“We Want to Come Aboard, Sir!”
“Then you ought to know better than to try to board a man-o’-war on the starboard side. Get around to the port side where you belong.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” answered Dan, touching his cap.
“How are you going to know which is the port side of these tubs?” muttered Sam, shading his eyes from the sun and gazing at the ship. “I’m blest if both ends don’t look alike to me.”
“Then you must be losing your eyesight, Sam. Don’t you see how the quarter-deck is cut away astern, while the bow stands high out of the water? Then there’s the Flag astern. You’ll never see the colors up forward.”
“I can’t see everything at once, and you must remember that this is the first time I ever saw a real battleship close enough to touch it.”
The ship was at anchor, and some distance out in the stream. A swaying rope ladder hung from the lower boom on the port side, reaching down to within some four feet of the water’s edge.
The river was choppy that morning, and the little boat bobbed perilously. The boys were used to this, however, and gave no thought to it.
“Will you please pass a line over here for our dunnage?” called Dan.