“I’ve heard of fellows going into the surf on the first of January,” put in Herb. “But I’ve always put them down as plain nuts. Look, there go some of them now!”
Several of the sailors had gone out on the boom, which was so broad that it afforded sufficiently safe footing.
Even as Herb spoke, one of them poised himself with uplifted hands, and then, straight as an arrow, dived into the blue depths below.
His companions followed his example, and presently a score or more were frolicking around like so many dolphins and enjoying themselves to the utmost.
“Come on in, the water’s fine!” they shouted to some of their more hesitant companions on the boom.
“Well, that beats me!” exclaimed Herb. “I’ve always heard that sailors were a hardy bunch, but this is the limit. The water must be freezing!”
“Not a bit of it,” said a voice beside them, and they looked up to see Ensign Porter. “I think you’d enjoy it if you went in yourselves. That is, assuming you can swim.”
“We can swim, all right,” replied Bob. “But we’ve been used to doing our swimming in the summer.”
“This is summer, isn’t it?” replied the ensign, with a quizzical smile.
“Of course,” assented Jimmy. “But there aren’t icebergs where we go in. I should think these fellows would freeze to death.”