Page:Silver Shoal Light.djvu/221

 "Well, of all people!" she cried. "How very nice. O Jim! Here's Steve Warren."

She introduced him to Joan, and Jim ran out in another moment. The men shook hands heartily.

"A sure-enough ensign!" said Jim. "The last time we saw you, you were a plebe at Annapolis, weren't you? How's Virginia?"

"I've just come up from down there," Steve said. "Oh, it's finer than ever! I've been home for two weeks. My, I certainly did despise leaving! I joined the Billington at Norfolk."

"Oh, so you're on the Billington now!" said Jim. "We've just been hearing about you and your cucumbers."

Steve grinned.

"Well! Have you been keeping track of us? We'll have to be mighty careful of what we say!"

"We've been absorbed all day," Joan said. "We heard about piping down scrubbed bags and clothes, and all kinds of interesting things. But do tell me how you shake out a reef in a scrubbed hammock?"

"I guess it meant a reef in the clothes-lines," laughed Steve. "What I really came to ask is,