CHAPTER III
CAPTAIN TOM'S NEW COMMAND
"It's time for Mr. Baldwin to hear from us, now," announced the youngskipper, rising and crossing to the room-telephone. He gave the number,waiting briefly.
"Hello," sounded a voice in the receiver.
"Hello," returned Tom, quietly. "Is this Mr. Baldwin?"
"No; wait a moment. I'll connect you."
"Hello," came, an instant later.
"Hello. Mr. Baldwin?"
"Yes."
"I am Captain Tom Halstead, here at the Palace Hotel, awaiting yourorders."
"Is Dabson with you?"
"Dawson, sir," Tom corrected. "Yes; Dawson is with me."
"Then your whole crew is on hand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good! Well, as the finishers are about through with their repair workon my boat we shall be ready to get you aboard without delay."
"May I ask, sir, how big a boat----"
"Captain, be at my office, all of you in uniform, at four o'clockexactly."
"Very good, sir. Four o'clock."
"Captain Halstead, punctuality is one of my failings," warned JosephBaldwin's voice.
"It's one of my studies, Mr. Baldwin."
"Then, at four o'clock?"
"Four o'clock, sharp, sir!"
"Good-bye."
Ting-ling-ling! Tom hung up the receiver.
"Well," came an eager chorus. "What are we going to do?"
"We're going to get into our club sailing uniforms," smiled Captain Tom,"and we're to be at Mr. Baldwin's office at four o'clock to the minute."
"What sort of a boat----"
"Cruising or racing----"
"Coasting or sea-voy----"
"You'll all of you have to cut out the questions," laughed Tom Halstead."I've told you every blessed thing I've just learned over the 'phone.Fellows, I think our Mr. Baldwin is stingy----"
"Stingy?" broke in Ab Perkins, with fine scorn. "And paying every oneof us first-class salaries!"
"Stingy of words," finished Captain Tom, calmly. "If our new employerkeeps on as he has begun, we won't know anything he means to do untilthe time comes to do it. Then he'll give his complete orders in from sixto eight words. That's the way it looks. Now, for your uniforms. Comealong, Joe, and we'll get into ours. Mr. Baldwin, I omitted to tell you,did inform me----"
Captain Tom paused, looking mysterious.
"Told you what?" chorused Dick, Ab and Jed, eagerly.
"That he's extremely partial to people who are punctual to the minute,"finished Tom Halstead, making a sign that brought Joe along in histrail.
Sailors are accustomed to quick dressing, as they are to quick work ofall sorts. Hence the six motor boat boys, all looking decidedly neat andimportant in their uniforms and visored caps, were soon on their way tothe elevator shaft. Soon afterwards they stepped from the Palaceentrance to the street, making for the other side of Market Street atthe first crossing.
More than one swift pedestrian paused long enough to send a look backafter these six trim, almost martial-looking young men, who walked inpairs and carried themselves like graduates of the Naval Academy.
It was just five minutes before four o'clock when the sextette haltedoutside the Chronicle Building.
"A couple of minutes to breathe," announced Halstead, watch in hand.Presently, he marched them into the corridor. Here, after a short wait,they stepped into one of the several elevators, leaving it a few floorsfrom the street.
"Sixty seconds yet to spare," whispered Captain Tom, smilingly, holdingup his watch.
Precisely at the dot of four o'clock the six motor boat boys filed in atthe door of the Baldwin offices, after Halstead had turned the knob.
In the outer office were several clerks, behind a railing. An office boysat at a desk close by the gate of the railing.
"Mr. Baldwin expects us at four," stated Tom to the boy. "Will youplease tell him that Captain Halstead and party are here?"
The boy disappeared. When he returned a briskly-moving man of fifty wasat his heels. It was Joseph Baldwin, one of the rich men of the PacificCoast, and one of its most daring promoters. He was a man who acted,ordinarily, as though the day were but five minutes long and crowdedwith business. Mr. Baldwin looked like a prosperous business man,though there was nothing foppish in his attire.
"Captain Halstead?" he demanded, holding out a hand. The act wasgracious enough, though hurried. In less than a minute Tom had presentedhis friends and all had been through the handshake.
Back of Mr. Baldwin stood a clerk, holding his employer's hat.
"I'm off for the day, Johnson," he announced. "Is the transportation atthe door?"
"Yes, sir. I just looked out of the window. Your transportation isready."
"Come along, Captain Halstead and gentlemen," directed Mr. Baldwin.
Though he led them swiftly, another clerk had slipped out ahead of them,and now stood by the elevator shaft. A car was just stopping at thefloor. Down the party whizzed. Mr. Baldwin led the boys to a streetdoor, outside of which two automobile touring cars stood.
"Captain, I want you and Dawson in the car with me. Let your friendsfollow in the other."
