when "pipe down" echoes through the warship, all the lights excepting those which must be kept lit are turned off, and the official day comes to an end.
But this night was Thursday, and the Olympia was the flagship of the fleet, carrying the marine band of about twenty pieces. Thursday had always been concert night, and now, to put his men in good spirits. Commodore Dewey ordered the bandmaster to give them nothing but patriotic airs, and this Bandmaster Valifuoco did, starting with those songs which were particularly popular during the Civil War, and ending up with Yankee Doodle and the Star-Spangled Banner. As the latter song rolled out upon the balmy evening air, the men could not resist the temptation to join in with their lusty and deep voices, and the sound wafted across the sea to the other ships, until the sailors everywhere were singing as never before.
"That's the song of all songs," cried Larry, when it was all over. "I never heard anything so grand before. Why, that ought to make a brave man of the worst coward on board! Hurrah for Old Glory!"
Utterly worn out with all that had occurred, Larry and Striker sought the hammocks assigned to them immediately after the concert was over and slept "like logs," to use the lad's way of expressing it.
