“Sam! Sam! Where is Sam?” cried Dan wildly.
For the first time they noticed that the red-headed boy was not on board.
“There! There! He’s sinking!”
Dan made a rush to leap overboard.
“Hold him!” cried the ensign.
Two sailors fastened upon the Battleship Boy at the instant he was about to take the plunge.
“Keep working on Kester, and don’t let the boy get away. I hold you responsible for him.”
The ensign cleared the rail with a bound, leaping far out into the boiling sea, but Dan had not observed it. Giving a sudden tug, the boy freed himself from his companions. He was overboard in a twinkling. A boathook hauled him back, protesting and fighting to get away.
“The ensign is over. No need for you to go.”
It was the same ensign who had rebuked Sam earlier in the day, and against whom the lad had taken a sudden and violent dislike on that account.