasses were leveled in the direction indicated, and the jackies on the
+forecastle, who had heard the cry, lined the rail, scanning the horizon
+with shaded eyes. But the land was too far away to be seen from where
+they were standing.
+
+"There it is!" cried Dan, half an hour later, as a thin blue line
+appeared to rise from the sea off the port bow. "What land is it?"
+
+"Spain, I reckon," answered a shipmate. "Leastwise, it was Spain when I
+was along here last time."
+
+"Spain, did he say?" questioned Hickey.
+
+"Yes."
+
+For a few moments the Battleship Boys gazed in silence. It was their
+first glimpse of the shores of that far-away country. After a time the
+rocky shores grew into plain sight.
+
+"That is Portugal over there," said a boatswain's mate. "We ought to
+sight Lisbon before dark."
+
+Dan and Sam looked into each other's eyes.
+
+"We are seeing things for sure, aren't we, eh?" grinned Hickey.
+
+"Yes; it is a wonderful experience, well worth all the hardships we have
+gone through."
+
+"I wonder if they are going to stop?"
+
+"I don't know. Do we make port anywhere along here?" Dan asked of the
+boatswain's mate.
+
+"I don't know. The captain hasn't taken me into his confidence yet."
+
+"Can you blame him?" came back Dan Davis, quick as a flash.
+
+"Look here, Little Dynamite, don't get fresh," answered the boatswain's
+mate, with a good-natured laugh. "I'll tell you, though, that it is more
+than likely that we'll tie up to a tree somewhere along here. We need
+some repairs after the banging around we've been having for the last two
+weeks. We'll have a field day when we do, and don't you forget that."
+
+"I don't want that kind of a field day," spoke up Sam. "Field day aboard
+ship means work, and lots of it."
+
+"Lisbon lies off yonder, in that depression in the shore line that you
+can make out if your eyes are good, boys," said the boatswain's mate,
+pointing off the port bow.
+
+"I see it, I see it," cried Sam.
+
+"And I," added Dan. They gazed long and searchingly. "I was in hopes we
+would run in and anchor there."
+
+"The captain is making for some other place. We are grinding along at a
+nineteen-knot gait. That ought to bring us up somewhere about to-morrow
+night."
+
+"Have you any idea where?"
+
+"Yes; I've got an idea, but I guess you had better figure it out for
+yourself."
+
+After mess that night Dan got out a map and studied it carefully, after
+having stolen a glance at the standardized compass high up on the after
+part of the superstructure.
+
+"I believe we are headed for Gibraltar," he said to himself.
+
+"You've guessed it, lad," said the mate, coming up behind him. "I
+thought you'd get your course figured out. It's better for a man to get
+in the habit of looking those things up for himself. He doesn't forget
+them when he gets them that way."
+
+That night the Battleship Boys turned in full of anticipation. They were
+heading into strange seas. There was hope that they soon would have an
+opportunity to go ashore and see something of the people and the life
+that thus far they knew only from the books they had read.
+
+The first thing in the morning, after getting their baths and dressing,
+the boys ran out on deck. There, looming faintly through the morning
+mist, the mighty rock of Gibraltar rose from the sea.
+
+"I see it," breathed Dan Davis, in a tone that was almost awe. "That is
+Gibraltar, Sam."
+
+"Yes, anybody could see it."
+
+"Isn't it wonderful?"
+
+"I'll tell you after I get a closer look at the place," replied the
+red-headed boy.
+
+"I never thought to see so grand a sight."
+
+"What's that thing on top of it, Dan? They must have a church up there."
+
+"It must be the signal tower. I remember one of the men telling about
+that. It is fourteen hundred feet above the sea level."
+
+Hickey uttered a low whistle.
+
+"I'd hate to walk in my sleep up there."
+
+"Up there they keep a constant watch on all ships coming in from the
+sea."
+
+"And do you think they see us?"
+
+"Of course they do, and they know who we are, and where we are bound
+probably better than we do. I wonder whether we are going through the
+straits?"
+
+"The Straits of Gibraltar?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Of course we are. We are going to all the places down around here, I
+heard the Old Man and the executive officer talking about it when we
+were up off Boulogne. We're going all the way around Africa before we
+head back for America. It is going to be a long cruise."
+
+"I know that, Sam. We are going to be away from home for a full year.
+Think of that. But when we get back, we are going to have a leave to go
+to Piedmont and see all the folks."
+
+A bugle call piped all hands to clean ship. They were nearing port and
+everything must be in perfect condition. There was need of work, for the
+long storm had left the ship in bad condition.
+
+The early view of the famous rock gave the impression of a barren cliff,
+but now little patches of emerald green began to grow out of the great
+gray pile.
+
+"Look at the guns sticking out!" exclaimed Hickey, later in the day, as
+the ship drew nearer and nearer.
+
+"Wonderful!" breathed Dan.
+
+"I don't see anything so wonderful about it. It looks business-like,
+that's all," said Sam. "Say, do you know what I'll bet I could do?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"I'll bet that in three shots I could knock the block off the top of
+that mountain with the seven-inch."
+
+"You mean the lookout station up there?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Dan surveyed it with critical eyes.
+
+"If you did you would have to show better marksmanship than you have
+thus far."
+
+"Marksmanship? Why, I haven't fired a gun since I've been in the Navy."
+
+"You have had dotter practice, which is practically the same thing."
+
+"There's the town."
+
+As they neared the southern point they could see the white walls of the
+city glistening in the sun. Everywhere one looked new sights came into
+view, and not for one moment did the Battleship Boys cease wondering
+over what they saw.
+
+A low, dark line attracted Sam's attention, far off to the right of
+them.
+
+"I guess that must be the Dark Continent," he said with a laugh.
+
+Dan gazed fixedly at the point to starboard indicated by his companion.
+
+"I think you are right. That must be Africa over there. Just think of
+it! Would you like to be there, Sam?"
+
+"I don't know," admitted Hickey. "Somehow, I always think of snakes when
+Africa is mentioned."
+
+"There's the harbor," cried Dan, interrupting.
+
+"And I see some ships there, too."
+
+"I believe they are war ships," added Dan. "Yes; look, look, Sam! Look!"
+
+"Where, where? What, what?" demanded Sam, dancing about excitedly,
+looking first at his companion, then toward the harbor.
+
+"The Flag! The Flag!"
+
+"Oh, is that all?" said Sam in a disappointed tone.
+
+"Isn't that enough? Thousands of miles from home and to come in sight of
+the Stars and Stripes! Wouldn't that send the blood coursing through
+your veins?" demanded Dan, with flashing eyes.
+
+"Yes; I guess it would make some folks blood run cold. What ships are
+those?"
+
+"Let me see; there are three of them."
+
+"I know that--I can count. What I want to know is who they are?"
+
+"I don't know, Sam. Here comes the master-at-arms. I'll ask him."
+
+Dan did so.
+
+"Those are the 'Idaho,' 'Georgia' and 'Wisconsin.' They are to join us
+here for the rest of our cruise."
+
+"Thank you," answered Dan.
+
+By this time they were approaching the harbor, and all work was
+suspended for the moment.
+
+"Boom!" roared the "Long Island's" six-pounder. "Boom!" answered the
+other ships of the fleet. "Boom!" roared a gun from the mountain. The
+air seemed full of smoke and powder. Bands played, jackies shouted
+themselves hoarse, flags fluttered down from gaffs, only to go up again
+on the after gaffs. The American ships were at anchor, the three already
+in having only just arrived.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ON GIBRALTAR'S PEAK
+
+
+That afternoon the Battleship Boys got leave to go ashore. Their good
+conduct always earned a quick shore leave for them when many others were
+denied it.
+
+The quaint old semi-Moorish town at the base of the great mountain
+appealed to the lads and impressed them deeply. Red-coated British
+soldiers were everywhere about, wearing their jaunty caps tilted to one
+side, carrying their swagger-sticks airily, and now and then deigning a
+glance at the Battleship Boys.
+
+"Do you know what those fellows remind me of?" questioned Hickey.
