CHAPTER VIII.
HERC TAKES A COLD BATH.
A few minutes after the boys' arrival at the landing, a launch with alead-covered hood was seen approaching, towing three large ship's boatsbehind it. The latter were crowded with jackies coming ashore.
A gilt "M." on the bow of the launch proclaimed it to be from the_Manhattan_, and Herc made a dive for the float as the "steamer" puffedup to the landing stage.
"Come on, Ned!" he cried. "Whoop! Here's where we join the ship! Bang!Big guns! Blow 'em up! Hurray!"
But to Herc's surprise, as he made for the inclined runway leading tothe float, he was met by the menacing muzzle of a rifle.
The weapon was held by a marine--"soldier and sailor too"--behind whomstood the natty middie in charge of the float.
"Stand back!" ordered the marine sternly.
Herc regarded the leveled rifle with some apprehension and gave way afew steps to the rear.
"Don't you know enough not to try to embark till the order is given?"asked Ned, as the young midshipman scowled at the red-headed youth asif the latter had committed some heinous crime.
"Why, the boats are made to get into, aren't they?" protested Herc."And who is that fellow in the funny uniform, anyhow?"
"That's a marine," laughed Ned. "He's on sentry duty."
"Oh, so he's a marine, eh?" rejoined Herc, regarding the sentry withmuch disapproval. "One of those sea soldiers--a sort of half-and-halffellow."
Further comment on Herc's part was cut short by the outpouring of thelaughing, shouting jackies who were coming ashore on leave. They pouredup the narrow gangway in a seemingly never-ending stream.
"There'll be no one left to man the ships," gasped Herc, as the ranksof light-hearted shore-leave men poured past. Some of them carriedsuitcases, and were evidently going ashore to bid a last good-by totheir friends. Others, whose folks probably resided in distant cities,were going ashore for a last look at New York.
"Those fellows will all have to be on board by midnight," explainedold Tom to the boys. "They're going to crowd all they can into the fewhours they'll have ashore."
"Then we are to sail soon?" inquired Ned, his heart beating high andhis eyes sparkling.
"Before eight bells to-morrow morning we'll be in the Narrows,"rejoined the old bluejacket.
"That's the stuff!" cried Ned, gazing at the ranks of bronzed, healthyfaces which were still passing by.
"Want action, eh?" laughed old Tom. "Well, lads, you'll get it beforeyou are many hours older; and remember, my lad, that it isn't all funaboard a man-o'-war, and always bear in mind one thing--do what you'retold without grumbling. Tee-total abstinence, when it comes to makingremarks about what you are told to do in Uncle Sam's navy."
"Say, Ned," whispered Herc.
"What?" asked Ned, still engrossed in the animated scene before him,and in the formidable background formed by the motionless war machines.
"Well, did you hear what he said?"
"Yes, why?"
"Oh, nothing; only it looks as if we had bitten off more than we couldchew, that's all."
"What do you mean?"
"That I didn't like that part about 'not grumbling whatever we are toldto do.' It looks as if we might have some pretty tough chores set us."
"I guess we shall have all sorts of chores," laughed Ned, as heregarded Herc's rueful face; "but we didn't enlist to look pretty andpose becomingly in our uniforms. We're in the United States navy forfour years, and whatever happens, we've got to stick to it."
The lads' conversation had been carried on in an undertone, but Ned hadunconsciously raised his voice as he spoke the last words.
"That's the talk, shipmate," said old Tom, regarding him approvingly."I never heard a boy talking like that yet who didn't come out of thebig end of the horn before he'd served out his enlistment. The navy'sthe finest place in the world for boys of your cut, but it's no placefor shirkers."
The old man regarded Herc as he spoke, and the carroty-headed boy'seyes fell under the tar's keen, half-humorous gaze. To tell the truth,Herc was beginning to half regret that he had enlisted at all. Theprospect of four years' service at the hard tasks at which the oldsailor had hinted did not best please him; but Herc knew better thanto make any complaint to Ned. The other lad, however, had noticed hiscompanion's downcast looks and rallied him on them.
"Come, Herc, cheer up!" he said heartily. "We're like young bears--allour troubles before us; but they'll lick us into shape, never fear."
"Oh, crickey! there you go again," groaned Herc.
"Go again--what?" demanded Ned, puzzled.
"Why, talking about 'licking us.' Do they still lick fellows in thenavy, Mr. Tom?"
"No, my lad; the cat-o'-nine-tails was abolished in Uncle Sam's shipsyears ago," responded the old man, with a twinkle; "but we've still gotthe brig."
