An exclamation of surprised inquiry met their ears from the quarter-deck of the vessel and a second later Ensign Marshall was wringing their hands warmly.
“Well, if this isn’t luck,” he cried. “I am partly packed and there’s a steamer for Manila this afternoon. But,” and he stopped, precipitously gazing with frank astonishment at their soiled and mud-stained uniforms, “where did you come from? I expected you by boat.”
While the Chinese servants set before their hungry eyes a tempting breakfast, Phil and Sydney in turn gave Marshall the exciting incidents of their journey from Manila. O’Neil meanwhile had turned forward and was at once the centre of an admiring crowd of sailors; his big voice and hearty laugh sounded distinctly over the quiet water-front.
“If you aren’t the luckiest lambs I’ve ever seen,” Marshall laughed admiringly; “you’re a regular lodestone, the three of you. Everything you touch turns to excitement. Now I’ve been here for three months, most of the time cooling my heels at the dock with no one to talk to except a lot of hayseed volunteers who haven’t even been to sea, and now you come along and relieve me and I suppose, ‘presto,’ there’ll be something doing at once.”
“I hope not until we can get a little sleep,” Phil exclaimed, smiling at Marshall’s sincerity. “I am sleepy enough to drop off standing up.”
“Well,” Marshall said as he pushed back his chair and arose from the table, “I’ll be finished packing in an hour, and then you can read your orders and take command. I don’t want to miss that boat, for she makes easy connections with the transport for home. Think of it, Perry, home! Doesn’t it sound fine?” Then, seeing that the name had not stirred his listeners to a great degree of enthusiasm, he exclaimed, “Well, if you’d been living by yourself for nearly a year and hadn’t seen anything but these natives, home would sound good to you, too.”
The lads were soon asleep in steamer chairs under the quarter-deck awning, while Marshall busied himself with his packing. The Chinese servants moved about noiselessly and with deft hands quickly filled the two open trunks. Finally Marshall remade his toilet and appeared spick and span in a fresh and spotless white uniform.
Refreshed by even this short nap the midshipmen opened their trunks, which had been carried over nearly sixty miles of rough country on the shoulders of stalwart native carriers, and in an incredibly short time appeared on deck as fresh in appearance as if they had both stepped from the proverbial band-box.
A shrill whistle sounded on the gunboat followed by the call, “Lay aft, everybody.”
The men filed aft on the miniature quarter-deck, lining themselves obediently on each side, and there waited.