“I certainly do,” was the amused reply. “Here they are, the whole bunch—count them—four of them, the very boys you’ve been talking about.” For once the captain lost his calm repose of manner.
“Well, well, that’s one on me!” he exclaimed. “To think I’ve been telling you about something you know far better than I do! I’ll have to write Bentley and tell him about the coincidence. He’ll be pleased to know of this fresh proof of his good judgment.”
“If he thinks as much of us as we do of him, it’s plenty,” said Bob. “Mr. Bentley is one of the finest men we ever came across.”
“He surely is,” assented the captain warmly. “I’ve known him for years, and he’s my ideal of what a man should be. He chose the land for his life work and I chose the water for mine, but every once in a while we find ourselves together and have a chat about old times.”
“You are an officer in the navy, I understand,” remarked Mr. Layton.
“Yes,” replied the captain. “I’ve been captain of a destroyer for some years. Saw service in European waters during the war. But I’m contemplating a change just now. This limitation treaty has tied up a lot of our ships and is going to tie up more, and I’ve no fancy for shore duty. So I’ve applied for a transfer to the Iceberg Patrol, and I’ve received assurances that my application would probably be granted.”
“The Iceberg Patrol!” exclaimed Bob. “I remember Doctor Dale telling us about that once. That’s the Government service that aims to warn steamships in the ocean lanes against icebergs, isn’t it?”
“That’s it,” assented the captain. “But it isn’t only our Government that does that. Fourteen other nations have combined to do the same thing, and we do our part along with the rest. That helps to make it interesting. There’s a friendly rivalry between all the nations to prove which fleet is the most efficient.”
“It must be wonderfully interesting and exciting,” said Joe, to whom the frozen North had always made a strong appeal.
“It’s all of that,” replied the captain. “That’s why I’m seeking the appointment. It was rather exciting work over on the other side when we didn’t know what moment we’d strike a mine or be torpedoed by a submarine. Now in these piping times of peace, I feel that I’m getting rusty and I want the stir and danger all over again, and I look for plenty of it up there.”