“If you ever need a friend in a tight place, boys,” resumed the Skipper, “I can recommend the Sea Scouts; I understand that’s what they call the boys aboard of her.”
They must have talked for about two hours; and, when the visitors got up to say good night, some of the men wanted to shake hands, and all of them felt the way soldiers do when they have heard a thrilling tale of battle or adventure. Their attention had been of the deepest kind because the talk was about things that they understood through and through, and cared more about than almost anything else.
The chaplain walked back to the landing with his guests; and, as they neared the wharf, the boys ran ahead to unfasten the painter and get the boat ready.
“Say,” said Dick, “that Skipper’s a corker. What do you think, Jack?”
“He seems to know his business all right,” answered Jack, “and to have kept his head cool in spite of the fire. Sh-h! Take your positions, boys, here they come.”
As the two men got into the boat, the Chairman said:
“We’ll see you again to-morrow morning, Chaplain, and report progress.”
With that they waved good-by and disappeared in the darkness to the rhythmic sound of the oars.
Hammocks had been swung for the men of the Monmouth, partly on the main deck and partly on the berth deck with the boys. There were also two extra bunks in the forecastle prepared for them, and the Skipper shared a double berth in the cabin with the Second Officer. Mr. Wentworth and Mr. Miller slept on the day bunk, facing one another, under the open sky. There was no better place on the ship to sleep in than this, on summer evenings at anchor; but as the day bunk ran directly under the main boom, it was exposed to a steady draught whenever the ship was sailing, and only the green hands occasionally wanted to sleep there when they were under way.
Jimmie, the little cabin boy of the Monmouth, had become great friends with Chippie Smith, and the latter had found a cosy corner for him near his own bunk. It was astonishing to see what a difference it made on the Bright Wing to have such a lot of new people aboard and so many new faces, although the work went on just the same as usual.