atter how
many torpedoes there were!" exclaimed Sam.

"They knew blamed well there weren't any torpedoes," answered Cleary.

"How could they have known? They hadn't ever been here before? There
might perfectly well have been a lot of them directly under them."

"Yes," said Cleary, "they might have grown up from the bottom of the
sea. All sorts of queer things grow here. There might have been a sort
of coral torpedoes."

"Cleary, you're getting more and more cynical every day. I wish you'd
be more reasonable. What's the matter with you?"

"It must be the newspaper business. And then you see I don't wear a
uniform either. That makes a lot of difference."

In another hour they passed the scene of the great naval battle. They
could just distinguish the hulks of the wrecks well in shore.

"And there's Havilla!" cried Cleary.

And Havilla it was. They entered the great Oriental port with its
crowded shipping. Small native boats were darting about between
merchantmen and men-of-war. The low native houses, the fine buildings
of the Castalian city, the palms, the Eastern costumes--all made a
scene not to be forgotten. An officer of the 200th Volunteer Infantry
came on board before the steamer had come to her moorings, with orders
for Captain Jinks to report at once at their headquarters in one of the
public buildings of the city. A lieutenant was left in charge of the
200th's detail, and Sam hastened ashore in a native boat and Cleary
went with him. They had no difficulty in finding their way, and Sam was
soon reporting to his chief, Colonel Booth, an elderly captain of the
regular army, who had been placed at the head of this volunteer
regiment. The colonel received him rather gruffly, and turned him over
to one of his captains, telling him they would be quartered together.
The colonel was inclined to pay no attention to Cleary, but when the
latter mentioned the Benevolent Assimilation Company, Limited, he
suddenly changed his tone and expressed great delight at meeting him.
Sam and Cleary went off together with the captain, whose name was
Foster, to visit the lodgings assigned by the colonel. They were in a
building near by, which had been used as barracks by the Castalian
army. A number of rooms had been fitted up for the use of officers, and
Sam and Foster were to occupy one of these, an arrangement which
promised to be most comfortable. Five companies of their regiment were
qua