Joe Harper, however, had his own ideas. He wanted the Battleship Boys near him, so that he might watch their work more closely.
"A little quicker on the recovery, there, Hickey. That's better. Davis, you're doing well. You pull like an old-timer. Number one, there, you're lagging. Swing your body from the hips and come forward as if you were going to throw yourself on your face. That's it! Now get in time as I count. When I say one, every man have his blade in the water and begin to pull. Now, one! one! one! one! one! one! Keep it up!"
The gig danced over the water at increasing speed.
All at once Sam Hickey uttered a yell. In attempting to turn his head to wink at Dan he had turned the blade of his oar forward. Of course he caught a crab. The boat was moving so swiftly that the force of the blow that Hickey got from the oar doubled him up, knocking him clear back into Dan's lap.
"O-u-u-u-ch!" yelled Sam, holding his stomach, his face working convulsively in his effort to control himself.
"Hurt you?" questioned Dan.
"I—I think it turned me around inside."
"You lubber, what did you do that for?" demanded the coxswain.
"Wha—what did I do—it for! Do you think I did that for fun? Do you think I did it on purpose?" Sam groaned again.
"You were looking around; you weren't attending to your business."