"Oh, but that won't do," interrupted Van Kyp. "He must get off the
ship without any one on deck seeing him." With this he explained the
situation to the ensign, who readily grasped it, and said:

"All right. I'll run my boat in under this sideport, and he can drop
out of it if the sentry will let him pass."

Of course the guard at the wide freight port left open for a better
circulation of air between decks would allow Ridge to pass, for he was
one of their own troop, and knew that the sergeant had been ordered
ashore. To give him further assurance that everything was all right,
Ridge said:

"It is my duty, you know, to go in the first boat that offers, since
Major Dodley undoubtedly left some time since. He said he would only
wait two minutes, and as that was fully five minutes ago, he ought to
be ashore by now."

Thus it happened that while the messenger who had been ordered to fetch
Sergeant Norris of the Rough Riders was still fuming over the
unpardonable delay of the trooper, and threatening all sorts of
unpleasant things for him when he did appear, Ridge gained the railroad
wharf without being observed from the deck of the transport. There,
finding an empty train just starting for Tampa, he was able to present
himself in camp half an hour later. From it he was sent to
headquarters, with orders to report to Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt,
who had come ashore early that morning. This Ridge hastened to do,
without waiting to answer any of the eager questions showered upon him
by his recent comrades of the camp.

At the hotel occupied as headquarters an orderly conducted him to the
office of the commanding general, where, upon admittance, he found
himself not only in the presence of his own superior officer, but of a
group of distinguished looking men in uniform, who, as he afterwards
discovered, were Generals Miles, Shafter, Lee, and Lawton, and
Lieutenant Boldwood of the navy, now in command of the despatch boat
_Speedy_, recently arrived.

"General," said Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt, addressing the
commander-in-chief, "this is Sergeant Norris of my regiment, the man
whom I recommended for your purpose, and for whom you sent less than an
hour ago."

"Where were you when ordered to report here?" asked General Miles,
turning abruptly to Ridge.

"On board the transport _Yucatan_, lying off Port Tampa, sir."

"Then you are one of the few men whom I have discovered among our
volunteers who have learne