thousands of our men, for the Mexicans will resist stubbornly,
and there'll be a lot of hard fighting for the Navy before Washington
has the Army in shape to land. Never fear, Danny boy! We are
likely to see enough active service!"

Dave soon went to the bridge to stand a trick of watch duty with
Lieutenant Cantor.

For an hour no word was exchanged between the two officers. Cantor
curtly transmitted orders through petty officers on the deck below.
Dave kept to his own, the starboard side of the bridge, his alert
eyes on his duty. There was no chance to exchange even a word
on the all-absorbing topic of the incident at Tampico.

Vera Cruz, lying on a sandy stretch of land that was surrounded
by marshes, was soon sighted, and the "_Long Island_" stood in
toward the harbor in which the Stars and Stripes fluttered from
several other American warships lying at anchor.

A messenger from the executive officer appeared on the bridge
with the information that, after the ship came to anchor, Ensign
Dalzell would be sent in one of the launches to convey the Carmody
party ashore.

There was no chance for the rescued ones to come forward to say
good-bye to Darrin on the bridge, for they went over the port
side into the waiting launch.

Dalzell, however, manoeuvred the launch so that she passed along
the ship's side.