Why not let Eph help you
back to your bunk, or one of the seats in the cabin, and have your sleep
out?"
"I've had it out," Benson declared, with a laugh. "I'm ready, now, to take
my trick at the wheel."
"Nonsense," retorted Hal Hastings. "I've been here a bare quarter of an
hour, and I'm good for more work than that. Jack, you're nothing but a
fifth wheel. You're not needed; won't be all day, and at night we anchor
in some harbor down the coast. Go and rest, like a good fellow."
"Can't rest, when I know I'm doing nothing," Benson retorted, stubbornly.
"Besides, this is the first time I've ever found myself moving along in
regular formation with the United States Navy. I feel almost as if I were
a Navy officer myself, and I mean to make the most of the sensation. Say,
Hal, wouldn't it be fine if we really _did_ belong to the Navy?"
"Gee-whiz!" murmured young Hastings, his cheeks glowing and his eyes
snapping.
"If we only belonged to the old Flag for life, and knew that we were
practising on a boat like this as a part of the preparation for real war
when it came?"
"_Don't!_" begged Hal, tensely. "For you know, old fellow, it can't come
true.
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