CHAPTER XXV.
HOMEWARD BOUND—CONCLUSION.
For an hour or more the consul and the naval officer sat spellbound as the four—for they each had a part to tell—related their adventures since they left the destroyer.
“We gave you up for dead!” exclaimed the lieutenant, as they concluded. “In fact, to-day I was about to send cables home concerning you.”
“But you didn’t, sir?” asked Midshipman Stark anxiously.
“No, I did not, you young scamp. I don’t know, though, but that you deserve it.”
But Colonel Thompson, the consul, was delighted.
“Great Scott! Mr. Timmons!” he exclaimed, “it’s capital, sir, capital. These boys are of the real American stuff. They should be promoted, sir, every one of them.”
“Unfortunately,” said the officer, “their services have been such as cannot be mentioned in the dispatches. At Washington they would not understand. But, at any rate, I have a pleasant surprise for those two boys.”