Two tonneau doors closed with bangs. Off whizzed the cars. Speed lawsdid not appear to be made for the concern of a man like Joseph Baldwin.It seemed as though the cars had barely started when they ran out onto adock not much to the westward of the ferry houses.
A man in plain blue uniform and visored cap, wearing the insignia of aquartermaster, stood at the far end of the dock. He saluted as soon ashe espied Joseph Baldwin hastening toward him.
"I see you're on time, Bickson."
"Yes, sir."
By this time Mr. Baldwin was going down a short flight of steps to alanding stage. There lay moored a trim-looking sixteen-foot powertender.
"Fall aboard," briefly directed Mr. Baldwin, and the motor boat boys,rather enjoying this systematized bustle, obeyed.
Bickson, without waiting for orders, cast off, started the motor andsent the boat gliding out into the stream.
"Quite a motor yacht that carries a quartermaster," observed CaptainHalstead, with a smile.
"I carry three," rejoined Mr. Baldwin, thrusting a cigar into his mouthand lighting it with a "blazer" match.
In and out among the shipping the tender glided. Then, at last, CaptainTom caught sight of a graceful craft some hundred and twenty feet long.She looked like a miniature liner.
"I wonder if I'll ever command a handsome craft like that?" thought theyoung motor boat skipper, with a brief pang of envy. "Jove! what aboat!"
The next thing the motor boat boys knew they were running up alongsidethis hundred-and-twenty-footer. A young man of twenty-five ortwenty-six, whose uniform proclaimed him to be a watch officer, stood atthe top of a side gangway.
"This can't be the boat--such a beauty!" gasped Tom Halstead, inwardly.Joe Dawson's eyes were full of wonder. Ab Perkins's lower jaw washanging down in proof of his bewilderment. Dick Davis's face wasflushing. Jed was staring. Only Jeff Randolph appeared indifferent.
"How do you do, Mr. Costigan?" hailed Mr. Baldwin, leading the way upthe side gangway. "Mr. Costigan, pay your respects to the new captain ofthe 'Panther.' Captain Halstead, Mr. Costigan, your third officer."
If Mr. Costigan appeared astonished, Tom Halstead did not look less so.That he was really to command this big, handsome craft seemed to Tomlike a dream. A moment before, when he had realized that the "Panther"was Mr. Baldwin's craft, the most the Maine boy had expected was that heand his companions would be allowed to stand watch in the engine roomand on the bridge. But--captain!
Third Officer Costigan, however, saluted in a most proper manner. Tomheld out his hand cordially.
"Presently, Mr. Costigan, I shall ask you to show me about this craft."
"At your orders, sir," replied Costigan, again saluting his commandingofficer, then making his way forward.
"Here's the captain's cabin. I have the key," an
nounced Mr. Baldwin,leading the way to a door immediately aft of the pilot house. The ownerunlocked the door, then led the way inside. Again Captain Tom wonderedif he could be dreaming. Though everything was compact in thisstateroom, yet all the conveniences were there, too. There was a doublebed, a wardrobe locker, running water, two easy chairs, a desk, and atable just under a well-stocked China and glass cupboard.
"Your stateroom runs right through the deck-house from starboard toport," explained Mr. Baldwin, who now appeared less pressed for time."Bathroom and chart-room open out of this cabin aft. I think, Captain,you will be comfortable."
"Comfortable!" murmured Tom, then smiled in sheer delight.
The other motor boat boys stood about the doorway, not offering to enterwhile the owner was there. Mr. Baldwin dropped into one of the armchairs.
"Now, Captain, I'll tell you what we have aboard," continued the owner."Costigan is third officer. He's a good fellow, and a capable sailor,but he has his limitations, and--well, I don't believe he'll ever bemuch more than a third officer. You'd better keep him in thatgrade--unless you find he's better than some of your comrades. One goodthing about Costigan is that he has a pilot's license for San FranciscoBay and the coast hereabouts. He's a good pilot, too. Another good thingabout Costigan is that he's loyal, and a man who knows how to keep histongue resting in the back of his mouth.
"Besides Costigan, there are three quartermasters and seven men in thecrew. We have also a cook and helper, a cabin steward and a men'ssteward. That's the whole outfit. We have no one, at present, in theengine-room department. You have men with you to fill out thosepositions, haven't you, Captain?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then let me see how you'll go to work to place them," shot out Mr.Baldwin, instantly.
"Mr. Perkins, first officer; Mr. Davis, second officer," repliedHalstead, promptly. "Mr. Costigan, of course, third officer."
"And in the engine room?" pressed the owner.
"Mr. Dawson, chief engineer; Mr. Prentiss, first assistant; Mr.Randolph, second assistant engineer."
