Dan Davis and Sam Hickey were well up with the first to reach the quarter-deck, though Dan was obliged to favor his lame wrist, now paining him severely. This delayed him somewhat in getting down the sea ladder, performing the feat with one free hand being rather awkward.
“Hurry up, elephant feet,” shouted a voice from above.
“Come on, don’t be all day about it,” urged a companion from below. At the same instant some one grabbed Dan’s feet, giving him a violent tug, which brought him down in a hurry. Dan landed across one of the seats in the whaleboat with his injured hand doubled under him.
He felt sure he heard the wrist snap. The pain was almost unbearable.
“That’s the way to get down when you are in a hurry, and especially when some one else is in more of a hurry than you are.”
The boy’s face was pale, but despite the pain in his wrist he smiled bravely as he climbed into the wherry moored alongside.
“What’s the matter with the hand?”
“I broke my wrist this morning,” answered Dan coolly. “That’s all. Nothing very much.”
“Did you hurt it again just now?” demanded the jackie who had pulled him down.
“I may have broken a few bones more or less, but don’t let a little thing like that worry you. ‘Pills’ can patch it up when we get back. Not a word,” warned Dan, with sudden interest as he saw the jackie preparing to speak to the ensign in charge of the boat. Dan did not relish the thought of being ordered back to the ship.