“I see that I’ll have to wait, sir,” sighed Eph, resignedly.

“Yes; it will be better in every way to wait,” agreed the lieutenant
commander. “It is plain justice, at the least, to wait and give the young
men a chance to offer any defense that they can.”

“Now, of course, from his way of looking at it, I can’t blame him so very
much,” admitted Eph Somers, as he leaned over the rail, watching Mr.
Mayhew going back through the darkness. “But Jack—great old Jack!—having
any liking at all for mixing up in saloons and such places on shore! Ha,
ha! Ho, ho!”

Williamson, now able to leave his motors, came on deck, asking an account
of what had happened. The machinist listened in amazement, though, like
Eph, he needed no proof that the boys, whatever trouble they had
encountered, had met honestly and innocently.

“Of course that naval officer is right, too, from his own limited point of
view,” urged Williamson.

“Oh, yes, I suppose so,” nodded Somers, gloomily. “I’ve been trying to
tell myself that. But it would be fearful, wouldn’t it, if the ’Farnum’
were ordered away from the fleet, and Jack disgraced, just because of
things he really didn’t do.”

“It’s a queer old world,” mused the machinist, thoughtfully. “We hear a
lot about the consequences of wrong things we do. But how often people
seem to have to pay up for things they never did!”

“Oh, well,” muttered Eph, philosophically, “let’s wait until morning. A