"All right," nodded Joseph Baldwin. "That makes our complement complete,I think. Now, Captain, publish your selections to the crew and takecommand. There's the bell at the side of your desk."
Hardly had Tom Halstead, still feeling as though in a trance, pressedthe button, when a jauntily uniformed sailor appeared at the doorway,saluting.
"My compliments to Mr. Costigan; ask him to come here," ordered Tom.
From the speed with which he reported, Third Officer Costigan must havebeen awaiting the summons.
"Pipe the crew forward of the pilot house, Mr. Costigan. All hands. I'vesomething to say to them."
The third officer's whistle rang out shrilly forward. A few momentslater Captain Halstead was notified that all hands were on deck.
Tom thereupon went forward, accompanied by the new officers of the"Panther," who were proclaimed to the crew, including even the stewardsand cooks.
"And I now invite the officers to my cabin," said Captain Halstead ashe wound up his harangue to the men. "The details of the deck and engineroom watches will be decided at once."
This was soon done. Following the practice that now obtains on manyyachts, the watches were made eight hours long, instead of four. Thisenabled each member of a watch to get a full sleep between watches. Inordinary weather neither the captain nor first officer stands watch. Thecaptain's, or starboard, watch was to be taken by Dick Davis as secondofficer. Mr. Costigan, third officer, was to stand the first officer's,or port, watch. Joe Dawson, as chief engineer, was generally responsiblefor the engineering department, but stood no watch in the engine room,the starboard watch at the motors falling to Jed Prentiss, and the portwatch to Jeff Randolph. Bickson, as chief quartermaster, was maderesponsible for the general policing of the craft, the other twoquartermasters taking watch trick at the wheel in the pilot house.
During the making of these arrangements Mr. Baldwin had strolled aft tohis own suite of rooms. These, immediately aft of the chart room,consisted of parlor, bed-room and bath. Aft of these quarters lay thedeck dining room, from which a staircase led down to the cabin proper.Off the cabin were eight handsome staterooms for the owner's guests.
All this Tom and his comrades saw as Costigan piloted them over thissuperb yacht.
Forward of the main cabin, below, was the chief engineer's stateroom,which Joe would occupy by himself. In Joe's room, also, was service forthe chief engineer's meals.
Then there was a stateroom for the second and third officers, andanother for the engineer's two assistants. For these junior officers,and Mr. Costigan, there was an officers' mess. Further forward was thecrew's mess, then the kitchen department. Ahead of this was the engineroom, with the crew's forecastle quarters right up in the bow of thecraft, below decks.
"You see, sir," explained Mr. Costigan, "there's everything that couldbe thought of for the comfort of officers and crew."
"It's the most compact boat I could imagine," declared Captain Tom,enthusiastically.
"You may well say that, sir."
They passed on to inspect the engine room. Joe's eyes fairly gleamed ashe inspected the twin motors, the dynamos and all the other details ofhis own department. It was a finer engine room than Joe Dawson had hopedto command for many years to come. He remained below, with hisassistants, to inspect their new domain, while Tom, Ab and Dickreturned to the deck with Mr. Costigan.
The "Panther" was schooner rigged, with a full set of sails for each ofthe two masts. There was a short bowsprit, carrying two jibs.
"This craft does pretty well under sail, sir," declared the thirdofficer.
"She looks as though she ought to," replied Captain Tom. "But what gaitdoes she make with her power alone?"
"She's been running, cruising, sir, at about twelve to fourteen miles anhour. She's listed as a twenty-two mile boat at her best, but I believe,sir, that a good engineer could get twenty-four out of her."
"The new chief engineer is one who can get out any speed that the motorswill stand."
"He looks it, sir."
Halstead was careful always to use the word "Mister." Watch officers andengineers, who are also officers, are always addressed in that way, bythe captain, or even by the owner. Costigan was equally careful to say"sir," when addressing any officer of grade above his own.
"When you can spare the time, Captain, I'll have a few words with you,"called Mr. Baldwin, showing his head through the starboard doorway ofhis suite.
"At once, sir," replied Captain Tom, turning and going to the owner'sdoor. At the threshold the new captain of the "Panther" halted.
"Come right in, Captain. Take a chair," invited the owner. "Now, then,what do you think of your new task?"
"I'm astounded, sir. Overjoyed, too," Tom replied, with a candid smile.
"Why?"
"Well, sir, this craft represents the height of my dreams. The 'Panther'is twice the length and about four times the total size of any boat I'veever commanded before."
"Are you afraid it's too big an undertaking for you?" asked Mr. Baldwin,regarding his young sailing master keenly.
"No, sir!" came the prompt answer.
"Hm! I'm glad of that. But I wasn't worrying. I've known Delavan a longtime. I told him what I wanted, and knew I could bank on his choice. Areall your friends satisfied?"