+
+"Not being able to read your mind, I cannot say," answered Dan.
+
+"That cap, at least, reminds me of the organ grinder's monkey that
+passes the hat for pennies. But they are the real thing, aren't they?"
+
+"The caps?"
+
+"No, the monk--I mean the soldiers."
+
+"Boom!" roared a gun.
+
+There was no answer to it, and Dan, wondering, asked a citizen what the
+meaning of the shot might be.
+
+"One o'clock, me lad," was the answer.
+
+Sam laughed aloud.
+
+"Do--do they announce the hours here by firing guns?" he questioned.
+
+"They do."
+
+"Then--then I guess I would prefer to sleep at sea. What do you think of
+that?"
+
+"It certainly is a curious custom," agreed Dan.
+
+The boys wandered about the quaint town, peering into out-of-the-way
+places, talking with a soldier here and there, when they found one who
+was willing to unbend sufficiently to answer their questions.
+
+What impressed them most was the tremendous masses of masonry, parapets
+and guns. In whatever direction the boys glanced their eyes rested on
+the frowning muzzles of big guns.
+
+"How would you like to have all those guns turned on a ship in which you
+were?" asked Dan.
+
+"If they all shot straight it would be all day with us. But, Dan, don't
+you think that rock is a pretty good mark itself?"
+
+"Yes. And if it is all like what it is here at the bottom, I think a
+shot from a seven or eight-inch would crumble it. I----"
+
+"Look!" cried Sam.
+
+What appeared to be a basket of some sort was rising in the air far
+above their heads.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"It looks like some kind of air-ship. But that cannot be possible."
+
+"There's some one in it!"
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Yes," answered the red-headed boy, now all excitement.
+
+"I know now what it is," cried Dan. "I've read about that--no, I haven't
+read about it either. A jackie on the 'Long Island' told me about it.
+That is a metal basket in which the signal men and watchmen go up to the
+lookout station that you see on top of the mountain."
+
+"You don't say," muttered Sam in amazement. "How does it soar through
+the air that way?"
+
+"It doesn't. It is on a cable that is pulled up by some sort of power."
+
+"Let's go over and look at the thing," urged Sam.
+
+Dan was willing. He was as curious as was his companion, and even more
+enthusiastic, for all this was new and full of interest.
+
+It was after making numerous inquiries that they found their way to the
+landing platform from which the basket started on its way upward. By
+this time the metal basket had returned. There was room in it for four
+men. The boys looked it over curiously and enviously.
+
+"How would you like to take a ride in it?" questioned Dan, smiling into
+the solemn face of his companion.
+
+"I'd give a dollar and a half," answered Sam earnestly. "Let's get in
+and look the thing over."
+
+"I am afraid strangers are not allowed to do that. Yes, we'll get in. We
+can imagine we are going up to the top of the mountain, anyway."
+
+Both boys climbed into the basket, gazing up into the air, where the
+thread-like cable grew smaller and smaller until it was lost to view
+entirely.
+
+"I wonder how it works?" questioned Sam, turning to the mechanism of the
+basket.
+
+"Perhaps by electricity. Sh-h-h!"
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Some one is coming," whispered Dan.
+
+The boys crouched down out of sight in the basket, laughing delightedly
+as they nudged each other.
+
+"They'll be surprised, if they find us here," said Sam.
+
+"Keep still. He's going away now, whoever he is." Peering over the
+basket, Davis saw that the man, a soldier, was walking rapidly down to
+the engine house, just below the landing platform. The man disappeared
+within.
+
+"Look out! We're moving!" howled Sam.
+
+[Illustration: "We're Going Up!" Howled Sam.]
+
+A glance over the side showed the platform dropping from beneath them at
+a rapid rate.
+
+Sam made a move as if to jump from the basket.
+
+"Sit down!" commanded Dan. "Do you want to kill yourself?"
+
+"But we're going up," protested Hickey.
+
+"We can't help it. We don't know how to stop the car, and even if we
+did, I doubt whether we could do it from here. I have an idea that the
+car is controlled from that engine house down there. I know now why the
+man came up to look at the car. He wanted to see that everything was
+right before he started the basket upward."
+
+"Do--do you think we are going to the top?"
+
+"It looks very much that way," answered Dan, with a mirthless laugh.
+
+The basket appeared to be gaining a little speed as it moved upward. It
+was swaying giddily from side to side, and had the boys not been used to
+being in high places on a rolling ship, they no doubt would have been
+made sick by the swinging of the basket.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Dan. "I know what I'll do!"
+
+"Are you going to jump overboard?"
+
+"No. Do you see the 'Long Island' lying out there in the harbor?"
+
+"Sure I see her."
+
+"I'm going to wig-wag to her."
+
+Dan stood up while Hickey held him. Then Davis began making signals to
+the ship with his handkerchief.
+
+"There they go. Some one is answering," cried Davis in high glee. "Won't
+they be surprised?"
+
+"What are they saying?"
+
+"I can't read the message so far away. I wish we had a glass."
+
+"Come on up, fellows. We're having a ride up to the clouds," wig-wagged
+Dan.
+
+Glasses already were trained on them from more than one ship in the
+harbor.
+
+"Two enlisted men going up on the cable, sir," said the officer of the
+deck to the captain of the "Long Island."
+
+"Who are they?"
+
+"I'll ascertain, sir."
+
+Dan caught a flash of the signal flag as the sun shone down on it, and,
+with quick intuition, he understood that the ship was asking who they
+were. He signaled their names back.
+
+"I can't read you so far away. Have no glasses," wig-wagged Dan. "Going
+up by accident."
+
+The information was quickly conveyed to the captain of the "Long
+Island."
+
+"Those boys are both wired for electricity," laughed the commanding
+officer. "All they need is a dynamo to set them in operation, and they
+usually carry the dynamo about with them."
+
+"I'm afraid they will get into trouble with the authorities, sir," said
+the executive officer.
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"They have no business to go up there. The English government is, as you
+know, very secretive and very strict about its fortifications here at
+Gibraltar."
+
+"Never mind, Coates. Leave that to the lads. They have a way of getting
+out of scrapes."
+
+In the meantime the swaying basket was mounting higher and higher into
+the air. So lost were the Battleship Boys in admiration of the wonderful
+view unfolded before them that they almost forgot to take note of their
+sensations.
+
+A gun was fired from somewhere below them. The boys instinctively threw
+their hands to their ears. It sounded as if the gun were right beside
+them.
+
+"We are a pair of landlubbers," announced Dan Davis, with a sheepish
+grin.
+
+"I thought it was right here."
+
+"So did I, for a minute," answered Dan. "Sound travels up fast and
+strong, you know. There is the signal tower. We shall be up there pretty
+soon. Look out for a row when we get there, Sam."
+
+"I'm ready for any old kind of a row. I'm having the time of my life
+this morning."
+
+Looking up with shaded eyes, they saw the lookouts examining their
+basket with their glasses.
+
+"They have spotted us," said Dan.
+
+"I don't care. Let them spot. Maybe they will know us next time they see
+us."
+
+The basket mounted the last stage of the journey, going more and more
+slowly. At last it reached the landing. Dan was the first to leap from
+the car, followed quickly by Hickey.
+
+"Good morning," he greeted, coming to a salute, as he found himself
+facing three red-coated soldiers.
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"Men from the U.S.S. 'Long Island.'"
+
+"What are you doing here?"
+
+"Just taking a little pleasure trip," answered Hickey, before Dan could
+open his mouth to explain. "You've got a fine place up here, but it
+must be rather drafty in winter time. I never did like drafts at that
+time of the year. Do you know----"
+
+"Get back into that basket!" interrupted the lookout sternly. "You have
+no business, up here."
+
+"Well, I must say you fellows are not very hospitable," grumbled Sam.
+"Can't we take a look around your shack?"
+
+"You cannot. You will be lucky if something worse doesn't happen to
+you."
+
+"I am sorry if we have done anything wrong," spoke up Davis. "We got
+into the basket to look it over and the machinery started. But that is
+no reason why you should be so gruff about it."
