Some pressed beef, bread and butter, and hot tea were placed upon the table, and Hal and Gerald needed no second bidding to fall to. The keen night air had indeed given them an appetite, to which long hours of suspense and excitement had only added zest. They fell upon the viands, therefore, with a will, and made the food disappear with great rapidity.
"My! There's no doubt that you were hungry," remarked the officer, with a smile. "Don't stop. Go right on, for there is plenty more if you need it."
At last they managed to satisfy their hunger, and then they gave a rough outline of their adventures. They were in the act of completing the story when the same voice called to them again.
"Them signals aer a-waggin' fit ter split theirselves," the man cried. "Reckon it erd be jist right ter send 'em aboard."
"So; then we'll get under way. Get to your post."
The torpedo boat quivered and throbbed from stem to stern as the screws revolved in the water.
"Say," said the officer, "there's steam and plenty of it in that old tub of yours. Suppose we go aboard the flagship in it; it'll be the handier."
Hal and Gerald acquiesced, and at once stepped into the launch. A man was left in charge of the wheel of the torpedo boat. Then two were sent aboard the launch, one of whom dived into the engine-room; the lashings were cast off, and they steamed alongside the huge vessel which flew the admiral's flag.
A monster she looked, too, for the New York was one of the largest of armored cruisers afloat.
"Down below there! Hook on, and we'll bring you flyin' up," someone shouted, and the tackle of the two falls began to descend, a sailor clinging to the lower block of each. Hal was no seaman, and it was a revelation to him to see the way in which the hooks were made fast, and the launch, engines, and all, whisked aloft. A minute later he and Gerald, together with the officer, were standing on the white decks of the magnificent flagship New York.