Time and again Jack's face swept past, unseeing them, toward the quartermaster with hands on the wheel, at the rear of the bridge, crying crisply:
And the quartermaster replied as he twisted the wheel:
The dark had fallen now. Ahead the Point Judith acetylene buoy sent its rays toward them. When they came abreast of it, it was pitch black and the white light on Watch Hill was made out to the southeastward. Suddenly from the _Jefferson's_ deck a series of red and white lights began to wink and blink. Answering signals twinkled over a mile of water and the boats stopped their engines, rolling like logs on the waters.
Armitage walked over to Anne and Sara, who, in their coats and caps, looked not unlike officers themselves.
"Oh, it is terribly interesting!" said Anne. "What are you going to do now?"
"Wait for the battleships, I imagine," said Armitage. "We don't really torpedo them," he added. "The object is to get as close as possible without being observed. They try to locate us with searchlights. As soon as they see us they put the light on us and fire a red star. After that star is fired the discovered boat must steam full speed for the quarry for one minute and then fire a green star and turn on her lights. The distance from the battleship to the boat is measured and if we are within torpedo range, two thousand yards, the torpedo boat wins. If the distance is greater, we are technically out of action--the battleship wins."
"How interesting!" Anne gazed at Armitage admiringly. "And that is what you would do in real warfare then--rush into the very face of the battleship's firing in the effort to blow her up?"
"But what a risk! You must steam through a perfect hail of bullets, with chances of striking with your torpedo largely against you. And even if you do strike you are liable to pay the price with your lives. Am I not right?"
"These pirates of the flotilla," laughed Jack, "do not think of the price. They 're in the Navy to think of other things."
"And is that the spirit of the American Navy?"
"Of course," Armitage looked at her curiously. "Why not?"
"Oh, I don't know. I know something of the British and French Navies, but patriotism--the sort of spirit you speak of--has always appeared to me such an abstract thing as regards America. It's because, I suppose, I have never known anything about it, because I have been more or less of an expatriate all my life."