hed us by wireless."

"_War_!" exploded Lieutenant-Commander Eaton.

"We mustn't jump too rapidly at conclusions," Commander Bainbridge
warned his hearers.

"But it _does_ mean war, doesn't it?" asked Lieutenant Holton.
"That chap, Huerta, will be stiff-necked about yielding a gun
salute after it has been refused, and Mexican pride will back
him up in it. The Mexicans hate us as only jealous people can
hate. The Mexicans won't give in. On the other hand, our country
has always been very stiff over any insult to the Flag. So what
hope is there that war can be averted? Reprisals between nations
are always taken by the employment of force, and surely any force
that we employ against Mexico can end in nothing less than war."

As the officers left the table nothing was talked of among them
except the news from Tampico.

The rumor spread rapidly forward. Cheering was heard from the
forecastle.

"The jackies have the word," chuckled Dan Dalzell. "They're sure
to be delighted over any prospect of a fight."

"If we have a real fight," sighed Darrin, his mind on the night
before, "a lot of our happy jackies will be sent home in boxes
to their friends."

"A small lot the jackies care about that," retorted Danny Grin.
"Show me, if you can, anywhere in the world, a body of men who
care less about facing death than the enlisted men in the United
States Navy!"

"Of course we should have interfered in Mexico long ago," Dave
went on. "Serious as the Flag incident is, there have been outrages
ten-fold worse than that. I shall never be able to down the feeling
that we have been, as a people, careless of our honor in not long
ago stepping in to put a stop to the outrages against Americans
that have been of almost daily occurrence in Mexico."

"If fighting does begin," asked Dalzell, suddenly, "where do we
of the Navy come in? Shelling a few forts, possibly, and serving
in the humdrum life of blockade duty."

"If we land in Mexico," Dave retorted, "there will be one stern
duty that will fall to the lot of the Navy. The Army won't be
ready in time for the first landing on Mexican soil. That will
be the duty of the Navy. If we send a force of men ashore at
Tampico, or possibly Vera Cruz, it will have to be a force of
thousands of our men, for the Mexicans will resist stubbornly,
and there'll be a lot of hard fighting for the Navy before Washington
has the Army in shape to land. Never fear, Danny boy! We are
lik