tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">136

XIV. A PLOT OVERHEARD 143 XV. ORDERED AFT 154 XVI. A BIT OF PROMOTION 163 XVII. JIU-JITSU VS. MUSCLE 171 XVIII. THE BOYS GET ACQUAINTED WITH BIG GUNS 183 XIX. IN THE MIDST OF PEACE 192 XX. HERC A LIVING TARGET 200 XXI. AFLOAT AND ASHORE 212 XXII. A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 223 XXIII. A JACKIE AGAINST WOLVES 231 XXIV. IN THE PULSIFERS' HANDS 242 XXV. THREE MINUTES OF LIFE 253 XXVI. A BLUFF CALLED 264 XXVII. A STRANGE RETURN 273 XXVIII. A HIT WITH CHAOSITE 282 XXIX. THE STUFF A JACKIE'S MADE OF 292

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The Dreadnought Boys On Battle Practice.

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CHAPTER I.

A RED-HOT STOVE AND DESTINY.

"Isn't it a dandy picture—the real thing—just as I've always imagined it. Herc!"

Ned Strong wheeled from the gaudily colored lithograph he had been admiring, and turned to a red-headed youth of about his own age—almost eighteen—who stood beside him in the postoffice and general store at Lambs' Corners, a remote village in the Catskill mountains.

"It's purty as a yearling colt," responded the lad addressed, examining once more, with an important air of criticism, the poster in question. The lithograph had been tacked up only the day before, but by this time half the boys in the neighboring country had examined it.

The poster represented a stalwart, barefooted jackie, in Uncle Sam's natty uniform, standing on the flying-bridge of a battleship and "wig-wagging" the commanding officer's messages. The bright-red signal flag, with its white center, which he wielded, made a vivid splash of color. In the background a graphically depicted sea, flecked with "whitecaps," was pictured. As a whole, the design was one well calculated to catch the attention of all wholesome, adventurous lads, particularly two, who, like our new acquaintances, had never