“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 likely to see enough active service!”

Dave soon went to the bridge to stand a trick of watch duty with Lieutenant Cantor.

For an hour no word was exchanged between the two officers.  Cantor curtly transmitted orders through petty officers on the deck below.  Dave kept to his own, the starboard side of the bridge, his alert eyes on his duty.  There was no chance to exchange even a word on the all-absorbing topic of the incident at Tampico.