+
+"Get in there!"
+
+"Come on; he's a grouch," exclaimed Sam. "I'd rather be viewing the
+scenery on the way down than standing here looking at that. Why, he
+needs only a cake of soap in his hand to make a full-page ad. of him."
+
+Sam made a dive for the basket.
+
+"Start your machinery going as soon as you want to," said Dan. "We are
+ready."
+
+There followed a peculiar grinding sound. The basket began to move,
+gaining speed as it proceeded. It was going down much faster than it had
+ascended.
+
+The boys waved their hands in farewell to the grouchy sentry.
+
+"That's what I should term a formal call," announced Davis with a laugh.
+
+"It wasn't a call at all; it was a call down," retorted Sam. "Wow! Just
+look over the side!"
+
+Dan took one peep, then withdrew his head.
+
+"What a fall that would be," he breathed.
+
+"Yes, we'd be the Batteredship Boys instead of the Battleship Boys, were
+we to fall down the rest of the way," jeered Hickey.
+
+"That was an awful joke, Sam; but perhaps it is better to get a thing
+like that out of your system. My, but we're going fast!"
+
+The basket seemed to be gaining momentum every second. Sam Hickey's hair
+was rising, his cap having soared away on the breeze.
+
+"Stop it!" howled Sam.
+
+"I'd like to, but I can't."
+
+"Put on the brakes! There must be a brake. Do something!"
+
+"Do something yourself. I don't know how the machine works."
+
+"We are nearing the bottom. I think the car has slackened its speed
+some. I see that I've got to do whatever is done here, or we'll both
+land in the middle of the bay with a loud splash," retorted Sam.
+
+Hickey ran his hands over the mechanism, finally discovering a lever on
+the outside of the basket.
+
+"Here it is. Here's the brake. Now you'll see me steer the old tub. I'll
+make a landing that would make our quartermaster green with envy."
+
+"Be careful. We are nearly at the bottom now, Sam. I think it will slow
+down without any effort on our part. That evidently is the way the
+basket always comes down."
+
+Sam gave the lever a shove.
+
+"Shut it off! What have you done?" yelled Dan.
+
+The basket shot forward, as if impelled by some sudden force.
+
+"I--I can't. The--the thing won't work."
+
+"You've done it this time," groaned Davis.
+
+"You've killed us both----"
+
+"Wow!" howled Hickey.
+
+Dan made a grab for his companion just as Sam's heels were disappearing
+over the side of the basket. Davis missed the heels, then he followed
+Hickey, while the basket was smashed with terrific force against some
+solid object. The boys shot from the basket, turning somersaults in the
+air as they plunged downward.
+
+They did not cry out, but each lad believed that his time had come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+ON THE BLUE MEDITERRANEAN
+
+
+The boys landed with great force, then shot down the slope that led from
+the lower landing stage.
+
+The basket, in striking the landing, had been shattered, and it was when
+the crash came that the Battleship Boys were fired overboard.
+
+By a lucky chance, they had sustained nothing more serious than black
+and blue spots, torn uniforms and dirty faces.
+
+Dan sprang to his feet, after lying on his face a few seconds.
+
+"Sam! Sam!"
+
+"All present or accounted for," answered the red-headed boy, sitting up
+and rubbing the dirt from his eyes. Neither of them could see very
+clearly as yet.
+
+"Well, we are a pair of luck----"
+
+A heavy hand was laid on the shoulder of each.
+
+"Wha--wha--what!" exclaimed Dan, turning sharply.
+
+A file of soldiers confronted them.
+
+"We--we fell down, didn't we?" said Hickey, with a sheepish grin.
+
+A red-coated soldier with a corporal's stripe on his sleeve motioned to
+his men. They took firm grip on the arms of the Battleship Boys.
+
+"What does this mean?" demanded Dan.
+
+"You are under arrest."
+
+"Arrest?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"For what?"
+
+"Going where you had no right to go."
+
+"But we meant no harm. And, besides, we are American sailors on board
+the 'Long Island.'"
+
+"You will explain to the officer of the day."
+
+The boys were taken to the barracks, where they were, after a time,
+brought before the officer of the day. He wore a white coat instead of a
+red one, and squinted at the boys through a monocle.
+
+He heard the story of the squad that arrested the Battleship Boys, then,
+turning to the lads, asked who they were.
+
+Dan stepped forward and explained briefly, telling the officer of their
+trip up the mountainside. The officer listened gravely.
+
+"You say you are from the 'Long Island?'"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"How long have you been ashore?"
+
+"Not more than two or three hours."
+
+"Have you leave to be ashore?"
+
+Dan's eyes snapped.
+
+"We should not be here if we didn't have leave, sir. You can very easily
+find out all you wish to know about us, if you will communicate with our
+ship out there."
+
+"The matter will have to be laid before a higher authority than mine.
+You have committed a very grave offence. If, as you say, you belong to
+one of the American ships, your conduct may bring about grave results."
+
+"I am sorry, sir. Perhaps we have done wrong; but if so, it was not
+intentional. That should count for something."
+
+"Take them away, corporal!"
+
+"May I ask where you are taking us to, sir?" questioned Dan.
+
+"You are going to be locked up."
+
+"What, again?" demanded Hickey.
+
+"So this isn't the first time, eh?" demanded the British officer.
+
+"Will you be good enough to communicate with the ship, sir?" asked Dan.
+
+The officer of the day made no reply, and the boys were led away by the
+same squad that had picked them up after their thrilling slide down the
+cable.
+
+They were taken to the barracks, where they were placed in a room and a
+guard stationed outside.
+
+"Slid right into jail, didn't we?" demanded the red-headed Sam, after
+they had been left alone. "That was a slide for jail instead of a slide
+for life. I guess you and I had better stay aboard ship after this,
+Dan."
+
+"We do have a way of getting ourselves into trouble. I wonder how long
+the red-coats are going to leave us here?"
+
+Hours dragged on. The boys grew hungry, but no one came near them. They
+could hear the measured tramp of the sentry on the outside.
+
+In the meantime word had been sent to the battleship "Long Island."
+Immediately upon receiving the news, Captain Farnham had put off in his
+motor boat. He was fully convinced that it would be useless to send one
+of lesser rank than himself to intercede for the Battleship Boys.
+
+Captain Farnham went directly to the office of the Governor-General,
+before whom he laid the case.
+
+The governor looked serious. He thought he would have to submit the
+whole case to his own government. Men from a foreign warship had been
+caught prying into the secrets of the fortification. That was more than
+serious.
+
+"Nonsense, sir!" exploded the captain. "Mere boyish pranks. I wish them
+released. I will hold myself personally responsible to your government
+for your action in releasing them."
+
+The governor shook his head.
+
+"I am afraid the matter is beyond me to settle in that way."
+
+"Governor," said the captain in an impressive tone, "the shore leave of
+these men expires at nine o'clock to-night. I greatly desire to have
+them on board by that time. The 'Long Island' sails to-morrow morning at
+daybreak. I trust that no act of yours will interfere with the movements
+of United States ships. I bid you good afternoon."
+
+The captain bowed low and left the governor's presence, returning to his
+own ship at once.
+
+Nothing more was heard from the shore before nightfall, but shortly
+after dark a patrol entered the room where the Battleship Boys were
+being held. They took the boys in charge, holding to them tightly, as if
+expecting the boys would run away, conducting them in silence down to
+the landing. There a boat belonging to the garrison was awaiting them.
+
+The boys were ordered to get into the boat.
+
+"You will tell your commander that you are not to come ashore again
+during the ship's stay in this harbor," announced the officer in charge.
+
+Dan stood up in the boat.
+
+"I shall do nothing of the sort. I am not in the habit of giving orders
+to my captain, sir. If the English government, through its
+Governor-General, desires to communicate with the captain of the 'Long
+Island,' let him do so in the proper manner. Good night."
+
+Dan sat down, well satisfied with himself.
+
+"There, Tommy Atkins, will you be good now?" jeered Sam Hickey.
