t do you mean by that, you impudent young pirate?" roared back the
officer, angrily. "Why don't you heave to? Heave to, sir, at once, or it
will be the worse for you."

"We don't know how," sang back Will, while all the others trembled in
their bare feet, and almost expected to receive a broadside from the
gleaming guns that grinned at them not a stone's-throw away.

"Then lower your sails and come to anchor, while I send a boat aboard,"
shouted the officer, as the great white ship glided by.

The yacht's crew could not anchor, but they let down their sails by the
run, and a few minutes later were approached by a boat from the
man-of-war, bearing a brass howitzer in its bows, and manned by a lusty
crew of blue jackets.

"Way enough! Oars!" commanded a voice from the stern of the boat, as it
dashed alongside, and at the sound every Ranger was thrilled as though
by an electric shock. In another moment they had rushed forward, and
were overwhelming with their clamorous welcome the younger of the two
officers who had just gained the yacht's deck.

"Mr. Barlow! Sir! I am amazed. What is the meaning of all this?"
demanded the elder officer, sternly.

To this Billy Barlow, Ready Ranger, and naval cadet, just now attached
to the United States practice-ship _Bancroft_, made bewildered answer:
"Why, sir, they are not pirates, after all, but my own schoolmates from
Berks. I know every one of them, and can vouch for their character as
for my own."

"Then, perhaps," said the lieutenant a little less sternly, but still
with a decided trace of suspicion in his voice, "you can explain how
they happen to be in possession of the yacht _Blue Billow_, which was
stolen from her anchorage in the East River by a gang of thieves four
days ago, and run off with the most valuable cargo of plunder ever taken
out of New York city. If you or they can explain this satisfactorily,
well and good. If not, it is my duty to clap them in irons, and convey
them aboard the ship as prisoners."

"I think I can explain the situation to your satisfaction, sir," said
Will Rogers, boldly, "though this is the first we have heard about
thieves or stolen goods."

The officer listened with closest attention to Will's story, and when it
was finished, he said, with a smile: "Well, young gentleman, I am very
much inclined to believe you, and am very glad to be able to carry back
such a favorable report to our commanding officer. Mr. Barlow, you will
remain, w