The visitors gathered on the bridge, the ship’s bugler sounded the assembly, and in obedience to the call we lined up on the forward deck.  We wore the white duck service uniform, including trousers, jumper, and cap.  Some of the uniforms had suffered in contact with pitch, but the general effect was good.  When everything was in readiness, the chairman of the committee presented the set of colors and said: 

“Captain Brownson, officers and men of the ‘Yankee,’ I have the honor, on behalf of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, to present these colors to the members of the Naval Reserve of the State of New York, who have enlisted for service under your command.”

He continued by hoping that the colors would ever float victorious, and said that he did not doubt it, and then our skipper made a little speech in reply.  The affair wound up with a round of cheers and general congratulations.  The flags were handsome, and, as it came to pass, they flaunted amid battle smoke before many weeks.

Our stay off Tompkinsville was to be short, but we had time to become acquainted with a characteristic naval oddity known as the bumboat.  Diligent inquiries among the old sailors on board the “Yankee” failed to enlighten me as to the derivation of the name, but the consensus of opinion was that these floating peddlers sold articles which, to use a slang phrase, were pretty “bum.”  Experience has given the opinion some color of truth.  Our bumboat boarded us early and stayed with us until the corporal of the guard called “time.”

She came laden with pies and doughnuts, pins and needles, tape and buttons and whisk brooms and shoe blacking, handkerchiefs, ties, scissors, soap, writing paper, envelopes, ink, pens, cakes, bread, jelly, pocket knives, and a schedule of prices that would have brought a blush of envy to the face of a Swiss inn-keeper.  As the boys had not yet grown entirely accustomed to what is called “Government straight,” i.e., salt meat and hard-tack, the bumboat did a thriving business.  Young Potter’s bill was tremendous, and Mrs. Bumboat bade him a regretful farewell when she visited us for the last time.

At three in the afternoon of the tenth we hoisted anchor on our way to sea.  Our good friends had not deserted us, and a number of them, aboard several tugs, accompanied us as far as the Narrows.  The “God-speed” given us as we steamed away would have been a fine object lesson to our future antagonists.

Up to the present we had been concerned simply with the preparations for war, but it was destined that before another twenty-four hours had passed we would have a taste of the actual realities.

The “Yankee” was to see service.

CHAPTER III.

In which the “Yankee” Cruises for prizes.

It was evening, the evening of the day on which the “Yankee” sailed from Tompkinsville bound out on her maiden cruise as an auxiliary ship of war.  The afternoon had passed without event, save that which attacks the amateur sailor when he first feels the heaving swell of old ocean.  The crew had shaken into its place, and the men of the watch on deck were commencing to appreciate their responsibilities.