“But, see here,” proposed the shipbuilder, “I’ll go out myself, on the ‘Benson,’ and take Williamson along with me.  Now, you folks find any local salt-water captain and a couple of good deck hands to go with me.”

“When will you start, sir?” asked the spokesman.

“The minute you have my helpers ready.  There’s Captain Allen among you now.  If he’ll go, he’s as good a salt-water dog as I want on a cruise with me.  Let him pick two sailors out of the crowd.  We can start in five minutes.”

Another cheer went up as Jacob Farnum, leaving the outer door open, hurried back to his own party.  Captain Allen, a retired master of coasting vessels, had five times as many volunteers in the crowd as he needed.

“Jack, I’m sorry I can’t go with you,” sighed Mr. Farnum, as he returned.  “But the call of humanity is too big a one.  I’m going to take Williamson with me.  The rest of you go with Lieutenant Danvers and his men.  I’ll hope to be able to go with you to-morrow, anyway.”

“Isn’t there a tug hereabouts that those people could hire?” questioned the naval officer.

“Oh, yes; there’s a small one to the south of here, but her captain would charge at least fifty dollars a day,” replied the shipbuilder, as he drew on a heavy deck ulster.

“I suppose these people expect you to go out for nothing,” hinted Lieutenant Danvers.

“Oh, yes, of course,” nodded the shipbuilder.  “But one can’t be a crank, or a miser, when women are red-eyed and weeping from worry over their missing husbands and sons.”

There was a suspicion of moisture in Mr. Farnum’s own eyes as he snatched up a cap, bidding his own party a hasty good-bye ere he ran from the office.

“There goes a good-natured man,” laughed Lieutenant Danvers.

“A big-hearted one, you mean, sir,” corrected Captain Jack Benson.  “He’s a man with a heart bigger than any torpedo craft he could possibly build and launch.”

“I wish him all luck,” said the naval officer, heartily.  “And that crowd, and also the poor seafaring men that put out in the like of the ‘Mary Bond.’”

The crowd had gone from the office building, now, following Mr. Farnum and his volunteers down to the little harbor.  Jack, his chums and the naval party slowly followed down to the water front.

Little time did the shipbuilder lose in getting under way.  A rousing cheer ascended when the grim little “Benson” slipped her moorings and turned her nose out toward the sea.

“Your pipe-hungry machinist went on that craft, didn’t he!” asked the naval officer, as the crowd began to turn back from the beach.

“Yes,” nodded Captain Jack.  “So there’s nothing at all to prevent our getting the ‘Hastings’ out on the wave as soon as you like.”

“I’m going to send my men up to the hotel, first, for a jolly big feed,” proposed Lieutenant Danvers.  “They’ve been on the rail, eating on the jump, and now they’ll appreciate a good square meal.”