The rest rather agreed with him, nevertheless they were glad to see the practice ship.
When it became known on board the Monongahela who the occupants of the torpedo boat were the wildest excitement ensued.
A boat was lowered and the castaways—not forgetting the parrot—were carried back in triumph.
Clif and his companions were the heroes of the hour, and they were received with special distinction on the quarter-deck. They were delighted to learn that the other boats had been picked up and no lives lost in the catastrophe.
The torpedo boat was manned by a picked crew from the Monongahela and convoyed by that vessel to the mouth of the Tagus River.
The French Government was advised at once and word presently came that Le Destructeur’s former crew had been long since rescued.
By the time the Monongahela was ready to proceed up the Tagus to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, a French gunboat was on hand to tow the torpedo boat back to Havre.
And so ended Clif’s first command.