A line, coiled, suddenly shot down from above. Sam chanced to be standing up in the boat at that moment. The line hit him fairly on the top of his red head, flattening him on the bottom of the skiff. A shout went up from the forecastle. “You lubbers!” bellowed Sam, scrambling to his feet, nearly upsetting the skiff in his efforts to get his eyes on the man who was responsible for knocking him down. “I’d duck you if I had you down here.” “Yes, you would!” came back the prompt answer. “Yes, I would.” “Come up here and try it, red-head! We’ve got some shower baths up in the forecastle.” “Don’t answer him, Sam,” cautioned Dan. “There is an officer watching us, and we do not want him to think we are a couple of rowdies.” “Well, we aren’t, are we?” demanded Sam indignantly. “Certainly not. All the more reason why we should act like gentlemen.” Sam grumbled some unintelligible reply. “Are you going first, Dan?” “It makes no difference.” Dan grasped the swaying rope ladder, known as a “Jacob’s ladder,” and ran up with agility. “My, the little man must have made a voyage to Africa and taken lessons from the monkeys,” jeered a voice. “It isn’t necessary to go to Africa to find specimens of that animal,” answered Dan, reaching the lower boom, along which he ran lightly, sprang over the rail and planted his feet on the deck. His first duty was to turn his face toward the stern of the ship and salute the Flag. By this time Hickey was on his way up the ladder, and in a moment more he awkwardly measured his length on the deck, having caught his toe in the rope railing in scaling it. The men of the forecastle set up a shout of approval. “That’s the way to do it, lad! A regular human projectile. We don’t need any torpedoes when you are on board.” Sam got up, blushing furiously. As he rose a jackie ran his fingers through the shock of red hair. “Shipmate, you’d better keep away from the magazines with that head of hair, or there’ll be an explosion that will be heard all the way to Newport.” “People who play with fire sometimes get burned. You’d better stand clear,” warned Hickey, whereat their was another shout, this time at the expense of the jackie who had taken the liberty with Sam’s head. “I’ll bet the Old Man will send his orderly on a run for the barber when he sees red-head here,” vouchsafed another. The “Old Man” aboard ship means the captain. The lads gave no further heed to the chaffing of their new shipmates. Dan nudged his companion and motioned for the latter to follow him. “Where?” demanded Sam. “You don’t know where you are going.” “We must report to the officer of the deck first of all. Lieutenant Commander Devall told me to do so.” “Oh, I didn’t think you would know enough to do it of your own accord,” was Sam’s withering reply as he turned to follow Dan.