"The brig--that's a kind of a ship, isn't it?" inquired Ned.
"Not as I knows of," grinned old Tom; "but teetotal abstinence is theword when it comes to the brig, my lads. I hope you'll never form itsacquaintance."
"Attention!"
The young midshipman shouted the order.
The Dreadnought Boys straightened up, as did all the other tars. Thelanding parties had by this time all dispersed and were straggling upthe hill, playing all manner of tricks on each other, more like a lotof happy boys just out of school than anything else.
"Now, what's that young whipper-snapper going to do?" whispered Herc.
"Hush!" rejoined Ned. "I expect we are going to get an order."
He was right.
Orders were given for the men to board the boats in a quiet, orderlymanner.
"Keep close by me," cautioned old Tom, "and never mind the joshing youare going to get."
Ned had noticed for the past few minutes that the sailors assembled onthe wharf had been eyeing them curiously, and that some of them hadbeen whispering together.
"Why, what's the trouble?" asked Herc.
"I expect the boys will give you a bit of a hazing," replied old Tom."But take it all in good part, and you'll soon be shipmates with all ofthem."
The old sailor's prophecy came true.
The midshipman who had been on duty at the float was relieved byanother of his rank, and the first then took his place in the "steamer"which was to tow the boats full of jackies. As he sat in the sternsheets of the power craft, he could not see readily what was going onin the boats, and perhaps made it a point not to be too observant.
Ned and Herc found themselves in the second boat, and as they hadbecome separated from old Tom in the rush to board the craft, theyhad now no mentor to advise them, and felt curiously alone among thelaughing, joking bluejackets that crowded the boats to the gunwales.
"I see the old man's ordered his winter's supply of kindling!" came ina loud stage whisper from the boat in which the two lads were seated.
The "old man" always refers to the commander of a man-of-war, in theparlance of the jackies.
"Say, Bill, your thatch is on fire!" laughed another.
Poor Herc felt his cheeks turn as red as his unlucky hair under therunning fire of banter which, there was no room to doubt, was intendedfor him.
"Might be a good thing to call fire stations," grinned another. "Idon't much like the idea of sailing on a battleship with so muchcombustible stuff aboard."
"Like being shipmates with a red-hot stove," put in anotherbefore-the-mast humorist.
"Keep cool, Herc," whispered Ned, who was beginning to dread anoutburst on the part of his impulsive companion.
Unfortunately his whisper was overheard, and a shout went up from thosenearest the two boys.
"That's right! 'Keep cool, Herc!'" they mimicked. "Don't get afire,mate, or we may have to duck you."
"I reckon he must have belonged to the village fire department," put inanother.
"I'll bet they practiced putting out fires on his head," came anothervoice.
It was more than flesh and blood could bear.
Herc had been unmindful of the fact that a fresh wind blowing up theNorth River kicks up quite a sea, and in a second he was sprawling onthe bottom of the boat, with a perfect tempest of laughter ringing inhis burning ears.
But, as he fell, Herc's heavy form careened against a seaman who wasstanding upright, scanning the vessel they were approaching. Downcrashed the two, with Herc on top. When they rose the nose of theseaman who had fallen under Here's bulky person was bloody, and hiseyes inflamed with rage.
"You hayseed-eating swab," he growled, "look here--blood all over myblouse. Now I've got to clean it or get a call down."
"I'm very sorry," said Herc penitently, "I didn't do it on purpose."
"You're a liar, and I'll trim you for it before long."
Herc recollected Ned's advice, and bottled his rage. In a cuttingvoice, however, he rejoined:
"At the Training School they told us that most sailors were gentlemen.I guess they were dead wrong."
"Fire's out!" yelled somebody; but as, by this time, they were almostalongside the towering, slate-colored sides of the _Manhattan_, aquick cry of "Hush!" ran through the boat, and the Dreadnought Boys,for the present, escaped further trials of their tempers.
"Aren't we going to board the ship?" asked Herc, as the launchapproached the _Manhattan_, which was swung up-stream, with the tide.
"Of course," replied Ned.
Both lads spoke in an undertone, so as not to run the risk of incurringa rebuke or the bringing down of further teasing on their heads.
"But there is a gangway hanging over the side right there," objectedHerc, pointing to a substantial stairway leading from the sternstructure of the big war vessel to the water's edge.
"Why, you lubber," laughed Ned, "that's the officer's landing place. Weare not allowed to land on the starboard side. We jackies have to goround to the port side of the ship."
"Humph!" remarked Herc, in whose mind a very distinct feeling that heshould not like the navy was beginning to take shape.
