amid which were some joints of two-inch galvanized pipe the
plumbers and pipe fitters had left when the ship was being furnished.

"Gee, Ikey!" murmured the agile-minded Irish lad, "I've got an idea."

"I bet you," returned Ikey. "You always have ideas. But is this one
worth anything?"

"Listen here!" and Frenchy, with dancing eyes, whispered into his
friend's ear the details of the new-born scheme.

"Oi, oi!" cried Ikey. "It is an idea, sure enough. But it is trouble you
are looking for."

"Not a bit of it. We needn't tell anybody--not even Whistler or Al. Gee!
it will be great."

"Mebbe the old man won't say so." He was referring to Captain Trevor,
but in no disrespectful way. "Old Man" is rather a term of admiration
and affection applied to the commander of a ship.

"Lots he'll be botherin' about what we do," sniffed Frenchy.

Ikey was already enamored of his friend's plan. His objections were very
weak.

"Ah, g'wan!" reiterated Frenchy. "You won't get into the brig for it,
that's sure. I'll do it alone. Only see that you keep your mouth shut
about it, if you won't help."

But Ikey had no intention of seeing his friend have all the fun of the
thing. He stopped objecting, and thereafter gave his hearty assistance
in the plot.

At odd times during that day and the next the two rigged a weighted
platform into which could be fixed upright lengths of the two-inch pipe
they had found.

Rigged to suit them at last, the two boys took their appliance to pieces
again and hid the parts away until a to-be-determined time. They were
planning to have a joke upon the whole ship's company; but they were
forced to wait for the appropriate moment in which to spring the
surprise.

The third morning out revealed a clearing sky and subsiding waves; and
the regular ship's routine at sea was taken up.

"Officers' call" was sounded five minutes before the "assembly" bugle
call at 9:15. At the later call men of the various divisions fall in
smartly at double time for muster in the respective parts of the ship.
The men are inspected at this time regarding the condition of their
clothing, length of hair, personal cleanliness, and whether or not they
are carefully shaved.

This last requirement troubled the four friends from Seacove but little,
save that Whistler and Torry occasionally wore a little fuzz on their
cheeks, which Frenchy declared they lathered surreptitiously with
cream, then let the ship's cat lick it off.