+
+The officer motioned for the boat's crew to pull away, which they did.
+Half an hour later, just before nine o'clock, the boat drew alongside
+the "Long Island," and the Battleship Boys ran up the sea ladder,
+reporting their arrival on board.
+
+That evening they were summoned before the captain, who gave them a
+friendly talk regarding their duties and conduct when on foreign soil.
+
+"I am not rebuking you, my lads," he said. "I am simply giving you some
+good advice. Foreign governments, especially monarchies, are very
+touchy, much more so than is your own country, so be careful."
+
+"We will, sir," answered Dan.
+
+"We will, sir," added Sam Hickey.
+
+"Until the next time," thought Captain Farnham, passing a hand over his
+face to hide the smile that he could not repress.
+
+At daylight next morning the four ships of the fleet weighed anchor,
+circled and steamed out of the harbor, soon after poking their noses
+into the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
+
+Algiers was sighted late in the day, then the ships dropped the shores
+to port and starboard and settled down to their course. The next port
+was to be Port Said, the beginning of the Suez canal. The hopes of the
+Battleship Boys were high. They were about to make their first visit to
+the Orient, and already they were planning on the shore leave they would
+have. They had forgotten their experiences during their last shore
+leave, as perhaps they had the admonition of the captain. They were
+looking forward to what was before them.
+
+Gun drills and dotter practice were now indulged in for the greater part
+of the time by the gun crews, and thus far the starboard seven-inch crew
+held the record for quick, effective work. Every man of the seven-inch
+crew was looking forward to the day when the crew would be allowed to
+work their gun with ball and powder, shooting at a real target. There
+seemed no prospect of such an experience during this cruise, for it was
+a cruise intended principally to give the men of the fleet a chance to
+see the world.
+
+After several days of leisurely steaming the low-lying shores of Egypt
+appeared off the starboard bow, looking golden against the blue of the
+waters of the Mediterranean. The captain had decided not to stop at
+Alexandria, but to continue on to Suez and there give his men a long
+shore leave, when they would have opportunity to see sights that few of
+the battleship's crew had ever beheld.
+
+The fleet came to anchor off the mouth of the canal at twilight. Port
+Said lay in a deep shadow, with only the numerous twinkling lights to
+show that the chief town of the Egyptian province of the isthmus was
+near at hand.
+
+Songs floated out over the water after the anchors had been let go,
+these sounds of gayety from the shore causing the jackies of the fleet
+to look longingly shoreward.
+
+"To-morrow we'll get a leave," predicted Sam, as he and Dan were sitting
+on their gun turret in the soft evening air.
+
+"Not to-morrow, Sam."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I understand no shore leave is to be granted here. We shall be entering
+the canal early in the morning, on our way to Suez."
+
+"Oh, pshaw! That's a shame."
+
+"We are going to have a good time. You won't tell if I confide something
+to you?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"We are going to have several days ashore."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"I heard the captain telling the doctor. A lot of us are going inland."
+
+"Where to?"
+
+"I don't know. I did not catch that, though the captain mentioned the
+place. I guess some of the petty officers are going with us to see that
+we behave ourselves."
+
+"The idea!" grumbled Sam.
+
+"Just the same, I think you and I need a guardian. We do not seem able
+to keep out of trouble when we go ashore alone. Do we, now?"
+
+"I guess that isn't a joke, after all," answered Sam, while an
+appreciative grin overspread his face.
+
+On the following morning the battleship moved slowly into the canal.
+
+The ship's chaplain was shading his eyes, gazing off to the left, when
+the boys came and leaned over the rail near him.
+
+"Lads, do you know what lies beyond, almost within sight?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"It is the Holy Land. Palestine, Damascus, Jerusalem, all are within
+easy reach even of the guns of this ship."
+
+"Is it possible?"
+
+"Yes; yonder lies Arabia with its great deserts; and there, off the
+port bow, is Mount Sinai. It is a wonderful country."
+
+"Were you ever there, Padre?" questioned Sam, addressing the chaplain
+after the manner of all sailors.
+
+"Yes, I once made a pilgrimage there. I wish that I might go again."
+
+"I hear we are going to make a pilgrimage when we get to Suez," said Sam
+irreverently.
+
+"So I understand."
+
+"Do you know where we are going, sir?" questioned Dan.
+
+"I cannot say. But you will see much."
+
+"Yes, sir, we hope to."
+
+"Yonder, off the starboard beam, lies the valley of the Nile."
+
+"Shall we see it?"
+
+"Not on this cruise, my lads. Some other cruise you may get shore leave
+when in Alexandria and take a short journey up the stream."
+
+Night had set in before the ships of the fleet emerged from the canal
+into the Gulf of Suez, where lay the city of Suez. The moonlight
+glistened on the domes and minarets, making a picture long to be
+remembered by the Battleship Boys.
+
+Lights twinkled off on the shore; strange sounds floated out across the
+waters, now a wailing cry, a ripple of laughter, then music and
+shouting.
+
+Harsh and disturbing came the bugle's command, "Hammocks up."
+
+Regretfully the boys turned away from the rail and sought their billets,
+for the bugle's command must be obeyed instantly.
+
+Soon the ship settled down to silence and sleep, the only sound on board
+being the footsteps of the watch as they paced back and forth on their
+stations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+JOLLY TARS IN EGYPT
+
+
+After the work of the morning had been gotten out of the way next day,
+the word was passed about that shore parties were to be allowed to leave
+the ship immediately after the noon mess.
+
+One party was to spend the day in Suez, while the other was to take a
+longer journey. The Battleship Boys were of the latter party. There were
+all of fifty of them. When they were ready to start they marched to the
+quarter-deck, where the captain addressed them.
+
+"I am giving you three days' shore leave, men, in recognition of
+faithful service and attention to duty. I shall expect you to carry
+yourselves as befits an American man-of-wars-man. Arrangements have been
+made for you to visit Cairo and the Pyramids. I shall hope to see you
+all report on time and happy. That will be all, men. The steamers are
+waiting to convey you to the landing."
+
+The men, regardless of discipline, gave three cheers for Captain
+Farnham.
+
+Then they piled over the side of the ship with shouts and laughter, no
+effort being made to check their merriment.
+
+"It pays to be good," howled Hickey from the bow of the steamer to those
+still aboard. "If you're good you can go visit your friends, the
+mummies. I'll give your kindest to the caliphs."
+
+With a shrill whistle the steamers headed for the landing, every jackie
+on board singing. Reaching the landing, the whole crowd rushed for the
+train that was waiting to convey them to Cairo.
+
+"Oh, look at the man with the kimono," shouted Dan.
+
+"That's no kimono; that's the conductor's uniform," answered a voice.
+
+There were a number of American tourists aboard the waiting train, and
+many of these waved American flags from the windows.
+
+The jackies went wild. They hurrahed for America; they hurrahed for the
+tourists, winding up with a "Hip, hip, hurrah, for the kings of ancient
+Egypt."
+
+By this time the conductor was charging up and down beside the train as
+if he had suddenly lost his senses.
+
+"Has he gone crazy?" called Sam.
+
+"No; he is always that way when he is starting the train. He has a fit
+at every station on the line. He wouldn't think he were earning his
+salary if he didn't," answered a traveler.
+
+The conductor's robe, a cross between a kimono and a bath robe, was
+taken in at the waist by a sash, while a bright red fez adorned his
+head. The fez was the wonder of the jackies.
+
+"That would match your hair, wouldn't it, red-head?" called a shipmate
+who observed Hickey looking at the fez.
+
+"I'll have it, too, if he gets near enough to me. Maybe you think I
+don't dare?"
+
+"I dare you."
+
+Sam made a dive for the conductor. Dan Davis stuck out a foot and Hickey
+measured his length on the ground, right at the feet of the gayly robed
+conductor.
+
+"Who did that?" demanded the red-headed boy, bounding to his feet, his
+eyes blazing with wrath.
