No noise, and nothing to make the ship list!" Going down three steps at a time, Dick and Greg descended the companionway forward of the pilot house.
"No cheering!" shouted Prescott, pushing his way through the throng.
"Quiet!" With Dick moving through the masses of soldiers on the port side of the deck, and Greg performing a similar office on the starboard side, quiet was soon restored.

Then Captain Prescott's voice was heard announcing: "You men must remain quiet, or how can the ship's officers make their orders heard?
Remember, not a cheer after this.

And no more men are to crowd to the rails." "It's a pity that the rest of us cannot see what is going on!" half-grumbled a soldier, so close that Prescott heard him.
"I know just how you feel about that," the young captain admitted, wheeling and regarding the soldier.

"But this is war, not sport.
Absolute, uncomplaining discipline is the surest means of bringing this ship and its human cargo through safely." Another captain and Lieutenants Terry and Overton had joined the first two officers on the deck, and order was maintained without a flaw.
Bang! bang! bang! bang! "This sounds like a full-fledged naval battle!" Greg Holmes called to his chum, his eyes dancing.
"And we cannot see a bit of it!" sighed a soldier complainingly.
"You're in a position to see as much of it as I'm seeing, my man," Prescott retorted, with an indulgent smile.

"You and I are both obeying orders instead of pleasing ourselves." Bang! bang! Watching some of the officers at the rail on the deck above, Captain Prescott was able to discover that the fight was being brought close to his own ship.
Then there came another sign.