In addition Clif was to perform on musical glasses, an accomplishment he had learned at home. This was to come in the olio, or second, part, together with juggling by Trolley, tumbling by Toggles, an alleged humorous address from Joy, and a boxing match between Nanny Gote and Walters, two of the smallest plebes on board.
The entertainment was to wind up with a skit on life at the Naval Academy, which promised to create no end of fun.
Clif and Grat Wallace were the joint authors and they had incorporated sly hits and jokes calculated to drive the upper classes into a frenzy.
The rehearsal proceeded without a hitch until the end of the first part.
Clif was just in the act of rising and ordering his sea wolves to take the unhappy mortals to the darkest coral cavern in his realm when he suddenly caught sight of a face at one of the ports.
Clif was shrewd. He knew that it was a spy, and that the slightest alarm would frighten the fellow away. His plan was formed in an instant.
“Let’s try that last song and chorus again, fellows,” he exclaimed, cheerily. “I think one more practice would not hurt it. Now, ready! Let ’er go!”
The drum banged, the violins squeaked, and Grat Wallace’s rich tenor voice rang out in the refrain of “The Cumberland’s Crew.”
While the music was echoing Clif quietly leaned over and whispered to Joy:
“There’s a spy peeping in the port. I think it is Judson Greene. He must not be allowed to get away. See if you can’t nip him.”