+
+"I did. Do you think I am going to let you mix us up in any more
+trouble? If you had done what you proposed, we should have been
+arrested, the whole crowd of us. Now, behave yourself, Sam Hickey, or
+I'll thrash you right here before the train starts."
+
+"That's the talk, Dynamite!" called another sailor.
+
+"You can't do it. You can't----" sputtered Sam.
+
+"All aboard!" howled the jackies. At the same time half a dozen of them
+picked Sam up bodily and tossed him in through a car window. The engine
+gave a toot, and the train moved off, all hands singing the "Star
+Spangled Banner."
+
+For some distance the route led along the edge of the Suez canal. Ships
+were passed, and at sight of one the sailors would lean far out of the
+windows, swinging their caps and hurrahing.
+
+The conductor hurried along the running board, trying to make the
+passengers keep their heads in, but he might as well have tried to
+prevent the wheels going around.
+
+It was like throwing a cat into a bed of catnip and expecting him to be
+calm. The sailors joked the conductor good-naturedly, but it is doubtful
+if he understood a word of what they were saying.
+
+"He's got more on his mind than the captain of a battleship," laughed
+Dan.
+
+"More than the admiral of the fleet, you mean," shouted a jackie. "I
+wouldn't have his job for the whole railroad itself. They say they chop
+a conductor's head off every time a train is late in this country."
+
+"I know of some roads in America to which they ought to apply that
+practice."
+
+"So do I," agreed Sam Hickey. "This reminds me of the milk train on the
+peanut road out at Piedmont. Piedmont is where we hail from, mates," he
+explained.
+
+"Yes; you look the part," answered a shipmate, at which there was a roar
+of laughter.
+
+Sam's eyelids were at half mast.
+
+"I'll rub your nose in the desert for that when I get----"
+
+"Go tell it to the Sphinx. We're on the desert now."
+
+Stretches of yellow sand reached away and on to the foot of the Arabian
+mountains in the far distance. Along the track the train passed
+processions of dusty travelers, gorgeously arrayed with brilliantly
+colored mantles thrown over their heads.
+
+"Look! Look, there's a circus going by!" yelled Hickey.
+
+"Where, where?" Jackies rushed to his side of the car and leaned far
+out.
+
+"It's a caravan. What's the matter with you, red-head?"
+
+A long line of camels was dragging itself along the highway, each camel
+holding the bobbing figure of a native, while on foot at the rear strung
+a long procession of other natives. It was a most picturesque sight. It
+was the first time the Battleship Boys had seen camels on their native
+soil, and the boys leaned from the windows, watching the unusual sight
+until the caravan was lost in the distance.
+
+Villages of yellow mud huts, their flat roofs covered with thatch, the
+buildings surrounded by a drove of Arab goats, chickens, pigs, camels
+and donkeys, were frequently passed, the sight causing the jackies keen
+amusement.
+
+Everything was quaint and unusual; the lurching camels, the Arabs with
+their long guns and queer costumes, all combined to make the journey one
+long to be remembered.
+
+"Cairo! All out for Cairo!" sang the voice of the petty officer in
+charge of the party.
+
+"Cairo! Cairo!" howled the jackies.
+
+"Remember, boys, you are in a city now--not out on the desert."
+
+This suggestion was sufficient for the moment, and the men-o'-warsmen
+lowered their voices as they did so. But another din almost as great as
+had been their own arose. A perfect army of beggars surged toward them.
+Arabs, Greeks, Hindoos, Nubians, black, white and brown men surrounded
+the jackies, crying out in shrill voices, "Backsheesh! Backsheesh!" All
+tongues sounded alike when it came to begging.
+
+"Get out of my pocket, you heathen!" roared Sam Hickey.
+
+"This is almost as bad as Paris!" cried Dan Davis, trying to fight his
+way through the mob. "But I'd rather meet a regiment of these howling
+Dervishes, or whatever they are, than one Paris guide."
+
+"Give them the flying wedge," shouted a jackie.
+
+"Whoop! Go!"
+
+Beggars tumbled to right and left. Greek, Hindoo, Arab, Nubian and
+Albanian went down in a yelling, shouting heap on either side as the
+jackies charged into their ranks.
+
+Clang, clang!
+
+"Look out for the trolley car," shouted Dan.
+
+"What--trolley cars in this heathen country!" cried one.
+
+"Yes, and I'll bet that car there came from Newport, R. I.," jeered
+Hickey. "Yes, sir; that's the very car that I used to ride to town on
+from the training station."
+
+A shout greeted this announcement, but the sailors were amazed at what
+they saw. Had it not been for the strange mixture of races, and the
+quaint costumes, the sightseers might well have imagined themselves in
+some American city. Veiled women rode in carriages through the busy
+streets; here and there an automobile tooted its horn, while dogs
+infested the gutters, snapping at the heels of the Navy men.
+
+"This is the original crazy house," laughed Dan. "I never imagined
+anything like it."
+
+The sailors did not separate. They traveled about together, attracting a
+great deal of attention. Now and then they met an American, who, when he
+addressed them in their own language, would be greeted with a cheer. Up
+one street and down another strolled the jackies, sometimes singing
+their national anthem, then dropping into the march step to the "hep,
+hep, hep!" of one of their number.
+
+The bazaars came in for a considerable share of attention. In these the
+lads bought freely all manner of curios, for most of which they paid all
+of twice what the articles were worth. Sam Hickey got into an argument
+with an ebony-hued Nubian who had substituted an inferior article for
+something that Sam had purchased. The fellow denied having done so, and
+refused to make good the difference, or to hand over the original
+article.
+
+"All-right; I can't lick you without causing international
+complications, as the captain calls it, but I'm going to have part of
+your clothes."
+
+With that Sam snatched the fez from the Nubian's head and stuffed it in
+his trousers' pocket. The merchant made a dive at the red-headed boy,
+but found himself face to face with a solid wall of jackies, who had
+suddenly stepped between the enraged merchant and his victim.
+
+"See here, you man with the iron face," threatened one, "we'll take your
+whole shop along if you don't look out, and we won't buy it, either."
+
+"Come along, boys; we can't afford to have any row here," warned Dan.
+"We want to see the Pyramids, you know."
+
+"Hurrah for the Pyramids!" shouted the boys.
+
+"Donkey, sir, donkey?" questioned a group of native boys as the jackies
+came from the bazaar.
+
+"Who's a donkey?" demanded Sam Hickey.
+
+"Want a donkey, sir?"
+
+An idea occurred to Dan.
+
+"How much do you charge for a ride?"
+
+"Twenty piastres for half an hour," answered the lad, in very good
+English.
+
+"Twenty pi----"
+
+"That's about ten cents," spoke up a sailor who had been in Cairo on a
+former cruise.
+
+"Good! How many donkeys have you? Enough for all of us?"
+
+"I get 'em. You wait."
+
+"If you'll hurry we will wait. Don't be long. My friends are not in a
+mood to wait for anything to-night. Run, boy!"
+
+The boy darted away. In a few minutes donkeys began gathering, their
+young masters prodding the lazy beasts, urging them along with shrill
+shouts and sundry twists of the animal's tails.
+
+"Look at the donkeys," shouted the jackies. "What's going on here?"
+
+"You are all going to take a ride with me," announced Dan Davis. "We'll
+wind up the evening with a parade; then we'll pipe up hammocks."
+
+"Hurrah for Little Dynamite!" howled the men.
+
+"Let's form a cavalry company and charge the town."
+
+"The town will do all the charging, and then some more," laughed Dan.
+"Mount."
+
+With shouts of mirth the jackies swung themselves to the backs of the
+donkeys.
+
+"Forward, march!" commanded Dan.
+
+The grotesque procession started away, while the sides of the narrow
+streets were lined with natives and foreigners, all laughing at the
+ludicrous spectacle.
+
+It was harmless fun, the pent-up spirits of the sailor boys being given
+full play after weeks at sea.
+
+"Somebody sing," suggested a voice.
+
+"I'll sing," answered Hickey.
+
+"No; let Dynamite. He's the only sweet-voiced warbler in the crew. What
+will it be, Dynamite?"
