Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/113

 if not quite placated this morning, for they called her "some little hiker" and "a bulldog for grit" and approved her heartily.

It was ten when they got their first good look at the enemy. She was then some ten miles distant, presenting only a stern view, but with glasses it was possible to form some idea of her. She appeared slightly larger than the Gyandotte, with a good deal to be seen above-deck, the latter fact suggesting that she was a converted craft of some sort, possibly a small, fast merchantman. At two bells in the afternoon watch, just after mess, the shrill sound of the boatswain's pipe was heard commanding "Clear ship for action!" and all hands sprang to the work of stowing loose gear, connecting fire hose, rigging life lines and performing the almost numberless duties called for. Galley fires were hauled, lunch served out, ammunition supplied, dressing stations rigged, circuits tested and blast screens rigged. In a short time the cruiser was in fighting trim, the men had washed and shifted into clean underclothes and the battle ensigns were flying at the mastheads. The crew of Number Four gun hovered impatiently about the platform, one of them at least suffering inconvenience with his heart which showed an annoying disposition to travel back and 91