“Well, for the honor of the troop I certainly hope they get in touch with Arthur,” Alec observed. He showed signs of envy and jealousy at times, but when his old nature got the upper hand of him, the leader of the Otters was really proud of the organization to which he belonged, and would exert himself manfully in order to reflect credit on the name of a scout.
“More than that, Hugh says,” Billy went on, seeming to have been delegated to act as the mouthpiece of the scout master in order to convey all this important news. “The captain promised him that if we did our part of the landing game all right, he’d allow us to have half an hour’s talk with our comrade at home every day that the wireless could be used. So that’s a spur to make us try to do our best, fellows, to spy on the fort defenders, and get the information aboard without making mistakes.”
“Yes,” added Don, “and we ought to go into this business seriously, too. No careless handling of messages will pass when so much depends on accuracy. Every fellow must be up on his toes, and bent on doing his level best.”
“You are right there, Don,” echoed Blake Merton. “We want to show these Reserve men that scouts can do things right up to the handle. Our signal corps work was always first class. Just now I kind of wish we had Bud Morgan along, because he worked with a surveying party, too, you remember, and is familiar with the business.”
“Oh! don’t let that bother you any,” Alec told him jauntily. “There are others besides Bud Morgan who know the ins and outs of wigwag work, telegraphing, and the use of the mirror in the sun that we call heliographing. Why, there isn’t a fellow in our bunch aboard this boat but who can stand his spell with the flags, and make mighty few blunders, too.”
“Thank you, Alec, for the taffy,” chuckled Billy, “but we ought to be up in that sort of work. Goodness knows, we’ve practiced it enough. Hi! Blake, they’re calling for you to take your turn with a song. Somebody must have given them a tip that you’ve got Caruso beaten to a frazzle with that fine tenor voice you own. So step forward and remember to do the troop proud every time.”
Blake Merton certainly did have a good voice, and while somewhat bashful about singing in the midst of such a large company of young fellows, he soon got over his timidity. Indeed, they gave him so warm an ovation after he had sung once that he arose to the occasion, and from that time on became the most popular scout aboard the Vixen. His services were called for to entertain the crew every night after discipline had been relaxed while they sat around on deck enjoying the salty breeze.
To these boys from inland there was no end to the new sights and sounds of their first trip afloat on the briny sea. They enjoyed taking a salt-water bath whenever the opportunity arose, drank in the wonderful sight of the seemingly endless ocean bounded by the horizon, often on all sides, and in every way possible sought to get the utmost enjoyment from this novel experience.
It was still pretty rough outside the next morning, and the Vixen remained comfortably anchored behind the point. There were numerous things to be done that could be carried out just as well there as at sea. Besides, the fort against which the Naval Reserve men had designs was not a great distance up the coast, so that the plans of the commander called for caution at this point in the war game.
It was a rather exciting time for the scouts when they gathered around the wireless operator, and watched him call the station of Cedar Hill. It was just at ten o’clock, the time Arthur had promised to be on hand every single day that it was not storming wildly.