“I was struck by a piece of the boat, sir,” he offered in excuse for his tardiness. The ship had been on her course for nearly ten minutes.
Lazar turned on him fiercely. His even white teeth gleamed under his black moustache.
“You can thank Providence, Mr. Perry, that you are alive this moment.” His voice rose in anger. “A midshipman who cannot obey orders is a menace to the safety of those under him. That you were not all drowned was due to me, sir. I saved you by putting the ship between your boat and the seas, and hauling you aboard like so much cargo.” Then in a voice cold and passionless: “I have received the captain’s authority, Mr. Perry, to place you under arrest for wilfully disobeying my order. You will go to your room, sir.”
Phil turned away without a word.
CHAPTER III
THE TRACK MEET
“Brace up and don’t pull such a long face, Phil,” Sydney was saying in their room after breakfast the next morning.
“You are the boast of the ship, and the captain will not be severe with you. You disobeyed orders, of course, but so did Admiral Nelson at the battle of the Nile, and yet he was promoted for his action because he ‘made good’——”
“Yes, but I didn’t ‘make good.’ Lazar ‘made good’ for me and he took pains to tell me so last night. I would rather have drowned than listen to his scornful denunciation of my conduct,” answered Phil sadly.
“You are entirely too sensitive,” answered Sydney in a disgusted voice. “If I had been in your place last night I’d have been proud of myself, and Lazar’s scorn would be as water on a duck’s back. Every one is for you, even Mr. Penfield, the executive officer. I hear he said at the wardroom mess-table that he was of the opinion that you should be publicly commended by the secretary of the navy.”
Phil blushed with pleasure at his friend’s impetuous words.