In a few minutes the launch drew up at the officer's gangway, and theyoung midshipman leaped in an agile manner onto it. The launch thencontinued round the steep bow of the _Manhattan_, which towered likea mighty cliff of gray steel above the boys' heads. It steamed on tillit arrived beneath a number of "Jacob's ladders" dangling from boomsprojecting several feet outward from the vessel's side.
"How on earth do we get aboard?" said Herc.
"Climb up those ladders," rejoined Ned.
"What, those swinging things?"
"That's right."
"What then?"
"Then we run along those booms till we are on board the ship."
"No, thank you."
Herc looked apprehensively at the swinging ladders up which the jackiesfrom the first boat were already beginning to swarm like monkeys,nimbly scampering along the booms when they reached the top. Theysteadied themselves on the lofty perches by light hand-lines rigged forthe purpose.
"What do you mean? Surely you are not getting scared?"
"No, not scared," replied Herc. "But what's a fellow want to come intothe navy for if he can make a living walking a tight rope?"
"Come on, you two rookies!" shouted a voice at this moment. "Let's seehow you can manage a Jacob's ladder."
There was a taunting note in the words that made Ned wheel angrily.He saw facing him, with an ugly leer on his countenance, thehulking-looking man, whose arm stripes denoted that he was servinghis second enlistment, with whom Herc had already had the recordedpassage-at-arms. Then and there Ned felt that this fellow and himselfwere not destined to make good shipmates. He also determined, however,not to let any of the jackies see that there was an instant'shesitation in his mind about taking the perilous-looking climb.
"Come on, Herc," he cried, as he made a spring for the ladder.
Its swaying end hung a good three feet above the boat, and as the riverwas fairly choppy, the craft, heavy as it was, bobbed about in a livelymanner. The lad's experience at the training school, however, hadtaught him not to mind this, and without an instant's pause he made ajump for the contrivance, and a second later was climbing up it like asquirrel.
"I guess I'll wait and see after our baggage," called Herc after him.
"Your baggage will be sent up afterward by deep-sea express, bricktop!"yelled a derisive voice. "Come on, now, get up that ladder lively, anddon't keep us waiting."
Poor Herc, with much inward perturbation, made a jump for the ladder,and, to his surprise, found that it was easier than he had expected tonegotiate. He scrambled rapidly upward after Ned, who by this time wasalmost at the boom.
Close behind Herc came the sailor who had taunted the boys in the boat.His name was Ralph Kennell, otherwise known as "Kid" Kennell. He hadquite a reputation in the fleet as a fighter and wrestler, and on thestrength of his renown had allowed a naturally domineering dispositionto develop into that of a full-fledged bully.
Kennell pressed close behind Herc as the red-headed boy clambered asfast as he could toward the boom.
"The sooner it's over, the better," thought poor Herc to himself, as hemade his best pace upward.
But it was no part of Kennell's plans that the Dreadnought Boys shouldmake their first appearance on board the _Manhattan_ without some sortof an accident befalling them, and he did his best to "rattle" Herc ashe climbed close on his heels.
Already Ned had gained the boom, and scampered neatly along it andalighted on the white deck of the first battleship he had everboarded. He gazed anxiously over the rail at poor Herc as he toiledupward. Ned's quick eyes did not escape the fact that Kennell was"bullyragging" Herc to the extent of his capacity in this direction,which was considerable.
The cheeks of Herc's chum burned angrily as he gazed, but he waspowerless to interfere. The officer of the deck, with his telescopetucked under his arm, was standing near by, and Ned knew it would be agross infraction of navy discipline to shout the warning he longed todeliver to Herc. Ned had, as soon as he reached the deck, turned towardthe stern and saluted the flag, and then paid the same compliment tothe officer, who had touched the rim of his cap in return.
And now Herc had scrambled up onto the boom, which was slightlyflattened on the top and not really so very difficult of passage. Hestarted along it, gripping the frail hand-line tightly. It is likelythat, if he had been left alone, he would have gained the ship withoutdisaster, but Kennell was close behind him, and as Herc, with set faceand white cheeks, reached the center of the narrow "bridge," the ship'sbully closed up on him.
What happened then occurred so quickly that the jackies who watchedit said afterward that all they saw was Herc's body shooting downwardwith a despairing cry, and a second later another flash, as his chum'sform dashed through the air and entered the water close by the place ofHerc's disappearance with a loud splash.
Instantly the startling cry of "Man overboard!" echoed from mouth tomouth along the decks of the Dreadnought.
The Dreadnought Boys on Battle Practice Page 8
