The Battleship Boys at Sea Part 27

"Oh, yes, sir, I struck him. I hit him as hard as I could."

"Where did you hit him?"

"Plumb on the nose, sir."

"What excuse have you to offer for a.s.saulting a man who already, according to your own admission, was injured?"

"He called me a liar, sir; then afterwards he called me a coward. I couldn't stand that, sir."

"Is that all?"

"I think so, sir."

"Oh, why doesn't he tell the captain about Kester's having knocked him down," groaned Dan, who had, from a prudent distance, been an interested listener to the examination.

"You have admitted that you struck the man; you have admitted that you inflicted the wound which, it appears, is of more than ordinary seriousness, as it may cause his disfigurement for life."

Sam made no reply to this. None seemed to be called for under the circ.u.mstances. Somehow he felt that he had made out a very bad case for himself. He had told nothing but the truth, and not all of that, so far as his own vindication went, and yet he knew he had been placed in a false light.

"I'm in wrong, but I've got no one except myself to blame for it,"

thought Sam.

The captain consulted with his executive officer for a moment. Then turning to the prisoner he said, gravely:

"Hickey, you are guilty of a very serious breach of discipline. You are a new man on board s.h.i.+p. Were it not for that fact I should be much more severe. I am inclined to be lenient with you under the circ.u.mstances.

You will understand that punishments are wholly impersonal. They are punishments because some rule has been violated. Discipline must be maintained."

"Yes, sir," answered Sam meekly.

"Silence!" warned the master-at-arms.

"I hope you will not forget the lesson. Control your temper. Unless you are able to manage your own temper you will never be fit to manage other men. You will have to conquer yourself before you can look for promotion in the service."

"Yes, sir."

"You will be placed in the brig for two days, on bread and water, with one full ration in the middle of the second day. And, Kester!"

"Yes, sir."

"Your record in the past has not been any too good. I trust I shall not hear of your getting into further trouble. You have been long enough in the service to know how to keep out of mischief."

The captain motioned to the master-at-arms to remove the prisoner.

Sam Hickey, with head erect, saluted his superior officers, faced about, marching steadily ahead of the master-at-arms, on his way to be punished for an offense that he felt sure he had not committed.

"I wish I'd hit Kester harder, while I was about it," Hickey muttered.

"I'm sorry, lad, but discipline is discipline," remarked the petty officer as he clanged the door of the brig on Hickey.

"It's all right, Mr. Master-at-Arms. There's one consolation; I don't have to scrub decks for the next two days, anyway. That's some relief."

Sam threw himself down on the steel floor, where he promptly went to sleep.

CHAPTER XV-A BAD BANGED-UP BULLY

"Oh, why didn't he tell the captain that Kester had knocked him down,"

muttered Dan. "I tried to signal Sam, but he would not even look at me, so interested was he in what was going on. They never would have held him had they known the truth."

The lad went about his duties in a thoughtful mood that afternoon.

Dan, by his close attention to duty, his manly bearing, his enthusiasm, had attracted the attention of his superiors. Their eyes were frequently upon him, which was a distinct gain for Dan, in view of the fact that the battles.h.i.+p's crew consisted of nearly eight hundred men beside her forty officers.

Dan did not know that he was being observed, nor would it have affected his conduct in the least had he known it. He had made up his mind to be an officer some day. He felt confident that this great thing would come to pa.s.s. But the goal seemed a long way off at the moment, when, with paint brush in hand, he painted and painted from morning until night, varying his occupation late in the day by grabbing up his deck swab, and, in bare feet, joining the deck division in scrubbing down decks.

Being a sailor by instinct, the Battles.h.i.+p Boy did not consider any work that he had been ordered to do beneath him.

At sunset, that night, the bugle blew for "colors," meaning the formalities always observed in lowering the Flag at sunset when the s.h.i.+p was at anchor. This was the first time Dan had had an opportunity to see "colors" since he came aboard, for the s.h.i.+p had been under way constantly.

A few moments before the sunset hour the different divisions marched aft to the quarter-deck, each division in charge of a mids.h.i.+pman or an ensign. Coming to a halt, the divisions faced mids.h.i.+ps, banked on each side of the quarter-deck.

Grouped aft on the starboard side was the band. In the center stood the captain, with his executive officer, facing the Flag, and with the marines drawn up just back of the jackies.

A deep silence pervaded the deck.

"Attention!"

The Flag slowly fluttered toward the deck, every face being turned toward the stern, every eye fixed on the Flag as it crept slowly downward.

As the Flag reached the deck the band struck up "The Star-Spangled Banner." The heart of every jackie on the quarter-deck swelled with patriotism, the strains of the national anthem bringing a deeper color to the rows of tanned, manly faces lined up in solid ranks on the quarter-deck of the battles.h.i.+p "Long Island."

"Attention! First division right face. Forward, march!"

To the rhythmic tap of the drum the s.h.i.+p's company began marching from the deck in steady lines, one division following another, until all had disappeared save a group of officers who stood chatting on the quarter-deck.

The day's work was practically done for all except those who were on watch duty. All hands repaired to the evening mess, and for an hour there was quietness on board s.h.i.+p.

Dan asked permission to visit his companion in the brig that evening.

The permission was abruptly refused. During the rest of the evening the lad was unusually silent, and as soon as hammocks were piped up, he hurried off to bed, but not to sleep, for his thoughts were with Hickey down in the brig. Had he but known, there was little cause for worry.

Sam was not fretting, but was sound asleep on his hard bed.

On the following morning, during the hour when the smoke lamp was lighted, Dan was pacing the forward deck. His righteous indignation over the wrong that had been done his chum was welling up within him until it momentarily threatened to overmaster him, resulting in some act that would bring punishment on himself as well.

Kester had risen from where he had been lounging on deck smoking his pipe. Dan had not observed him. The lad was too fully occupied with his own thoughts to give heed to what was going on about him.