"They're delighted," Tom nodded. "All they're aching for now, sir, is toget out on the first cruise."
"They'll have their wish this evening," laughed Mr. Baldwin. "Is thereanything you want to ask me, Captain?"
"Nothing, unless you'll permit me to be a bit curious."
"That's a bad fault on this yacht," replied Joseph Baldwin, with aslight frown that quickly disappeared. "What is it you want to know?"
"I'm wondering, sir, why you had to send all the way east for officersfor the 'Panther'?"
"Because I've had to get rid of two sets of officers," replied Mr.Baldwin, crisply. "One captain was too inquisitive, the other was
incapable. Then I began to hear a good deal about your famous Motor BoatClub. That set me to corresponding with Delavan. He told me a lot moreabout you young men, and I couldn't get it out of my head that _you_were the sort of people I wanted."
"You weren't afraid on account of our being so--well, youthful?"
"I knew, if you'd suit Frank Delavan, you'd suit me. And I'm just assure after having seen you all. Now, Captain Halstead, you'll be readyto sail at any time after seven this evening. That is the hour when myguests and I sit down to dinner aboard. At the time I'll give you yourgeneral sailing instructions. Remember, Mr. Costigan must be your pilotuntil you're out through the Golden Gate and clear of the coast."
"Yes, sir," assented Halstead, rising. "Any further orders, sir?"
"That is all, for the present, Captain."
Tom Halstead left the owner's suite and walked forward, filled with awonderful sense of elation. He passed the pilot house just in time tosee Joe Dawson coming up forward.
"Say, are we going to wake up, chum?" breathed young Dawson in hisfriend's ear.
"I don't believe we'll have to," laughed the young skipper, happily."We're all right, I'm pretty sure, if we don't do something that greatlydispleases the boat's owner. Thanks to Mr. Delavan, the owner of thiscraft is willing to believe, at the start, that we're all that's goodand wonderful. But come into my cabin, old fellow, if you have the time.We'll dine together to-night."
Both motor boat boys sighed their supreme contentment as they droppedinto arm-chairs facing each other. It was now so dark that Tom switchedon the electric lights.
"How are the engines, Joe?" asked Tom, dropping into his old, friendlymanner.
"Ready to start at a second's notice. And Jed's on duty there, waitingfor the word."
"Gasoline?"
"Tanks bulging with it. Tom, this is a beautifully appointed boat below,and every store of every description is in place."
"That's the kind of a man I'm pretty sure Mr. Baldwin is," noddedHalstead.
Joe surveyed a row of speaking tubes that hung against the forward wallof the captain's room. He picked out one labeled "engine-room," pressingthe button beneath it.
"Hello, sir," came the quick response, in Jed Prentiss's unmistakabletones.
"Hello, Mr. Prentiss," Joe returned. "How do you like it down there, onduty?"
"It's perfect!" responded Jed, almost dreamily. "Everything here but myown personal steward. I ain't sure but what _he'll_ blow in, in aminute, and ask me what I'll have for dinner."
"Tell him we're scheduled to start at seven," suggested Halstead.
"I can start in seven seconds, if I'm asked to," promised Prentiss."Anyway, I can have the propellers turning fast before you can get theanchor up. Crackey! I forgot that I have to supply even the power forhoisting anchor."
Twenty minutes later the two chums, who had begun their career bypatching up an old steam launch down at the mouth of the Kennebec River,in Maine, were seated at table in the captain's cabin, doing justice toa meal that was but little short of sumptuous.
The chief steward himself, a man named Parkinson, served the youngcaptain and chief engineer. He hovered about, as attentive as any hotelwaiter or private butler could have been.
It was the second steward, however, who came in with the dessert forthe two chief officers of the "Panther."
"What has become of the other steward?" inquired the young captain.
"Time for him, sir, to put on the finishing touches in the diningsaloon," replied Collins, the second steward, who served also the juniorofficers and the crew.
"If we eat like this at every meal, Joe," sighed Halstead, contentedly,when the second steward had removed the last of the things, "we'll haveto devote all the rest of the time to exercising off extra flesh. Let'sget out on deck."
"All right. But I mean to be in the engine-room when the start is made."
At the side gangway the chums stepped quickly past, to make way for halfa dozen men who were coming up over the side, while Mr. Costigan stoodrespectfully by to receive them. They were guests of the owner justcoming on board for the night's cruise. One of these newcomers wentdirectly to Mr. Baldwin's suite.
"Owner's compliments, sir," called Parkinson, softly, as he camehurrying after the young sailing master. "Mr. Baldwin wishes to seeCaptain Halstead on the jump, sir."
The call had come for the brisk beginning of the strangest duties inwhich young Halstead had ever been employed.