“Drugged, sir.”
[pg 191] “Hm! Mr. Terrell and his detachment will return to this vessel.”
The boat took them away. It was five minutes later when the boat returned, bringing the lieutenant commander, Doctor McCrea, the surgeon, and a sailor belonging to the hospital detachment aboard the “Hudson.” Eph conducted them below.
“Drugged,” announced the medical officer, after a brief examination.
“Humph!” uttered Mr. Mayhew. “That sort of trick isn't played on folks in any decent resort on shore. I don't understand Mr. Benson's conduct. I remember his mishap at Dunhaven. I remember the plight he got into at Annapolis; and now he and Mr. Hastings are found in this questionable shape. I am very much afraid these young men do not conduct themselves, on shore, in the careful manner that must be expected of civilian instructors to cadets.”
Eph Somers felt something boiling up inside of him.
CHAPTER XIX: THE LIEUTENANT COMMANDER'S VERDICT
“Let me try to get at your meaning, sir, if you please,” begged Somers, after standing for a few seconds with clenched fists. “Do you mean that my friends have been going into tough resorts on shore?”
“Where else do sailors usually get drugged?” inquired Mr. Mayhew. “What kind of people usually feed sea-faring men with what are generally known as knock-out drops?”