Page:A Sailor Boy with Dewey.djvu/155



That night I slept but little. Strange as it may seem, I could not get Commodore Dewey's face out of my mind. I thought of him continually, with his trim naval uniform and well-polished sword and scabbard. He was certainly a splendid specimen of an American naval gentleman.

"Why don't you go to sleep," asked Dan, who roomed with me at his home. "You've been tumbling and tossing for a couple of hours. Was that encounter with the Chinamen too much for you."

"No, I was thinking of Commodore Dewey, Dan."

"What! Why, I was thinking of him myself. Say, do you know, Oliver, that his flagship, the Olympia, is one of the finest cruisers in our navy?"

"I have never seen her."

"I saw her once, a few months ago. She is immense; and so are the other ships under his command, especially the Boston."

"That's only an aggravation—if a fellow can't board her."