Danny glanced up, and saw, poked out of the pantry window, in the dusky half light, Pickle Israel’s curly head.
“Now, whatsomdever are you up to, Mr. Israel?” began Danny; but a violent shaking of the head, and a “Sh-sh-sh!” checked him.
“Turn your lantern round,” whispered Pickle.
Danny turned the dark side round, and then drew the boat up close to the port. When the boat was just below the port, and Danny had raised his head to hear Pickle’s mysterious communication, the little midshipman quickly wriggled himself out, and, swinging himself down by his hands, landed silently in the boat.
Danny was so surprised that he could not speak a word, but he at once suspected Pickle’s design—to go on the expedition.
“Now, Dixon,” said Pickle, in a wheedling voice, “don’t go and tell on me. In fact, as your superior officer, I direct you, on leaving this boat, to go immediately forward, and stay there unless you are sent for.”
Danny grinned broadly at this, and grasping Pickle’s hand in his own brawny one, he nearly wrung the boy’s arm off.
“I knows, sir—I knows!” said he, in a delighted whisper. “But I ain’t a-goin’ to blow the gaff on you. I likes these ’ere venturesome youngsters that’s allers ready for to risk their lives for their country. That’s the sort as Cap’n Paul Jones loved. But, Mr. Israel, I’ll have to git out o’ this ’ere boat, ’cause if any o’ them foremast men seen me in here, when you is missed they’ll all say as how Dixon, the quartermaster, was a-talkin’ with you, and then the Commodore will take my hide, sure. But good-by, Mr. Israel, and God bless you, as the commodore says; and if you ain’t but a little shaver, let me tell you, sir, you’ve got a sperrit that’s fittin’ to sarve under the greatest man as ever sailed blue water—Cap’n Paul Jones!”
With that Danny wrung the little midshipman’s hand again, and with a spring he noiselessly gained the ladder and disappeared.
Pickle, being very small, crawled under the gunwale of the boat, where there was an extra coil of rope, spare lanterns, and other things necessary to repair damages, all covered with a tarpaulin. These things he carefully distributed along the boat, under the gunwales, and then, covering himself up with the tarpaulin, made himself as small as possible in the place of the ropes and lanterns. He had left a little hole in the tarpaulin through which he could see; and as he curled himself up comfortably and fixed his eyes on this opening, there was never a happier boy. He had succeeded perfectly, so far, in his scheme. He thought, if any of the men suspected he was on board, they would be inclined to wink at it, like Danny Dixon; and as soon as they cast off and got the Intrepid in tow, there would be no earthly way, as Pickle gleefully remembered, to get rid of him. At this idea he almost laughed aloud; and then, he thought, when they came back in triumph, and Captain Somers and Mr. Wadsworth were being congratulated and almost embraced, on the Constitution’s deck, by the commodore and all the officers of the squadron, and the men cheering like mad, as at Decatur’s return, then would he be brought forward—Midshipman Israel! and his name would be in the report sent home, and everybody would know what prodigies of valor he had performed, and he would no doubt receive a sword like Decatur’s and be made a lieutenant. Lieutenant Israel! How charming was the sound! Pickle was so comfortable and so happy that unconsciously his eyelids drooped. How faint were the stars shining in the quiet skies, and how gently the boat rocked on the water! It was like being rocked to sleep when he was a little boy, not so long ago, in his mother’s arms. And in five minutes the little midshipman was sleeping soundly.