og factory down this way somewhere," said
Browning.

Hodge announced that supper was ready, and they gathered about the
table. The _White Wings_ was riding on a steady, regular swell, so they
were not shaken up down there, and they found they could eat without
discomfort. Browning was hungry as a bear, and he "pitched into the
spread."

"Well, I don't know as this is too bad after all," he confessed, taking
a third slice of tongue. "We've been in worse places."

"That's right," nodded Hodge. "Pass the sugar. I want a little of this
coffee myself. I made it."

"The coffee is good," acknowledged Jack. "It warms a fellow up. A little
grog wouldn't go bad in a case like this."

"There is no grog on this boat and will not be as long as I own her,"
declared Merriwell. "It's a foolish thing for a lot of fellows on a
cruise like this to think that they must have grog."

"Oh, I didn't suppose you had any on board, Merriwell," said Diamond. "I
know your temperance principles too well to look for anything like
that."

By the time they finished eating all were in much better spirits. No one
but Hans had been troubled with seasickness thus far on the cruise, and
the Dutch boy had not been very sick.

Hans was called down to eat, and Bart took his place while he was below.

"Uf I can haf some of dot coffee id vill done you goot," said the Dutch
lad. "I don'd pelief I vant to ead much. Mein stomach felt like id don'd
been aple to held much uf a loadt. Yaw!"

So Hans drank some coffee and ate a little hard bread, after which he
returned to his duties on deck, having donned a suit of oil clothes.

Frank got out his guitar and put it in tune.

"That's right, Merry," grunted Browning, rolling into his bunk. "Give us
a song to cheer us up."

"What shall I sing?"

"Some of the old college songs."

"They'll make me homesick," said Diamond.

"It's a pleasant thing to feel homesick for Old Yale," murmured Frank.
"Dear Old Yale!"

"Give us 'Stars of the Summer Night,'" urged Hodge.

So Frank sang the song that has sounded beneath the elms at Yale so many
times. It was a beautiful song, and it awakened in the memories of the
listening lads thoughts of the gay times at college, the moonlight
nights, the roistering lads, the lighted windows of the Quad and the
groups gathered at the Fence.

Jack brushed his eyes.

"Don't sing anything more like that," he urged. "Make it something
lively--'Solomon Levi,' or any old thing.