"The men are being sought for by the department," the despatch added, "and when arrested will be summarily dealt with. Every recruiting office and naval station in the country, as well as the police, have been notified."
Ned looked up from his paper with startled eyes. He caught the gaze of the red-faced quartermaster fixed accusingly on him.
"So you've read it?" said that dignitary.
"I've read a lot of sensational rubbish," was the hot reply.
"Not half so sensational or rubbishy as what you've told me," sniffed the quartermaster.
"That being the case," said Ned hotly, "I shall not bother you further. Good afternoon."
"Hold on there! Humph! humph! Not so fast!" exclaimed the other, rising and stepping swiftly between Ned and the door, "you've to wait here a while."
"Wait!" echoed Ned. "I can't wait. Why, man alive, the safety of the fleet depends on my reaching there."
"Oh, nonsense! You don't mean to say you've brooded over that story so much you believe it yourself?"
Ned was first thunderstruck and then horrified. In living through the extraordinary events of the recent past, it had never struck him how fantastic and impossible they would seem to the average man.
"But it's true, I tell you! I can prove it, every word!" he burst out.
"Come, come, young man. You've been reading too many dime novels. Why, there isn't a court martial in the land that would believe such a cock-and-bull story. I'll wager that your chum Taylor is hiding some place around town while you came up here to try and raise some more money. I must say it was a nervy thing to do."
"Good heavens!" cried Ned. "Do you mean to say that you don't credit a word of my story?"
"Nary a word. A wilder yarn I never listened to, and I've served on all kinds of craft, man and boy, for a good many years. Now, let me give you a bit of advice, young fellow. When you are on trial, don't spring any such gammoning as you've told me. Just stick to the plain truth and you may get off lighter than you otherwise would."
Ned gasped. For an instant he almost lost control of himself. But he realized that, if he was to be of service to the fleet, he must keep his self-possession.
"When I rejoin the fleet," he said, "it won't be as a prisoner."