+
+Dan cleared his throat.
+
+    "The harbor's past, the breezes blow,
+      Yeo ho, lads, ho! Yeo ho! Yeo ho!
+    'Tis long ere we come back, I know,
+      Yeo ho, lads, ho! Yeo ho!"
+
+The jackies greeted the effort with a howl of delight; then all joined
+in with a shout that brought people from their beds to the flat roofs of
+their houses, from which they peered down wonderingly on the strange
+procession.
+
+    "But true and bright from morn till night my home will be,
+      And all so neat and snug and sweet, for Jack at sea;
+    And Nancy's face to bless the place, and welcome me;
+      Yeo ho, lads, ho! Yeo ho!
+
+    "The bo's'n pipes the watch below,
+      Yeo ho, lads, ho! Yeo ho! Yeow!"
+
+The song ended in a roar of laughter that was taken up from the
+housetops, running down the narrow street like a wave at sea.
+
+At that moment the bluejackets were nearing the bazaar of the Nubian
+with whom Sam Hickey had had the trouble. For some reason Sam's donkey
+was taken with a sudden attack of the sulks. Sam prodded the beast and
+yelled at him; donkey boys punched the animal with their fingers to stir
+him up, but still the animal refused to move.
+
+"Twist his tail," suggested a shipmate jeeringly.
+
+Hickey accepted the suggestion. Half turning, he grasped the beast's
+tail, giving it a violent twist.
+
+"Hee--hee--hee-h-a-w--he-e-e-e-e," protested the donkey.
+
+The jackies shouted.
+
+"You better get a new horn for your automobile, red-head," jeered a
+shipmate.
+
+"The one he has would make a good siren for the battleship," added
+another.
+
+Hickey was having too much trouble, about this time, to give heed to the
+jeers of his companions. The lazy donkey had all at once taken matters
+into his own hoofs. These hoofs were flying in all directions. With
+every kick the circle about the Battleship Boy and his mount widened.
+
+"I'm going to fall off. Somebody catch me!" yelled Sam.
+
+Dan Davis, though fairly doubled up with laughter, sprang from his
+donkey and ran to Sam's assistance. He did not fear that Sam would be
+harmed, but he saw that, with every kick, the animal was getting nearer
+and nearer to the bazaar.
+
+"Hang on, Sam!" encouraged his companions.
+
+"Sprinkle some salt on the donkey's tail," suggested another.
+
+Dan leaped to the donkey's head.
+
+Instantly the animal whirled. Dan, seeing what was about to occur, threw
+himself forward just as the hind hoofs of the animal shot out, the boy
+falling against the donkey's legs and hips.
+
+The Battleship Boy was lifted right up into the air. He landed in a heap
+some fifteen feet away.
+
+The jackies yelled themselves hoarse, while Dan got up, rubbing himself
+and grinning sheepishly.
+
+A crash at that instant attracted their attention to the bazaar. Mr.
+Donkey, with the red-headed boy's arms wrapped about its neck, had
+bolted into the bazaar.
+
+[Illustration: Sam and the Donkey Bolted Into the Bazaar.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+ON THE SHIPS OF THE DESERT
+
+
+Egyptian goods were flying in all directions. A saakka, or water
+carrier, who had been delivering his wares to the merchant, landed on
+his back in the middle of the street, followed by a varied assortment of
+oriental wares.
+
+The Nubian merchant had bolted through a rear opening and made his
+escape to a back yard, from which he watched the destruction of his
+stock. The jackies, as soon as they were able to control their
+merriment, rushed in, pounced upon and captured the mad donkey. From the
+wreck they hauled out the red-headed boy, much the worse for his
+experience.
+
+Several Nubian police had hurried to the scene and a great crowd had
+been attracted by the uproar. The Nubian was wringing his hands and
+wailing over his loss.
+
+"Sam Hickey, you did that on purpose," said Davis sternly. "You drove
+that donkey in there to get even with the Nubian."
+
+"I didn't. What are you talking about?"
+
+"You know what I am talking about. You have ruined his stock. What are
+you going to do about it?"
+
+"Let him buy some new stuff. I don't care what he does."
+
+"Fellows, shall we pass the hat for the bazaar man?"
+
+"Yes; pass the fez," shouted the sailors.
+
+"I'll put in two dollars' worth," announced Dan. "That is, as near as I
+can figure it. Come, Sam."
+
+"Not for mine!" growled Hickey.
+
+"Put up or get a thrashing," commanded Dan.
+
+Sam reluctantly went down in his pocket and clumped a handful of money
+into the red fez.
+
+"Backsheesh!" cried the beggars at sight of the money, crowding in
+closer, their eyes wide and avaricious.
+
+"You'll get 'backsheesh' if you don't clear out of here mighty quick,"
+warned the jackies. "Charge them, fellows!"
+
+With a yell the sailors mounted their donkeys and rode right at the
+persistent beggars. There followed a great scattering and yelling. The
+Nubian policemen stood about, solemn-faced, but making no effort to
+interfere. The sailors returned to the bazaar and dismounted.
+
+Finally, the collection having been taken up, Davis walked into the
+booth and handed the money to the merchant.
+
+"We are sorry to have damaged your stock, sir, but it was an accident,"
+said Dan.
+
+The merchant wailed and wrung his hands.
+
+"This will pay you for your loss. As a matter of fact, I think you have
+made enough out of our crowd already to pay you for all the damage we
+have done."
+
+"Say, honest, Sam, what did you do to that donkey to make him cut up in
+that way?" demanded Dan, coming out of the bazaar.
+
+"I told you I didn't do it. His rudder got jammed; that's what was the
+matter with the beast. As soon as I got both engines going ahead full
+speed there wasn't any more trouble."
+
+Once more the boys started off down the street, singing and shouting.
+Hickey's mount was now as meek as a spring lamb, but the other men kept
+a good distance away from the red-headed boy, not knowing at what minute
+the donkey might have another fit.
+
+At last the donkey riders began to tire of their sport. Just then the
+watchmen in the towers began to cry out the hour of midnight.
+
+"Eight bells," sang out Dan Davis.
+
+"All lights are burning brightly," mocked another.
+
+"Yes, but they will all be out soon," answered Dan. "Time to pipe up
+hammocks."
+
+"Oh, not yet," protested Sam.
+
+"Yes, now. We've had a fine time to-night, but we have another day ahead
+of us. Remember, we're going to see some wonderful sights to-morrow."
+
+"Dynamite is right," called out several. "We'll all pipe down."
+
+"Where do we stay?"
+
+"That has all been arranged for. We go back to the station, where the
+boatswain's mate will be waiting for us. Sam, you and I are going over
+to the hotel."
+
+"The Shepherd's Crook, or something of that sort?"
+
+"Shepherd's Hotel, you mean," laughed Dan. "Yes; we are very
+extravagant, but we do not get a chance to see real life very often."
+
+Arriving at the station, the Battleship Boys bade their companions good
+night, and made their way to the hotel where they had decided to stop.
+They had picked out the most fashionable hotel in the Egyptian capital,
+but they were made welcome, and the Americans, of whom there were many
+there, took the boys up enthusiastically. It was with difficulty that
+Dan and Sam got away from them finally. That night, for the first time
+in many months, the lads slept in a real bed.
+
+They did not sleep well. They missed the swaying hammock, the fresh salt
+breeze blowing over them and the swish or roar of the waves against the
+side of the ship--sounds that had grown to be a part of their very
+existence.
+
+At last, as day was peeping in through the open windows, they fell into
+a sound sleep, from which they did not awaken until late in the morning.
+
+At eleven o'clock that morning the boys presented themselves at the
+Gizeh Palace, where they were to take the train that would carry them
+well on their way toward the Pyramids.
+
+Others of their shipmates came straggling along, and within an hour
+nearly all were there, some having decided to remain in the city and
+finish their sight-seeing there in preference to going out on the
+desert.
+
+Every man of them was bright-eyed, happy, and ready for whatever the day
+might bring forth.
