The following days passed uneventfully. The ships were now running
into golden seas where the sun shone down hotly. Awnings were rigged
and “white uniforms and bare feet” was the order sent aloft on the
flag-ship for the instruction of the rest of the squadron.
One afternoon the lookout sang out in a voice that carried fore and aft
the always welcome cry to a sailor:--
“Land, ho!”
“Where away?” came from the bridge as the Jackies craned their necks
and gazed forward.
“Two points off the starboard bow!”
Glasses were leveled at the purple patch lying like a tiny cloud on the
far horizon.
“What land can it be?” wondered Ned, shading his eyes, but from the
low elevation of the forecastle it was hard to see anything but a faint
blue line.
“Must be Oahu,” responded a blue-jacket standing beside him.
“One of the Hawaiian group?”
“Yes; the island on which Honolulu, the principal port of the islands,
is located.”
Ned and Herc exchanged delighted glances. It was like coming toward a
land of their dreams. As the battleships plowed onward, the land rose
higher out of the sea. Soon they could see towering mountain peaks, and
gradually, as they drew nearer, all the details of the green hillsides
clothed with tropical verdure and the numerous plantations that dotted
them came into range.
“Well, we’re going to see things now,” declared Ned enthusiastically,
his eyes shining.
“Are there savages down there?” inquired Herc.
“No; not in the Hawaiian group,” responded a ship-mate. “There are
more Chinese and Japs on the islands, on Oahu anyhow, than there are
Kanakas.”
“Crackers!” exclaimed Herc. “Is that what they call the natives?”
“I said Kanakas, Red Head,” laughed the sailor; “that’s the name given
the natives.”
“Wonder if we’ll make port in Honolulu?” spoke Ned.
“The old man hasn’t taken me into his confidence concerning that yet,”
grinned Herc.
“Well, you can’t blame him for that,” laughed a sailor, and there was a
general laugh at Herc’s expense.
“I heard a rumor before we left ’Frisco that there was plague on Oahu
and that the port was quarantined,” interjected a bos’un’s-mate, who
was in the group.
“In that case, we won’t land there?” asked Ned.
“No. We may go on to some other port. I imagine that after the banging
about we had in that storm, the old man will want to hitch up to some
post or other and give the ship a currying down.”
“You talk as if the ship were a stable,” cried Herc. “I suppose that’s
how the beef kegs got the name of harness casks.”
“No; I guess Hicks talks that way because there are so many kickers on
board,” chuckled Ned.
“Not to mention a few donkeys,” Herc shot back at him.
“Well, you ought to know, Red Head,” spoke the bos’un’s-mate, and there
was another laugh.
“I hope we get a chance to take a run ashore,” said Ned, “but if we are
put to cleaning ship, I guess there’s not much chance of that.”
“Oh, well, Red Head loves cleaning ship, don’t you?”
“About as much as you like that stuff the Sawbones (doctor) serves
out,” retorted Herc with a grin.
“There’s Diamond Head!” came a shout some time later, during which
interval the fleet in a long orderly line had been steaming by rugged
shores of surpassing tropic beauty.
“I see the diamonds!” yelled Herc, calling attention to some bright
patches of mica that glittered in the sunlight.
The masts of shipping and the black smoke of steamers began to show in
the distance.
“Honolulu!” cried a sailor. “I hope we stop there; it’s a fine city.”
Majestically the squadron steamed into the harbor of the principal city
of the Hawaiian group. The boys excitedly admired its site at the foot
of towering hills that were covered with luxuriant tropical growth,
amidst which they could see tall palms with feathery tops.
“Me for the cocoanuts,” cried Herc as he gazed.
“You’d have to be more of a monkey than you are to climb those trees,”
chuckled somebody.
“I’ll let you climb for me then, Hughes,” came back Herc as quick as a
flash, and the laugh was on the other fellow.
* * * * *
The squadron came to anchor off the harbor and fired a salute which was
returned from the shore. Flags could be seen flying everywhere.
