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264 "He's knocked out by the heat," he answered, in a voice that did not sound in the least like his own.

"Humph! he ought to have given us some warning!" grumbled Barrow, doing what he could to steady his own tones. "Why, if the gun had gone off standing like that, the whole gun-room would have been knocked out of sight, to say nothing of the rest of the ship."

He began to lock up the breech, and Larry turned again to poor Castleton. The fellow soon regained his consciousness, but could not continue his work, and was sent to the hospital quarters, while an extra man from another gun came to take his place.

"I must give you credit for what you did, Larry," said Barrow, when the excitement was over. "Many a boy, and man, too, for that matter, would have thought of nothing but getting away. You saved us all, and I, for one, sha'n't forget it," and he cracked the youth good-naturedly upon the shoulder.

Striker now came back, but the work was getting so vigorous that he was not told of the incident until some time after. From the bridge, the commodore had discovered a torpedo boat sneaking out from below the fort, with the evident intention of making a circuit and coming up back of the American ships.