They introduced Mr. Jackson as their guest, and all three walked aft to the quarter-deck and sat down under the awning.
The boys were then ordered to “stand at ease” until after the inspection of the ship, and their visitor inspected her carefully from stem to stern, looking into every corner, and asking to have the lid removed from everything that was covered up.
While they were in the galley he examined carefully the back of the range to see whether there was any danger from fire; and then, pointing to a ring in the deck beneath their feet, “What’s that?” asked he.
“A coal bunker,” answered the Captain; and, lifting the corner, which was a little stiff, he showed the place between the deck and the timbers below where the range coal was kept.
The Commandant then asked questions about the storage of gasoline for the launch and where the kerosene for the lamps was kept. It was explained to him that the only supply of gasoline was kept in the bow of the launch itself, and that the kerosene was lashed inside of a crate out on deck. He examined the boatswain’s lockers with a good deal of interest and expressed himself as satisfied with the result.
When they came back to the deck, the boys were drawn up at “Attention” and he walked up and down the lines deliberately and carefully, taking in all there was to be seen.
Then, turning to one of the officers, he said: “How long does it take you to get one of the boats into the water fully manned?”
“Would you like to see them try it, sir?” asked the Chairman.
As the Commandant assented, the Captain spoke to Jack Perkins.
As usual, when lying at anchor, all the boats were in the water, swinging from the boat booms, whereas the Commandant’s question evidently referred to lowering a boat from its davits into the water; so that the long boat—which was the cutter belonging to Jack Perkins’s section—first had to be hauled up on the davits and made secure in the position it occupied when the ship was at sea. Then Mr. Wentworth took out his watch while Jack Perkins gave the command: