It was the medical officer who actually spilled the story of Red’s heroic act, in dragging Don from the sinking seaplane. The stocky lieutenant himself would never have let the real facts be known. He hated to be made a hero. As it was, he could only shake his head and scowl while the ship’s doctor heaped praises upon him.
The doctor didn’t leave anything out. He had been in the boat which put off to the seaplane from the Gatoon, and he’d seen about all there was to see.
He described how Red had thrown off his life belt and dived under the sinking plane. He told how helpless the boat’s crew felt, when they got there and found neither Red nor Don.
Two of the sailors had kicked off their shoes, ready to dive in after the missing officers, when suddenly the lieutenant’s red head broke surface. He was gasping for breath, and the commander was completely out when they were pulled aboard.
In the excitement, said the medical officer, the Scorpion pilot, floating unconscious in his life belt, was almost forgotten. Now, everybody aboard ship was saying that Lieutenant Pennington rated a gold medal, and....
“Red, you old porpoise!” broke in Don Winslow, sitting bolt upright. “Give me your flipper, and stop making faces like a seasick 'boot’! I’ll get square with you some day by saying your life—don’t worry!”
Red met his commander’s handclasp with a crushing grip, his embarrassment suddenly gone. He knew that Don would never try to thank him outright, or praise him in words for an act of simple loyalty. Their friendship went too deep for that sort of thing.
“And now, Doc,” said Don, “I’m going to jump into a uniform and go out on deck. I see we’re under way again; and I want to talk with Captain Riggs about safeguarding the ship between here and Port-au-Prince. Probably there’ll be no second attack, but it’s better to be prepared.”
The medical officer protested. He said Don had suffered a slight concussion, along with a scalp wound. He warned that moving about could bring on a fever. But he might as well have talked to the ship’s mainmast.
Don was hurrying into his clothes even before the doctor had finished speaking. He was feeling better every minute, he declared, and he wasn’t going to stay below for a mere bump on the head!