Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/115

 the captain, for the lieutenant was in charge of the boat. “Mr. Harper here would like to go.”

“Jump in,” was the lieutenant’s reply, and Henry scrambled over the rail into the waiting boat.

In another moment the boat was far on its way to the Viking, the men bending vigorously to their oars. How she did rise and fall. But Henry was not now alarmed by the motion, as he might have been earlier. A ladder was lowered from the Viking as the small boat drew near. The little craft was laid skillfully alongside, the sailors made fast with their boat-hooks, and the doctor scrambled up the ladder, followed by the lieutenant and Henry. Some of the sailors also came aboard.

The captain welcomed the lieutenant and the doctor warmly, and then led the way to the officers’ quarters. The officers were plainly foreign. They were bearded and ruddy, with light hair, and with the strong, honest countenances so typical of Scandinavians. Henry knew without being told that they came from Norway or Sweden. They were decently dressed in the customary uniforms of sea officers.

Curious to know how a merchantman’s cabin compared with that of the Iroquois, Henry followed the doctor. He found the officers’ quarters