CHAPTER XIX--THE WORK OF AN ENEMY
"Get up, lad!" commanded the captain, himself removing the table fromhis unfortunate orderly.
Sam got himself out from the wreckage, and slowly rose to his feet,ruefully surveying the scene before him. He did not speak. There were nowords that would probably express his feelings at that moment.
The captain pressed a button, whereupon his colored steward hurried in.The steward's eyes opened as he caught sight of the ruined china andglassware.
"Steward, clear this rubbish away and be quick about it," the captaindirected in a calm voice. "Is this the way you usually respond to anofficer's summons?" fixing his eyes upon the culprit. There was a quiverabout the lips of the commanding officer of the battleship "LongIsland," but Sam was too much upset to observe it.
"N--n--no, sir."
"I approve of your prompt attention to duty, lad, but you will have tolearn to control yourself."
"I--I am very sorry, sir."
"Never mind, lad; you will learn. This is the first time you ever actedas orderly, is it not?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then I will instruct you in your duties, for you no doubt will becalled upon to perform this duty many times during your service."
The captain's kindly tone went straight to the heart of the BattleshipBoy.
"In the first place, when you come to the door bearing a message for meyou should halt outside and rap, saying, 'orderly, sir'; then wait forthe summons to enter. When I call you to give you some directions, youneed not rap. Say nothing, but enter and come to attention. Do youunderstand!"
"Yes, sir."
"I am sure you will do better next time. You will now go to the officerof the deck, and say that I wish to see Mr. Coates, the executiveofficer, at his early convenience."
"Aye, aye, sir," answered Sam, backing away. He bethought himself of thedoor sill just in time to prevent another tumble, this time out into thecorridor.
Sam delivered his message and returned to his station, where he pondereddeeply over what had befallen him.
"I hope the boys don't hear about that," he muttered. "They'd make thisship so warm for me that I should have to jump overboard. I--I couldn'tstand it; that's all."
Shortly after that, the captain decided to make an inspection of theship. It was a long and tiresome journey. For the next two hours SamHickey was climbing down and up ladders, crawling through narrow spaces,his head swimming, his face red and perspiring.
"This orderly business isn't all it is supposed to be," he complained tohimself, when once more they had emerged upon the quarter-deck, Samfollowing obediently behind the ship's commander. From there, they wentto the bridge.
"How are you headed?" questioned the captain of the man at the wheel.
"South, southeast one half," came the answer.
"Mr. Coates, the storm appears to be abating. I think we may safely turnabout and steam slowly back toward our anchorage now."
They were out of sight of land by this time. The big ship was turnedabout and headed back over the reverse course. At noon, eight bellsagain, Hickey was relieved from his duty, another man taking his place.
The boy heaved a deep sigh of relief and hurried forward to hunt up Dan,to whom he confided his experiences of the morning. Dan laughed until hecould laugh no more.
"Don't--don't tell any of the fellows, please," begged Sam.
"It's too--it's too good to keep," gasped Dan between laughs.
"Dan Davis, if you tell a human being about that I'll thrash you worsethan either of us thrashed Bill Kester. Now tell about it, if you wantto."
Dan sobered.
"Very well; if you feel that badly about it I won't say a word."
"You had better not," growled Sam.
The rest of the afternoon was devoted to routine duties aboard ship, Samhaving gotten into his old clothes for the work before him. Paintingship was continued. Corridors and gun decks showed the result of thework that already had been done, and the smell of fresh paint waseverywhere.
Night came on with the ship nearing her former anchorage.
"We shall have good weather to-morrow," announced the ship's navigator.
"I hope so," answered the captain. "We want to lay out that mine fieldand get to work. We are going to try to beat the record of the 'Georgia'this time, providing we have no accidents. That is the main reason why Iam so anxious about the weather."
At last they reached a sheltered spot, anchors were let go and thebattleship swung about, facing into the rolling sea.
That night the Battleship Boys lost no time in turning in after taps hadbeen sounded. The ship was rolling more gently now, just enough to lullthem into a sound sleep, their hammocks swaying slightly under thebattleship's motion.
How long they had been asleep they did not know. All of a sudden Danuttered a shout and Sam sprang up, as did many others in the corridor.
"Pipe down the racket," growled several voices.
"What's the matter? Is that you, Dan!" called Sam, observing, in thefaint light, that his companion was not near him.
"Yes," answered a muffled voice from below.
"What's the trouble, did you fall out of bed?"
"I don't know. I guess I did."
"Hurt you any?"
"Hurt me? Every bone in my body is broken."
"Will you rookies shut up and let the rest of us go to sleep, or must wecome down there and thump you?" demanded a shipmate from his hammock.
"We are not rookies," protested Sam indignantly. "We are ordinaryseamen."
"My hammock is down," complained Dan.
"Then why don't you use more care in putting it up? Hurry and get it inplace before any of the sentries pass here. We, or rather you, will geton the report if they discover you with your hammock down."
"I can't put it up?"
"Why not?"
"I'm hurt."
Sam was down out of his hammock instantly.
"Where are you hurt?"
"My wrist. I think I have broken it. I must have twisted it under mewhen I fell."
"Then go to the surgeon at once."
"No; not until morning."
The wrist hung limp and Dan seemed unable to use it at all.
"That's too bad," exclaimed Sam, his voice full of concern. "You waituntil I fix your hammock; then I will help you up."
"No, I can't do it, Sam. I never could get up there," complained thelad, holding his wrist, which was paining him dreadfully.
Dan dragged himself to where his hammock was hanging by one end, theother end lying on the deck.
"It's curious. I can't understand it at all."
"What is?"
"I know I triced that up properly last night. I cannot understand how itever came down."
Dan stooped over, picking up the ends of the rope that had secured thehammock to its hooks. He examined the ends as closely as possible withone hand injured.
"Look here, Sam," he said, with a trace of excitement in his tone.
"What is it!"
"Just examine this rope and see what you make of it?"
Sam did so.
"It has been broken, that is all I can discover."
"Then your eyesight must have gone back on you. There is more to it thanthat. Don't you see anything else wrong with those lashings?"
"I do not."
"Well, I do."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that my hammock lashings have been cut. See those strands there?Well, they have been half severed with a knife. It was intended thatthey should not give way at once, but that they should let me down sometime in the night."
"You--you don't mean it? Yes, you are right. They have been cut. Whocould have done such a dastardly thing? Why, you might have killedyourself."
Hickey uttered a low growl.
"I don't know who did it," muttered Davis, "but if I do find out therewill be a real fight on board this ship, and that without the formalityof a referee."
"Dan this mu
st be reported at once to the proper person."
"I shall report to no----"
"You must report to the sentry on duty outside without delay. If you donot, I'll do it myself. There will be an investigation over this, andthere ought to be."
"There'll be something more than an investigation, I reckon," mutteredSeaman Davis, moving toward the deck, still holding his injured wrist.