“They’re glad to see us,” chorused the Jackies delightedly. “I’ll bet
we have great old times ashore, regular field day.”
As the great anchors roared downward, on the stern of each battleship
appeared Old Glory,--men-of-war not displaying their ensigns at sea.
Speculation was rife throughout the fleet as to whether the rumor
concerning the plague was correct. The rear-admiral and Commander
Dunham went ashore and on their return all doubt was set at rest.
“Up anchor!” was the order flashed from ship to ship.
“We’re not going to stop!” groaned the Jackies. “Good-bye, Honolulu,
much obliged to have met you.”
Both Ned and Herc felt their full share of the general disappointment,
but their gloom was brightened when the news ran through the ship that
the squadron was headed for Hilo on the island of Hawaii, the largest
of the group and in some respects the most interesting.
Early the next morning, after they had steamed among the islands all
night, the lofty crest of Kilauea, the famous active volcano, was
sighted. It was smoking away in a manner that delighted the Jackies.
“Old Dame Nature’s chimney is on fire,” said Herc. “I wish we could see
a regular blow-up.”
“I guess if we did you’d change your mind,” said an old sailor. “I was
at Apia when they had that big earthquake and tidal wave, and I don’t
want to go through another volcanic eruption. Our ship was landed two
miles inland in a cocoanut grove, and for all I know she’s there yet.”
“Here we go into Hilo Bay,” came a cry not long after, and the long
line of ships swung frowningly around a point and into a beautiful
natural harbor, faced by a city of white and gray houses and hemmed
in by a horseshoe of hills. But the Jackies had no eyes but for the
volcano, whose mighty peak, ceaselessly smoking, towered four thousand
feet above the city.
“Isn’t it wonderful!” exclaimed Ned, in a tone that was almost awe.
“They say that at night you can sometimes see a red glow from it on the
sky.”
“Like Coney Island,” said Herc irreverently.
“It’s one of the grandest sights I ever saw,” retorted Ned seriously.
“Give me the Catskills any day,” snorted Herc, referring to the place
from which both the lads came. “As for that smoke, we saw almost as
much when granpop was curing hams.”
“Herc, you have no more soul than an oyster.”
“Thanks, but I’ve got a good appetite, so I’m not worrying.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Herc resumed a few minutes later, “I’d like to
knock the block off that old mountain with one of our thirteen-inch
guns. I bet we’d see some fireworks worth while then.”
“Well, if you did you’d have to show better marksmanship than you have
up to date.”
“How can I get to be a good shot when we don’t fire the big guns once
in a blue moon?”
“Well, you’ve had lots of small caliber drill and that’s the same
thing. Besides, every time we have big gun practice the expense runs
into hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“Look! Look, there’s a war-ship!” cried Ned excitedly.
“So it is. What’s that flag? I know, it’s a bloomin’ Britisher.”
The British man-o’-war, a black, grim-looking sea-fighter, lay just
inside the harbor. As the American squadron came sweeping in from the
sea, her guns began to boom. All work was suspended for the moment, and
then came the orders to return the salute. Flag after flag was dipped
as the British battleship’s ensign, with its red cross, was run up and
down. Bands crashed and blared the national anthem of both nations,
Jackies cheered and waved and the guns boomed and roared deafeningly.
As the fleet came to anchor, a swift launch put off from the side of
the English ship and the commander of the craft, the _Indomitable_, in
a cocked hat and ablaze with gold lace, came on board the _Manhattan_
to pay an official call on the commander of the Yankee squadron of
world cruisers.
Great ceremony marked his coming. The gangway was manned and the
officers all donned full uniform. The band played “God Save the King,”
and the amount of bowing and ceremonious hand-shaking and saluting that
was gone through caused Herc to remark to Ned later on that he felt
as if he’d been mixing up with a book of etiquette. At the English
commander’s departure the same ceremony took place. The boys had had
their first introduction to the strict laws of ceremony which govern an
interchange of courtesies between the commanders of fighting ships of
different friendly nations.