“All aboard!” exclaimed Frank, as they walked up the inclined bridge to the decks of the fighting monster. “All aboard!”
“Huh! Some new jackies!” remarked one of a group of sailors who watched the arrival of the recruits. “Maybe they won’t be so anxious to be on board once we get to sea,” he sneered.
CHAPTER XII—THE CUT ROPES
“Say, look at those guns!”
“What will happen when she fires a broadside?”
“And cast your eye on those anchor chains!”
“I wouldn’t want to carry even one link!”
“See the double imposed turrets!”
“What a ship she is—a real ship of battle!”
These were only a few of the comments and exclamations that came from Frank, Ned and their shipmates as they boarded the Georgetown, on which they were shortly to make a cruise for practice. And everything they said was justified, for the vessel was the last word in construction for the United States government. In spite of the growing prejudice against big ships, in contradistinction to submarines and torpedo boats, the Georgetown had been built at enormous cost.