When they returned to the ship, it was recreation hour, and the music of the “ship’s band” greeted the newcomers across the water. Half a dozen hands were stretched over the side to catch the painter of the launch as she approached the side ladder. The Chairman and the Captain were standing on deck ready to welcome Mr. Jackson.
Bob immediately took the mail below and sorted it out according to regulations, while Mr. Wentworth went to the clothes locker to find a suit of “whites”, and a blue working suit to fit the new apprentice seaman, William Brown.
Billy’s “Station Billet” was made out within half an hour from the time he arrived, and Bob was detailed to explain it to him.
Billy made out that he was Number 6 in the Second Division, Second Section, which was in charge of Harold French, as “B. M.”, and Bob offered to take him to French so that he could report at once.
French looked him over quietly and then said, “You know how to swim, I suppose?”
“Yes,” said Billy, “I’ve done my fifty yards.”
“How about diving?” asked French.
Billy put his hand on his stomach with a smile and said with a peculiar drawl, “I’ve had a good many slaps right here. I’m not much good at that.”
“Probably you don’t swim under water, then,” replied the “B. M.”
“No,” said Billy, “and we never went beyond our depth where I learned swimming.”