Roy went back to the wireless house. The captain’s gruff words could not still the song that his heart was singing. He had won. He had made good. His captain liked him, perhaps loved him—in his strange way. He thanked his lucky stars that he had been an eavesdropper. Now he knew the truth about the captain. The skipper of the Rotarian had told the truth. The rough manner was only a mask to cover a great heart. All Roy’s pent-up affection went out to this commander. He understood him now. Like the first mate and the purser, he felt a genuine affection for his captain. It had taken a long time to see beneath the surface, but nothing could now blind his eyes. He understood his commander. And, best of all, he had made good.
“Well,” he sighed joyfully, “I guess I’ll need a new uniform after all.”
Transcriber’s Notes:
Punctuation has been made consistent.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have been corrected.