CHAPTER XVI.
A BIT OF PROMOTION.
"Strong," began the captain, "I sent for you to ask you a fewquestions. As you know, I have taken some interest in you since Iwitnessed your courageous behavior aboard the _Rhode Island_."
Ned blushed hotly, but said nothing. The captain's remark did not seemto call for a reply.
"You have ambitions, and your friend Taylor has also, I presume."
"Yes, sir," replied Ned; "we wish to advance ourselves in our chosenprofession, sir."
"I am going to give you a chance," was the rejoinder. "You are, ofcourse, acquainted with the rudiments of gunnery?"
"Yes, sir. We were schooled in the elements of gun practice at Newport."
"So I perceived by a perusal of your papers."
This was news to Ned, who had not hitherto dreamed that the commanderof a vessel like the _Manhattan_ would have time to pay any attentionto two mere ordinary seamen. In this, however, he was mistaken. Theofficers of the United States Navy are ever on the lookout for newmaterial, and watch any promising youngsters with keen interest, givingthem every opportunity to show what they can do.
"I am going to put you and your friend Taylor on a gun crew."
"Oh, thank you, sir!" burst out Ned, his eyes almost popping out of hishead, but preserving a cool exterior, nevertheless.
"Wait a minute. I have not finished yet," went on the captain, with atwinkle in his eye. "Your friend Taylor is er-er somewhat impulsive, Ishould imagine?"
"Well, yes, sir; but he had plenty of provocation for what he didthe other day," spoke up Ned boldly. He was delighted that a chancehad come to tell the facts in the case which poor Herc, in hisembarrassment, had neglected doing.
"So I understood. The man Kennell, I understand, attacked him. For thisreason Taylor will be released to-day. But even so, he had his recoursein reporting the matter."
"That was not all, sir," broke out Ned.
"Not all? What do you mean?"
"That I saw the man Kennell deliberately trip Herc--Seaman Taylor,I mean, sir--as he was walking the boom the day he boarded the_Manhattan_."
"You mean the day you dived over after him? It was pluckily done."
"Yes, sir. Kennell had been badgering him in the boat, and thendeliberately tripped him."
"That chimes in with the reports I have heard about Kennell," remarkedthe captain. "However, that matter is past, and official action cannotnow be taken. I have spoken to the gunnery officer, Lieutenant Timmons,about you two boys, and to-morrow you will be a part of the crew of thefifteen-inch guns in the forward turret."
Ned's heart was too full for utterance. He stammered his thanks, andobeying the captain's curt nod of dismissal, hastened from the cabin,his head fairly buzzing over the good luck that had come to them.
"If I am not mistaken," thought the captain, as Ned left the cabin, "Ihave selected two good bits of material in those lads for Timmons. Yetthe experiments with that Varian gun are going to be dangerous, andperhaps I was wrong to place those two boys in peril. However, the lifeof a sailor is made up of risk and danger, and there is no more dangerwith that gun than with any other piece of modern ordnance. It is onlybecause it is untried that it seems more fraught with possible mishap."
Had the captain possessed the gift of prophecy---- But what man orwoman does? If they did, perhaps many of the experiments which haveproved of the biggest ultimate benefit to the world would never havebeen tried.
Ned, his head fairly buzzing with his good fortune, hastened forward.He wished he could communicate with Herc and cheer up that captive bynews of their good fortune. Musing thus, he had the misfortune, as hereached the fore deck, to collide with a man hastening in an oppositedirection.
He looked up with a quick word of apology, and found himself gazingfull into the scowling features of the Dreadnought Boys' archenemy--Kennell!
"Out of my way, you young mucker!" glowered the man, with a look ofhatred, "or I'll maul you up as badly as I did that red-headed youngcub."
"You mean my friend, Herc Taylor."
"I said 'cub!'"
"And I said friend!"
Ned returned the man's glare firmly.
"I see I shall have to give you a good lesson, too, one of these days!"hissed Kennell evilly.
Ned, fresh from the presence of the captain, proud of hispromotion--for so he considered it, the twelve-inch turret beingthe "prize detail" of the ship--had no desire to get into a fisticargument. He knew the captain was a stickler for discipline, for allhis kind heart, and that with one of the Dreadnought Boys alreadyundergoing punishment, although unjustly, it would be the worst thingthat could happen for him to become embroiled with Kennell.
He therefore regarded Kennell with a cold stare and said sharply:
"Let me pass, please. I am in a hurry and have no time to waste."
Kennell planted his bulky form squarely in the Dreadnought Boy's path.
"You'll pass when I get good and ready," he grated out. "It's time youboys learned a lesson or two, and I'm going to give it to you!"
"I said let me pass," repeated Ned firmly, making a determinedeffort to quell his rising tide of hot anger at the fellow's evidentdetermination to provoke him into a quarrel.
"Call me 'sir' when you address me," ordered Kennell pugnaciously. "I'mgoing to teach you how to address your seniors in the service."
"I only say 'sir' to men I respect," was the sharp retort, the verycoolness of which stung Kennell to renewed fury. His rage was increasedby the fact that a group of sailors, momentarily growing larger, beganto titter at his discomfiture.
"Better leave him alone, Ralph," laughed old Tom mischievously. "He'sas sharp a young file as I am an old one."
Ned took advantage of the temporary diversion to try to slip pastwithout trouble. He had his own ideas of getting even with Kennell, andit was no part of his plan to break regulations by getting involved ina fight with him on shipboard. He stepped forward to pass on.
Kennell was too quick for him.
"Say 'sir'!" he demanded.
"I have already told you for whom I reserved that distinction," saidNed in a low voice, "and you are emphatically not in that class."
"Maybe this will teach you respect for your superiors."
A huge, gnarled fist, knotted and twisted by many a battle, shook underNed's nose.
The undismayed boy gave a low laugh of contempt.
"You'd better put that hand to work, instead of going round trying toscare people with it," he said stingingly.
"I will put it to work. SO!"
Wh-oo-oo-f!
The fist fairly whistled as it shot out with the force of a torpedospeeding on its destructive way.
But Ned was not in its path. Thrown off his balance by the boy's quickavoidance of the sledge-hammer blow, Kennell stumbled forward.
Quick as a whip snap, Ned stepped under his guard and planted acrushing blow in the fighter's ribs.
But delivered as it was, with the full force of the Dreadnought Boy'swell-trained muscle, it seemed hardly to sway the bullock-like frameof the ship's blusterer.
"I've got the fight of my life on my hands," was Ned's quick thought,as Kennell, recovering himself, prepared, with a confident grin, toannihilate his young opponent.