And that was a war boat! And every time the old steamer answered:
“Toot, toot, I’m moving.”
Once off on the left the passengers could hear this:
“Ding——g! dong——g!
Hear my song——g!
Ding——g! dong——g!”
And what bell do you think that was way out there? A bell buoy rocking on the water! Every time the wave went up it said, “ding” and every time the wave went down it said, “dong.”
By this time the old steamer was out of the harbor way out in the open sea. The pilot came down from the captain’s deck; he climbed down the rope ladder to the little pilot boat that was tied close to the big steamer. Then the little pilot boat pushed away into the fog calling:
And again the big steamer answered: