“That is for the purpose of holding your valuables.” “Money?” “Oh, no, it would not be exactly safe. You had better place your money in the hands of the paymaster.” “That is what we intend to do,” spoke up Dan. “The ditty box, my lads, is the sailor’s most treasured possession. In it he keeps his trinkets, his pictures, his letters, his pen and paper. But this is not all. The ditty box serves as the jackie’s desk, his table, his seat and many other things. Never interfere with another man’s ditty box unless you are looking for trouble. You will get it fast enough if you do so.” “I’ll be too busy looking after my own to want to bother chasing the other fellow’s ditto box.” “Ditty,” corrected Dan. “All right. It’s all the same.” “I will now show you through the ship, as you will be required to be familiar with it. Learn all you can. Learn the name of everything on board, for all this knowledge will be needed some of these days when you come up for promotion. I presume you have ambitions to rise to higher grades?” “We are going to do so, sir,” answered Dan promptly. “That is the way to talk. You will win with that spirit. Nothing can stop you. Now, come with me and take a look at the ‘Long Island.’” “There we go again,” laughed Sam. “What time do we mess, sir?” “Very soon, now. I shall get you back in plenty of time.” They started out on their first tour of inspection of a battleship and the boys uttered many exclamations of wonder as the parts of the great floating machine and implement of war were revealed and explained to them. The boatswain’s mate took them first to the bridge, where the compass and steering wheel were located; thence to the fire control, a steel-bound enclosure, open at the top, just forward of the bridge. It was from there, he told them, that the electric signals were given for torpedo firing. “Is this a torpedo boat also?” questioned Sam innocently. “Certainly not. This is a battleship. It is provided, however, with two torpedo tubes, a starboard and a port tube.” From this point the lads went down, deeper and deeper into the ship, By this time there were no stairways to walk down. In place of them were narrow ladders running through narrow apertures in the various decks. As he went along the boatswain’s mate briefly explained everything, going into detail regarding the handling of the big guns, the ammunition hoists and the electric signaling plant far down amidships. They did not complete their journey until they were far below the level of the water in the very bottom of the ship. From there they made their way upward to the wireless telegraph room, where the operator was sitting with receiver on his head, listening for the faint ticking of the messages that might be hurled through the air. Now and then the operator would nervously clutch his key. Sam jumped when the resonators crashed forth their message to another far-away operator; then the sending instruments settled down to a steady squealing.