“I can’t see, or I’d——”
“Let me help you.”
To the amazement of the delighted jackies, Dan took the bully by the arm and courteously assisted him to the gun deck.
“Here, you men,” he said. “Help Bill down to the sick bay. He’s just bumped into something hard.”
Dan returned to the deck, where the sailors crowded about him to congratulate him, but Dan would have none of it. He got at his work as soon thereafter as possible, but he felt sure there would be trouble—that he would be disciplined for his action.
“Anyway, I’ve got even for that blow he gave Sam,” muttered the lad.
He was right in his surmise. Trouble did follow. Both Bill Kester and Dan Davis were called before the mast at one o’clock that afternoon.
This time there were several witnesses, all of whom had volunteered to testify in behalf of the Battleship Boy. There were three petty officers among the number, and, to Dan’s surprise, two commissioned officers who had chanced to see the whole thing. Each assured the captain that Davis had acted purely in self-defense.
The captain consulted Kester’s record and nodded his head.
“I sentence you to three days in the brig on bread and water, with no full rations during that time,” announced the captain. “The next time I will make it thirty days.”