A great, combined cheer shot up--a cheer that was
a vocal cyclone!
CHAPTER II
TROUBLE IN THE MAKING STAGE
On the hurricane deck of the "Waverly" stood one man, mouth wide open
and eyes a-stare, who couldn't seem to get the meaning of it all. That
man was the leader of the combined band from the winter hotels.
Turning, glancing upward, the lieutenant looked at the leader with a
glance of cool wonder.
"Play, man! Why don't you play? What are you there for?"
Then, all of a sudden, reddening, the band leader rapped his music stand
with his baton, next gave the signal, and the band crashed forth into
the exultant strains of:
"See! The Conquering Hero comes!"
At the third measure the band was all but drowned out by renewed
cheering, that came more uproariously than ever.
Captain Jack Benson had surely chosen a dramatic manner of making his
appearance at Spruce Beach. Ten thousand tongues were set wagging all
at once. When there came a lull, a man's voice on a tug not far from
the gunboat could be heard, asserting loudly:
"Well, that's what submarines are for--to sneak in while you're wiping
a speck of dust from your eye!"
That remark, coming just as the band ceased its strains, was plainly
audible, and brought a laugh from everyone aboard the submarine,
including Eph, who was just climbing, in his bathing suit, up to the
platform deck.
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