"Maybe I wouldn't whang your head off for the fright that you've given me! I'll wager half of my hairs have turned gray in the last minute!" However, Midshipman Dan Dalzell was not there, as Darrin knew to his own consternation.

Dave did not go to sleep.

Well enough he knew that he was on duty indefinitely through the hours until Dan should return.

If Midshipman Darrin fell into a doze this night he would be as bad as any sentry falling asleep on any other post.
So Darrin lay there and fidgeted.

Twenty times he tried to solve, in his own mind, the riddle of why Dalzell should be away, and where he was.