“Go take your smoke. Light up your pipes.”
“We do not smoke, sir,” replied Dan.
“No, we don’t smoke,” added Sam. “But we eat.”
“That is all right. A great many of the boys do not smoke these days, and it is a good thing. Now, in my time, everybody smoked. But things have changed on the sea as well as elsewhere.”
“Attention!” called a voice.
The boys stiffened instinctively. They did not know the reason for the command, but experience had taught them that it was well to obey that command whenever heard.
It was the captain who was approaching, on his way to the bridge.
His hand came up in salute as he glanced quickly at them.
“Carry on, lads,” he said, whereat the Battleship Boys and their shipmates resumed their interrupted conversation.
“You will find the Old Man a splendid officer and very kind to you boys,” said the mate. “I’ve been under him for ten years, and there ain’t a man in the world who’s got a bigger heart than he, especially for the jackies. He loves them, every one of them.”