“Yes, sir.”
“You would like to be shipmates, would you not?”
“We should like it very much, indeed. If it were possible, I wish we might be placed on the same ship,” replied Dan.
“I will arrange it,” replied Lieutenant Commander Devall, consulting several papers from the mass with which his desk was littered. “Several details are being sent out to various ships to-day. I was under the impression that one ship on my list asked for two ordinary seamen. Ah, yes, here it is. Yes, that will be all right. I shall assign you, but, of course, I cannot promise that you will be retained indefinitely in that way. You may be reassigned to some other part of the service at any time, but it is not likely that this will be done for some time, yet.”
“May I ask, sir, to what ship you will assign us?”
“Yes; the battleship ‘Long Island.’”
“The ‘Long Island,’” mused Dan.
“The ‘Long Island,’” repeated Sam under his breath.
“That is the new battleship, is it not, sir?”
“The newest one in the Atlantic fleet. She has just had her trial trip, and has been accepted by the government. I am very glad to be able to give you this detail, for you are a pair of likely young men. Your record at the station has been a splendid one, and your promotion deserved.”