“Age?” he interrupted. “Why, Dad, you look fit to tackle any pirate. And you needn’t tell me you haven’t enjoyed yourself pretty thoroughly.”
Mr. Temple sighed.
“Oh, to be a boy again,” he said. “You young rascals can’t realize how I have worried over you this summer, not only in this situation but down on the Mexican border, too. Well, that will do. It’s impossible for us to continue, if for no other reason than that there is no room for us aboard, and so, Frank, you radio Inspector Burton to get us some clothes and cabins aboard the Bear.”
Ensign Warwick who had stood a silent witness to the scene, but sympathizing with the boys, interrupted to confirm Mr. Temple’s statement about lack of room aboard the Sub Chaser.
“It’s true we have no room for passengers,” he said. “You saw our tiny cabin under the bridge. There are bunks for only captain and mate. Forward we have bunks for a crew of ten and a smaller cabin with four bunks for the engine-room crew. The latter also have two bunks in the engine room that can be used in emergency. And that is our total of housing space. You see, this boat, one hundred and ten feet long and with a maximum speed of twenty-four knots an hour, is built for speed and not for passenger traffic. I am not carrying a mate, and Inspector Burton will bunk in the latter’s place. So you see, there is no room for you, at all.”
“Have you a full crew?” asked Jack, unexpectedly. “I’ve seen only a half dozen men?”
“What you see,” answered Ensign Warwick, “is the deck watch. We carry a crew of twenty-two, divided into three watches.”
“Oh, where do they all sleep?”
“Some of them swing hammocks.”
“Well, couldn’t we swing hammocks, too?”