“Certainly not, sir. I don’t fight that way. When I’ve a bit of a scrap with a mate, sir, the fight is over, with me, when it stops.”
“Yet you felt that you should keep an eye on Jordan to-night?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you believe that Jordan dropped this bottle overboard into our wake?”
“I’m positive that he did, sir.”
“Did you see him do it?”
“No, sir,” Ferguson replied, without hesitation.
Dave Darrin had followed a style of questioning that is common to the Army and the Navy when one enlisted man makes a report against another enlisted man. Dave’s first object was to make sure that there was no really bad blood between the men, and that the charge wasn’t merely a matter of getting square. Secondly, Darrin was trying to make up his mind as to Ferguson’s keenness and reliability as a witness. By this time he had made up his mind that Seaman Ferguson was telling the truth according to his best knowledge of what had happened, and that he had spoken without prejudice.
“Ferguson,” said the young destroyer commander, promptly, “I am satisfied that you have answered me truthfully. I also commend you for your prompt action to-night. As to your failure to make a report of your suspicions last night I believe that you have justified yourself.”
“Thank you, sir. If I may, I would like to ask the lieutenant-commander a question.”