"She will be, by morning, sir."
"And you are professing willingness to go on board and start with new sea orders to-night!"
"In war time, sir, I must think only of my work," Dave answered.
For a few moments the admiral sat there, regarding both young officers keenly.
"You"re splendid fellows, both of you," the older man said, at last. "So good, in fact, that you"re soon to be moved from these waters."
Darrin bowed, and so did Dalzell, but neither asked questions.
"A ranking British naval officer told me, this afternoon," continued the admiral, "that he felt the British admiralty could well afford to trade its best battleship for the services of two such officers as you young gentlemen."
"Are we to be turned over to join the British, sir?" asked Dave, a look of alarm in his bronzed face. "To serve in the British Navy?"
"Would you accept such an a.s.signment?" queried the admiral.
Dave glanced swiftly at his chum before he replied for both:
"Sir, we"d go anywhere, perform any duty, under any flag, and under any conditions, at the request of our own Government," Darrin answered. "We do not belong to ourselves, but to the United States, and, through our Government, to any nation on earth to which our Government should wish to transfer us. At the same time, our choice would naturally be for service in our own American Navy."
"And that is just where it is going to be-with your own crowd," smiled the admiral. "You will also command the same craft on which you came in this evening. But you will be changed to other waters, and you will have a somewhat different line of duty-a more dangerous line, in many ways, I may add. But the British Admiralty, in making a request of me, specified distinctly that it trusted I would be able to detail you two young officers to the work. That new work, as I just said, will also be in other waters."
The admiral paused for a moment, but presently went on to say:
"The new duty to which you are to be detailed was known to me some time ago. That was why you were ordered to your present new commands. We wanted you to try out both destroyers, that you might know all their capabilities. Even had you struck no fresh adventures you would have been recalled by to-morrow. But you know your craft now, and each of you has tested out and learned his junior officers, and now you are surely in readiness for your new field of work."
"However, there are some slight but necessary changes to be made in the "Grigsby" and the "Reed" before they will be ready for their new work.
To-morrow a naval constructor will go aboard each of your ships and take charge of the alterations to be made and the new equipment to be installed. For that reason you will both be able to spend the greater part of your time on sh.o.r.e during the coming week."
Within the next few minutes the admiral detailed to the delighted young officers the nature of the new work that was to be required of them. It was as dangerous as he had stated. It would also call for their tireless attention night and day. The admiral, however, could not daunt them.
Work and danger are the corner-stones of successful war, and the eyes of the young naval officers shone as they saw the fullness of their new opportunity to serve.
"I shall be glad to receive my final orders, sir, at any hour, night or day," Dave Darrin announced, as he rose.
"And I shall be, also, sir," Dalzell promptly added.
"A week"s rest, anyway, will make you both keener and better fitted for the big job you"ve ahead of you. Gentlemen, my heartiest congratulations for your work during the last few weeks. You will do even better on your next cruise. Good-night, gentlemen."
Back to the hotel they went. Belle was now able to chat with them, though she preferred to sit back in a big chair and to listen to their own modest accounts of what they had seen and done during the latest thrilling weeks in their lives.
The next day Belle was able to go out with her husband. After that she mended rapidly.
All too soon the period of rest and delightful recreation ended. Belle went on to her Red Cross work in France, and the orders came for which both these young naval officers were so eagerly waiting.
But what these orders were, and into what new fields of fighting it led the two naval chums, must be reserved for the next volume of this series, which will be published under the t.i.tle: "Dave Darrin After the Mine Layers; or Hitting the Enemy a Hard Naval Blow."
In this splendid new volume the newest developments of sea fighting in the late war will be set forth with a fidelity and compelling interest that will hold the attention of every reader.
THE END