+
+At Gizeh station, some seven miles from the city, all the passengers
+were hustled out for a change of cars.
+
+"Do we walk?" came a chorus of demands. "How far is it?"
+
+"No; we take ship from here," answered Davis, with a quizzical smile.
+
+"A ship?" demanded Hickey incredulously.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Pooh! You're joking. This is a desert, not a sea."
+
+"You will see."
+
+"Pipe down punning. It's too hot to laugh," commanded a voice.
+
+Dan, with the boatswain's mate, had arranged a surprise for their
+shipmates, a new experience for every man of the party.
+
+Headed by the Battleship Boys and the boatswain's mate, the bluejackets
+walked away from the station for a short distance. Suddenly they came to
+an open space of sand. There, lounging about, was a large group of
+Bedouins, clad in long, flowing robes, wearing turbans and armed with
+long, stout sticks. Beyond the Bedouins, their many-jointed legs folded
+under them, lay a herd of camels with half-closed eyes and disdainfully
+curling lips.
+
+"See that hump!" yelled the jackies the moment they set eyes on the
+ungainly beasts. "There are some bumps for you."
+
+"See them feed the babies," cried a chorus of voices.
+
+Several camel owners were squatting in front of their animals stuffing
+little balls of grass down the throats of the beasts, while the latter
+chewed lazily.
+
+"Where's the ships?" demanded Hickey, looking about him expectantly.
+
+"There they are," answered Dan, with glowing face. "That is the surprise
+we have in store for you."
+
+"What, camels?"
+
+"Yes. Otherwise known as 'ships of the desert.'"
+
+"Are--are we to ride those things?'
+
+"If you wish. All of those who prefer may go the rest of the way by
+train. It is a short journey, but we thought you would like it."
+
+"Like it? No train for us! Hurrah for the hunch backs!" came the
+answering clamor.
+
+Few chose the train, it is needless to say. All was excitement,
+everybody trying to talk at once, and to this the Bedouins added their
+chatter in Arabic, interspersed here and there with an English word. The
+camels, catching something of the excitement of the moment, lumbered to
+their feet. The boys glanced at the great height of the beasts rather
+apprehensively.
+
+"Where are the ladders?" demanded a voice.
+
+"Ladders?"
+
+"Yes; it will take a ladder or a flying machine to get aboard those
+ships. I don't know whether I want to take the chance or not," said
+Hickey.
+
+"Line up here, boys," commanded Dan. "All ready, Mr. Bedouin."
+
+The camel drivers uttered short, sharp commands to their animals,
+whereupon the beasts got down on their knees.
+
+"All aboard!" called Dan. "No Jacob's ladders here; you will have to
+climb."
+
+The boys piled on, so many getting aboard the first one that the beast
+was unable to rise. It toppled over sideways, spilling all the
+passengers overboard into the sand.
+
+"Attention!" shouted Dan. "Let's do this thing right or we'll never get
+to the Pyramids. One at a time. There, that's right."
+
+At last all were up, Dan on the back of the tallest camel at the head of
+the line.
+
+"All right, back there?"
+
+"Wait; I'm sliding off!" howled Sam.
+
+"Anybody got a rabbit's foot in his pocket? If so, pass it along to
+Coxswain Hickey."
+
+"I'm off. Wow!"
+
+Sam hit the ground, sending up a little cloud of yellow dust. The
+jackies burst into a roar.
+
+"Leave him! Let him walk!"
+
+"Yes, go on. It will do him good."
+
+The camels started off, with every man on them shouting suggestions to
+poor Sam, who had regained his feet and was racing along trying to keep
+up with the camels, and hurling threats at his companions in a
+dust-choked voice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+CALLING ON THE MUMMIES
+
+
+For a full mile they made the red-headed boy run. Then, at Dan's
+command, a camel was made to kneel, and the perspiring coxswain was
+permitted to climb the animal's hump.
+
+"That--that was a mean trick," growled Sam. "I'll even up with you for
+that, Dan Davis!"
+
+Dan laughed happily.
+
+"You needed the exercise. It will put you in good shape for climbing the
+Pyramids."
+
+A few minutes more of riding brought them to the feet of these
+awe-inspiring monuments, and with the aid of their guides the jackies
+scrambled up the sides of the Great Pyramid.
+
+"We must see the tombs on the inside of the Pyramid, fellows," cried Dan
+after they had descended by skips and jumps the long steps of the
+Pyramid.
+
+"Yes," cried Sam. "I promised to give the regards of the stay-at-homes
+to the mummies."
+
+The guides lighted long wax tapers, and they entered the dark,
+ill-ventilated passage leading into the great pile of masonry.
+
+"Whew!" said Dan. "I don't wonder mummies have that dark-brown color,
+if they have baked in this oven a few hundred years. Guide, is there any
+one in here except our party?"
+
+"No. Why?"
+
+"I saw two men, I thought, in one of those passages to the right."
+
+"It's nothing but a mummy ghost," suggested a shipmate.
+
+All at once they emerged into a great high-domed chamber, the walls of
+which were covered with strange carvings.
+
+"What station is this?" questioned Dan.
+
+"The King's Chamber," replied the guide.
+
+"What is the King's name?" he asked.
+
+"Not know. Dead maybe two thousand years."
+
+"Two thousand years? He must have known our boatswain," said Hickey
+solemnly.
+
+The others began asking questions, and Dan, walking to the other side of
+the chamber, began examining the inscriptions on the walls. He was
+standing near a corridor when suddenly he became conscious of a shadow
+coming between himself and the light. He started, then peered into the
+long corridor.
+
+"What are you looking for?" demanded Sam, who had come up behind Dan at
+that moment.
+
+"I think there is some one out there," he replied. "I saw shadows
+again."
+
+"Do you really think some of those old kings are nosing around here?"
+
+Dan laughed softly.
+
+"I'll risk their getting out. I think some of our fellows are playing
+tricks on us. What do you say to our turning the tables on them? We'll
+hide in the corridor, and give them a scare when they creep up to see
+where we are."
+
+Davis and Hickey crept along on their hands and knees, chuckling softly
+over the scare they were about to give their mates.
+
+"Sh-h-h-h," warned Dan suddenly, in a low voice. "I heard something."
+
+"Was--was it the boys?"
+
+"I don't know. I heard some one whisper, and it wasn't in English,
+either. Be careful."
+
+The passageway had curved abruptly, going off in another direction, but
+in the intense darkness they did not notice this.
+
+Suddenly Dan touched his friend's arm.
+
+"The light in the King's Chamber has gone."
+
+"Call out."
+
+"No, no. We will turn and go back. We were foolish to try a thing of
+this sort."
+
+Keeping close together, the boys began crawling rapidly. All at once Dan
+stopped.
+
+"We surely should have reached the King's Chamber before this," he
+declared.
+
+"Maybe we have gone on past it?"
+
+"I think not. We should have recognized the place had we passed through
+it."
+
+"Then there's only one thing to do--whoop her up until the mummies turn
+over."
+
+"I guess you are right."
+
+Dan uttered a loud hello. There was no answer. Sam shouted, with no
+better result.
+
+"Sam, we've been left alone in the dark this time--we're lost in the
+Great Pyramid."
+
+Meanwhile the other bluejackets had finished their tour and had emerged
+into the bright sunlight.
+
+While taking up a collection to settle with the guide, Spunk McGraw, a
+friend of the Battleship Boys, suddenly looked up.
+
+"See here, where's that red-headed boy?" he demanded.
+
+"He's hidden so he won't have to hand out when the plate's passed,"
+answered a joking voice.
+
+"And Dan Davis is missing, too," said McGraw, with a scared look on his
+face.
+
+"They're not going back on the train," one of the jackies volunteered.
+"They said they were going back part way on the camels."
+
+"Oh, that's it, then," answered McGraw in a relieved tone. "Let's go to
+the station and find out what time we can get a train."
+
+And no more thought was given to Dan and Sam until the boatswain's mate
+found them missing at rollcall back in Cairo that evening.
