Two Boys of the Battleship: or, For the Honor of Uncle Sam

“Where did it happen?”

“In the aquarium. The men ran over here. One went up to take the train. Maybe we can catch him.”

“Maybe,” agreed the officer. “We’ll have a try. Come on – sprint!”

He himself led the way up the elevated stairs, followed by Frank, Ned and some curious ones.

But the train had pulled out, and save for the ticket-chopper there was no one on the platform.

“Do you see him?” demanded the officer, rather needlessly.

“No,” answered Frank. “He’s gone all right. And I guess there’s no use chasing after the other one.”

“Give me a description of them,” suggested the policeman, “and I’ll report it. The detectives will do what they can, but I guess I needn’t tell you there isn’t much chance,” went on the officer. He evidently regarded Frank and Ned as New York lads, and indeed they had the smart appearance of those who are familiar with the metropolis.

“No, I guess we can score that up to profit and loss,” said Frank, gloomily.

“At any rate, give me your names and addresses,” suggested the policeman. “I’ll have to make a report of it to the station,” and he took out notebook and pencil.

Most of the crowd had left the elevated station now, seeing no further chance for excitement, and standing on the platform, Frank gave an account of the affair, telling how, by the clever ruse of a pretended quarrel, the men had so engaged the attention of his brother and himself that they never noticed the trained and nimble fingers of the pickpockets taking the watch and money.

“Yes, it is an old trick,” the policeman said. “It’s often been worked before. I’ll go back to the aquarium with you and see if any of the attendants noticed the two men, so I can get a description of them.”

“One of the officers inside ordered them out when they seemed likely to fight,” proffered Ned.

“I’ll have a talk with him,” decided the policeman. But he could get nothing more than a general description of the two thieves, and from that he did not recognize them as any well-known criminals.

“Well, give me your names and addresses,” said the policeman again, when it became evident that nothing more could be done.

Frank complied, stating that they lived in Ipswhich.

“We might as well call that our home,” he said to Ned afterward. “It’s the only real one we ever had, and maybe we’ll get back to it some day.”

“I hope so,” sighed his brother. “But what are we going to do now, Frank? We surely are up against it good and hard!”

They had left the aquarium for the second time, parted from the officer, and were now by themselves. The crowd had melted away. There had been no chance for any real pursuit of the pickpockets.

“Yes, we’ve got to consider what to do,” said Frank, and his voice had in it a serious note.

“I’m half starved,” murmured Ned.

“So am I,” added Frank. “We’ve got enough money left to buy us a few meals, anyhow. Luckily I held back a little change,” and he produced it from a pocket the thief had not found. “We’ll go and get a bite, and then we’ll be better able to consider matters,” he went on, as he led the way hastily up and across Broadway, toward a restaurant.

The meal was grateful to the boys, who had had nothing since early morning, and it was now nearly two o’clock. They did not talk much during the process of eating, for they did not want to let their troubles be known. But a careful observer might have seen anxious and rather gloomy looks on the faces of both lads.

“Well, now what?” asked Ned, as they came out of the eating place.

“Let’s walk down around South Ferry,” proposed Frank. “The elevated train that one of those fellows took went in that direction. Those thieves will have to meet again, and it’s barely possible that we may see them on the street. If we do, we can have them arrested.”

“Not much chance,” commented Ned, shaking his head.

“No, but every chance is worth taking.”

“Oh, yes, sure.”

Together they walked down toward the lower end of the Island of Manhattan – the location known as South Ferry, where the waters of the East and Hudson River mingle.

Frank was thinking hard. He and his brother had between them now only the clothing they had left at the Pennsylvania station, and a few dollars that the thief had not taken. It would hardly last them two days if they had to engage a boarding place.

“Say, that’s the life all right!” suddenly exclaimed Ned. Frank saw him pointing to a gaily-colored poster which depicted some sailors landing on a tropical island, while in the distance, on the blue waters of a palm-encircled bay, was a battleship. It was one of Uncle Sam’s attractive posters, calling for young men to join the navy.

“Yes, that does look enticing,” admitted Frank.

And then, before he could say any more, Ned clapped him heartily on the back, and exclaimed so loudly that several passersby heard it and smiled:

“Let’s enlist! Let’s enlist, old man! That will solve all our troubles!”

CHAPTER VIII – JOINING THE NAVY

This time it was Frank’s turn to stare at his brother as Ned had stared at him when Frank announced that they had been robbed. And as Ned had done, so did Frank, for the moment saying nothing. Then, finally, as Ned continued to stare at him with a smile on his face, Frank repeated:

“Enlist?”

“That’s what I said,” replied his brother. “Look on that picture – and then on, this!” and by a gesture he indicated himself and Frank. “Here we are,” he went on, “almost penniless in New York. By a strange trick of fate we’ve lost everything that we formerly had. We’ve either got to beg, or go to hunting work to keep from starving. On the other hand – look at those fellows! If they haven’t just had the very finest kind of a meal I don’t know what I’m talking about!”

Ned pointed to the bright and cheerful picture of the blue-jackets.

“Say, you’re getting quite dramatic,” commented Frank, as he drew nearer to the poster, which was one of two put on a V-shaped board standing in front of a hall entrance, in which was a placard announcing

NAVY RECRUITING STATION

“Dramatic!” echoed Ned. “I guess you’d get dramatic, too, if you saw starvation staring you in the face.”

“Worse and more of it,” murmured his brother.

“Well, what do you think of it?” asked Ned, as Frank continued to stare at the poster. “We’ve got to do something, so why not do this? You know we’ve both been keen on getting on a battleship, and this is our chance. Maybe we wouldn’t have come to it if it hadn’t been for our misfortune. I’m sure we can pass the examination,” he went on. He and his brother were in excellent physical trim, for they were active lads, always in training.

“Well, since you’ve brought up the matter,” said Frank, speaking slowly, “I don’t mind telling you, Ned, that I had something like this in mind all along.”

“You did?”

“Sure. After the crash, and when Uncle Phil had to go away, I knew there’d be a shortage of money. Now, though we have pretty good educations, we haven’t been trained for any work yet. So I looked into this navy business, knowing you were as crazy about battleships as I was, and I found out that not only does Uncle Sam train young fellows to be good sailors, marines and soldiers, but by enlisting in the navy you can acquire a trade at which you can earn your living if you want to quit after your term of enlistment is up.”

“Is that so?” asked Ned.

“It sure is. Why we can learn to become machinists, bakers, firemen, shipwrights, plumbers and fitters, boiler makers, cooks or musicians.”

“Really?” cried Ned.