Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/104

 watch and to the crew of Number Four gun of the main battery as second shellman. That was interesting, although after the first drill his arms ached from lifting the shells, and had the little Gyandotte been headed across the Atlantic instead of southward along the coast he would have been more than contented.

They had steamed out of Norfolk early that morning in a heavy rain and a flat green sea. Now, mid-afternoon, the rain had ceased and the sea was no longer flat nor green. It was decidedly boisterous and looked heavy with sand. Mist had taken the place of rain, a mist almost too fine to be seen but which lay in globules and little pools on every flat surface. There was a softness in the air that was new to Nelson, a mildness that seemed to presage the southern latitudes toward which the little gray cruiser was plowing her way.

So far, in spite of the fact that he had been aboard three days, Nelson bad made few acquaintances and no friends. This, however, need not be wondered at, for it was almost equally true of all others on the ship. It requires more than three days for officers and men to find themselves and to get shaken down. The process of evolving order out of the confusion resultant on gathering 82