Dan glanced up inquiringly.
"I mean as to the future. What do you hope to do with yourself?" asked the captain.
"Naturally, sir, I hope to gain promotion when I have earned it," was Dan's answer.
"Ah, yes; to be sure. You have ambitions to become petty officers. Well, your prospects are good, young men, if you keep on in that way you have been going. You will come below for the books as I suggested, will you not?"
"Yes, sir; thank you, sir."
"As I have said before, whenever you wish advice or assistance, come to me, through your immediate superiors, and you will find me ever ready to aid you."
"Thank you, sir," acknowledged the boys, in chorus. The captain saluted in answer to theirs; then, turning on his heel, left the turret.
"That's what I call a right smart gentleman," announced Sam Hickey, with an emphatic nod of the head.
"The captain is a magnificent man. We are lucky, old fellow, in being under such a commander. I'd face powder and bullets any day for him."
"Say, Dan."