He looked startedly about. Six feet away lay a black boat and
a boy with a boat-hook was threatening him from the deck.
"You silly idiot!" called the boy impatiently. "Look where you're going!
If I hadn't got you with the hook you'd have knocked half our paint
off!"
The boy and the boat slowly vanished in the mist like a "fade-out" at
the movies, before Perry found his voice. Then: "Who the dickens are
you?" he gasped.
"I'm the man who put the salt in the ocean," replied the voice
jeeringly. "Come on easy and I'll get you."
"Well, but--but--what boat's that?"
"U.S. Battleship _Pennsylvania_, Pride of the Navy! Come on, you
lubber!"
Perry came on and again the boy with the boat-hook took form in the
fog. "You're Cas Temple," said Perry stupidly. "That's the _Follow Me_!"
"Surest thing you know, son! Hello! Why, it's Perry Bush. I thought you
were Bert. What did you do with the fellows?"
"What fellows?" asked Perry, puzzled, as Cas pulled the dingey alongside
the cruiser.
"Why, Bert and Wink and the rest of them."
"Haven't seen 'em."
"Haven't? Where'd you get the boat, then?"
"What boat?"
"That one! The one you're in! Say, are you dippy?"
"This is our boat and I got it--"
"Your boat nothing! That's our boat, you silly chump! Think I don't know
our own tender?"
"Wh-what!" gasped Perry.
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