Ned made his way toward the door indicated and shoved it open. If the atmosphere in the musty office outside had been bad, the air within the room fairly made Ned gasp. It was blue and thick with wreaths of tobacco smoke from a score of pipes and cigars. The Dreadnought Boy blinked and then gave vent to a loud sneeze.
This drew general attention toward him.
“Shut that door, you long-shore swab!” yelled somebody out of the blue mist.
Ned shut it and then sneezed again. Both he and Herc abhorred tobacco in any form. They knew that the user of it cannot develop athletically. It destroys staying power and wind, and in ordinary life its effect is to diminish efficiency in any line of work.
He blinked and winked two or three times before he got used to the dense, pungent fumes and the semi-twilight. Then with difficulty he began to make out the faces of the men congregated within.
Nobody paid any attention to him and he looked about eagerly to see if he could distinguish some naval uniforms. He was not long in doing so. Six of the men he was in search of were in the place, laughing and talking as if such a thing as overstaying their leave were the lightest matter in the world.
Seated near to where Ned was standing, but with his back turned to him, was a young sailor named Childs. He was an ordinary seaman and usually a quiet, self-respecting fellow. But he had wandered into bad company. On a chair opposite to the youthful sailor was seated a well-dressed man with a hawk-like face, who was apparently trying to impress something on the young fellow’s mind.
Ned came a little closer and listened. He knew how many traps are set for Jack ashore, and he was convinced that the hawk-faced man was trying to entice young Childs into one of them. It didn’t take long to show him that he was right.
The well-dressed man was telling Childs a wonderful story about a gold-mine that he had in the Sierras, and was trying to persuade the young fellow to induce his companions to club their funds and buy some shares in it. When this had been done, he said, he would have them sent up to the fabulously rich mine, and there they could hide till the fleet had sailed and the search for them had blown over. In the meantime, by simply digging in the mine they would have become almost, if not quite, millionaires.
The foolish young sailor, as Ned could see, was drinking in this ridiculous tale with greedy attention.