“And still nothing to be seen of those two hold-out scouts, Sam Winter and the latest recruit, Monkey Stallings. I’m beginning to believe they’ve got adrift seeing the sights of old Boston, and will lose the number of their mess.”
“What fools some fellows can be, Hugh! As for me, now that I’m on the deck of this bully boat, nothing could hire me to go ashore again till the cruise is over. A life on the wide, wide sea for me, tral-la-la!” and Billy Worth danced a few steps as though he might already imagine himself a seasoned old salt practicing what is known as the “sailor’s hornpipe.”
“Better wait and see before you boast too loud, Billy,” returned the scout master, grimly. “I’ve heard about all sorts of terrible things that happen to landsmen the first time they feel the roll of the ship under them. Solid earth may seem like the finest thing you can think of before many hours.”
“Huh! don’t make me out a regular greeny, Chief. Remember I’ve sailed on a bay before. I reckon some fellows with weak stomachs will double up; but it’s different with me.”
“You never can tell,” Hugh remarked dryly. “So I say it’s wise not to blow your horn too loud before you know. But whatever can be keeping those boys? Looks as if we might only count six noses at roll-call instead of the full eight.”
The two members of the Wolf Patrol were leaning over the side of the Government vessel of the type known as a scout cruiser. This one had been fitted up especially for the convenience and education of the young jack tars who thronged the deck and the dock nearby, dressed for the most part in white togs, and with all the airs of experienced sea-going mariners.
These jaunty looking fellows constituted a branch of the auxiliary arm of the United States Government known as the Naval Reserve, upon which Uncle Sam expected to call immediately should any war break out, to man his extra ships, and defend the coasts against an enemy.
They were from all walks of life, and as a rule bright, eager young men who knew considerable about what the duties aboard a warship were like. They had nearly all been afloat on preceding summers, since this cruise was a regular institution. Still, they desired to learn all possible new wrinkles connected with their vocation as voluntary naval men; and the two weeks’ cruise along the New England coast was going to widen their knowledge wonderfully.
Just what the Boy Scouts were expected to do aboard the Vixen, Hugh did not as yet fully know. It was supposed, however, that they would be very useful in many capacities, especially when landing parties went ashore, defended by the big guns of the cruiser, with a force concealed behind land defenses to carry out the part of a hostile army.
It had all been a piece of tremendous good luck, this chance that came to some of the scouts to accompany the Naval Reserve on this summer cruise. Such a thing had, so far as Hugh knew, never been dreamed of before; and it all came about through the gratitude of the rich aeronaut, Mr. Perkins, whom Hugh and several of his chums had rescued from the top of a tall tree, where he had been stranded when his runaway balloon lurched and threw him out.