“There! there! Do you hear it? There it is again!” and the girl danced for very joy.
The hoarse, rolling sound of a marine whistle was plainly heard by both.
“A lipthalener! A lipthalener!” they both cried, and rushed out on to the porch.
Coming around the fortress point was a magnificent cruiser of about 3,000 tons. Her black hull and raking, yardless masts proclaimed her calling; the flag at the peak, the glorious stars and stripes, proclaimed her nationality. Off the lower dock, and a half-mile from it, she came to anchor, and her great hull swung around with the tide.
“Come, Marie; no time is to be lost!” and Mollie rushed into the parlor, seized her hat, and quickly made her way to the dock.
For a dollar, a boatman gladly took them in his little craft, and rowed to where the lipthalener lay quietly at her anchors.
“Ahoy! On deck! Is the captain on board?” cried the boatman, as he held off by a hook against the side of the big vessel.
“You’ll think so, you lubber, if he sees that hook in his vessel,” came the response from the port bows. “Heave off and lie to, and I’ll report,” and the man and voice disappeared.
A moment after, a man in the uniform of the United States navy, appeared at the companion-way and cried:
“Ahoy! What’s wanted?”