+
+"Did they come back with you?" the mate questioned.
+
+"No, sir," replied Spunk McGraw. "I think they were going back to the
+place where we change cars by way of the camels."
+
+"They may have been held up on that camel ride, sir," spoke up one of
+the men, "but they may be on the train following. You can't keep Davis
+and Hickey in one place against their will for very long."
+
+A ripple of laughter ran along the line at this, but when the next train
+came wheezing in with no Battleship Boys, the mate looked grave.
+
+"It is my opinion that those men are lost in the Pyramid," he announced
+with solemn emphasis. "I want ten men to go back with me to find them.
+The rest of you will leave for Suez under McGraw's command on the
+midnight train."
+
+Within half an hour he had procured an automobile and two Pyramid
+guides, and with his detail of jackies had departed for the Pyramids.
+
+Back in the Pyramid the Battleship Boys were still lost and in utter
+darkness.
+
+"What's the matter with our following the passageway back to the King's
+Chamber?" asked Sam Hickey.
+
+"For the reason, Sam, that we do not know where the chamber is."
+
+"I guess you're right," he agreed.
+
+"Come along; we'll try it in this direction," said Dan. "Keep hold of my
+hand. We do not want to get separated."
+
+The lads made their way along through corridor after corridor. They
+could see nothing save now and then when they lighted a match.
+
+"Hark!"
+
+Dan gripped his companion's arm sharply.
+
+"I heard something again."
+
+Their voices had dropped to whispers.
+
+"It might have been some animal, and we have nothing to defend ourselves
+with," said Dan Davis.
+
+"We have our knives," answered Sam.
+
+"Yes; we'll use them if we meet any four-footed enemies. Strike another
+match, please."
+
+Sam did so at once. Instantly something happened. As the match flared
+up, blinding them for the moment, Sam leaped into the air.
+
+"Wow!" he howled. "Look ou----"
+
+Dan uttered an exclamation before Sam had finished the sentence.
+Something had given him a violent push from behind. At the same instant
+Dan Davis was served in a similar manner. Instead of jumping, however,
+he whirled with the intention of grappling with his assailant, whoever
+he might be.
+
+Another push sent him reeling backward. He grasped wildly for something
+to check his fall, but his hands slipped along the smooth rock.
+
+"I must be going all of a mile a minute," thought the boy. "Poor Sam.
+Poor----"
+
+Suddenly he felt his body leave the sloping rock and shoot into space.
+Then all at once everything became a blank.
+
+Dan landed heavily and lay still, but in a few minutes he began to
+struggle with himself, fighting off an almost irresistible inclination
+to lie back and go to sleep again. A few minutes of this and he sat up.
+
+"Oh, Sam! Hello, Sam!" he shouted.
+
+"Hello yourself," answered a voice so close to Dan that he could not
+repress a start.
+
+"Where are you?" cried Dan eagerly.
+
+"That's what I've been trying to find out myself," answered the
+red-headed boy.
+
+"Are you injured?"
+
+"Injured? Not I. I'm going to strike a match. That's about the only
+thing about me that hasn't been struck sixteen times to the inch since I
+started in to shoot the chutes."
+
+Lighting the match, he uttered an exclamation of delight. On one side of
+the place was a heap of rubbish. They touched a match to it, and a
+bright blaze rewarded their efforts.
+
+"How did you happen to fall over, Sam?" Dan questioned.
+
+"Just as you did, I guess. I was pushed."
+
+"You know I told you some one was dogging our footsteps earlier in the
+afternoon."
+
+For a moment Davis sat lost in thought.
+
+"Let us push on, Sam," he finally said. "We may find our way out, and
+our mates can find us in one place as well as in another, if they find
+us at all."
+
+Dan took one of the glowing sticks from the fire to light the way, and
+started out.
+
+"We'd better follow along on this level. We shall never get back the way
+we came."
+
+"All right; I'm ready."
+
+"Sam, I think we're going down instead of up," said Dan after a few
+minutes.
+
+"What's the odds? We might as well bury ourselves deep while we are
+about it."
+
+Both lads laughed at the red-haired boy's grim joke, neither one
+thinking of whining over their dangerous situation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+Fully half an hour had passed when Davis suddenly uttered a low
+"Sh-h-h!"
+
+"I hear voices again," whispered Dan.
+
+"So do I, now. I wonder where they are?"
+
+"Let's creep around this corridor. Speak only in whispers until we find
+out whether they are friends or enemies."
+
+After making the turn the lads found they could hear the voices more
+plainly. A moment more and their groping fingers made the discovery that
+they were touching wood.
+
+"It's a door," whispered Dan. "Be ready to meet some trouble. I'm going
+in."
+
+The door opened with a great noise, it's rusty hinges squeaking
+warningly.
+
+Two Bedouins were sitting cross-legged on the stone floor. Above their
+heads hung a smoky oil lamp, while about the walls were weapons.
+
+"We have lost our way," said Dan courteously. "If you will show us the
+way out we will pay you well."
+
+With an angry exclamation the two Bedouins sprang to their feet, making
+a dash for their revolvers in a niche in the wall. Davis caught the
+significance of the movement.
+
+"Down them, Sam!"
+
+"I'm on the job," howled Hickey, as he landed on the back of the man
+nearest him.
+
+At the same instant Dan had hurled himself at the other man. There had
+been no time for further explanations.
+
+There followed a few minutes of desperate, silent struggling, and then
+Sam suddenly uttered a yell of triumph.
+
+"I--I've got him this time. I've----"
+
+Ere he had finished the sentence there came a thud. Hickey had, by a
+clever wrestling trick, thrown his man, the fellow's head striking the
+floor so heavily that he lost consciousness.
+
+A moment later Dan succeeded in throwing his man over flat on his face.
+
+"Tear up some of those robes over there and make me a rope, quick," he
+commanded.
+
+With the rope so made Dan bound the hands of the prisoners behind their
+backs.
+
+"I don't know whether you understand English or not. I reckon you do,"
+announced Dan, after they had shaken Sam's man back to consciousness.
+"We want you to lead us out of this place. We have your guns, and if you
+cut up any we shall be obliged to shoot. If you behave yourselves we
+will let you go when we get outside, providing you are not wanted by the
+police. Now go."
+
+"And if you take us to any of your fellows we will shoot you first, then
+take our chances with the rest," added Sam.
+
+The captives made no reply, but the boys were satisfied, from the
+expression on their faces, that they understood. The Bedouin inclined
+his head toward a passageway, and the strange procession started.
+
+Some twenty minutes later they stepped out into the fresh night air of
+the desert.
+
+"This is great," breathed Hickey, with a glowing face. "Shall we take
+these fellows along with us?"
+
+"No, we will keep our word to them."
+
+They untied the Bedouins, and the fellows slunk away and disappeared.
+
+Dan uttered a loud hello.
+
+"That you, Dynamite?" came an answer from one of the jackies who had
+been left outside.
+
+With shouts of delight the party assembled, and all hands listened
+wonderingly to the story the boys had to tell. The guides told Dan and
+Sam that they had unearthed the lair of one of the worst bands that ever
+infested the desert in the vicinity of the Pyramids.
+
+As a result of the information they gave, the band of brigands was
+routed from their hiding place for good and all.
+
+Late that afternoon the lads once more set foot on the deck of the "Long
+Island," and the battleship shortly afterwards got under way. At muster
+that afternoon Dan and Sam were once more called before the captain.
+
+"I have this day received an order from the Navy Department," began the
+captain. "It provides that for gallant service and quick wit Gunner's
+Mate Davis is to be promoted to Chief Turret Captain. He will assume his
+duties to-morrow morning. Coxswain Hickey is promoted to Gunner's Mate
+first class. Lads, I congratulate you."
+
+The bugle blew and the men marched from the deck.
+
+That night Dan Davis climbed into his hammock for the last time. On the
+following night he would take possession of a real berth in the chief
+petty officers' quarters.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Battleship Boys in Foreign Service, by 
+Frank Gee Patchin
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42940 ***