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[176] 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[177] 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[178] 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.
[179]
“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.
[180]
“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,” c............