Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/159

 and a pair of borrowed boots, and superintending the process of devouring a tin cup of strange oatmeal gruel, he afterwards bore him off in the direction of the after battery compartment which, save for the absence of cooking arrangements was similar to the corresponding compartment forward. In the central station Nelson saw Captain Hale and the junior officer, Lieutenant Morris, both clear-eyed, lean-faced men well under thirty years. It was the captain who noted them as they passed and spoke to Martin.

"Is this the man we picked up, Townsend?"

"Yes, sir."

Captain Hale looked Nelson over with undisguised interest as the latter paused and saluted. "What's your name?" he asked.

Nelson gave the information, and, in reply to further questions, narrated briefly the story of his adventures. The junior lieutenant turned from his post at the gyroscopic compass and listened.

"Sounds like a romance to me, my boy," laughed the captain at the end, his gray eyes twinkling. "Have you tried it on the marines yet?"

"No, sir, I've had no chance," answered Nelson, smiling.

"Well, I suppose it must be so. You're pretty good proof of it. But it beats any story I've heard 134