Datasets:
Tasks:
Text Generation
Sub-tasks:
language-modeling
Languages:
English
Size:
10K<n<100K
ArXiv:
License:
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Dave Morgan and PG Distributed Proofreaders | |
[Illustration: Darrin's Blow Knocked the Midshipman Down] | |
DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS | |
or | |
Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy "Youngsters" | |
By | |
H. IRVING HANCOCK Illustrated | |
MCMXI | |
CONTENTS | |
CHAPTER | |
I. A QUESTION OF MIDSHIPMAN HONOR | |
II. DAVE'S PAP-SHEET ADVICE | |
III. MIDSHIPMAN PENNINGTON GOES TOO FAR | |
IV. A LITTLE MEETING ASHORE | |
V. WHEN THE SECONDS WONDERED | |
VI. IN TROUBLE ON FOREIGN SOIL | |
VII. PENNINGTON GETS HIS WISH | |
VIII. THE TRAGEDY OF THE GALE | |
IX. THE DESPAIR OF THE "RECALL" | |
X. THE GRIM WATCH FROM THE WAVES | |
XI. MIDSHIPMAN PENNINGTON'S ACCIDENT | |
XII. BACK IN THE HOME TOWN | |
XIII. DAN RECEIVES A FEARFUL FACER | |
XIV. THE FIRST HOP WITH THE HOME GIRLS | |
XV. A DISAGREEABLE FIRST CLASSMAN | |
XVI. HOW DAN FACED THE BOARD | |
XVII. LOSING THE TIME-KEEPER'S COUNT | |
XVIII. FIGHTING THE FAMOUS DOUBLE BATTLE | |
XIX. THE OFFICER IN CHARGE IS SHOCKED | |
XX. CONCLUSION | |
CHAPTER I | |
A QUESTION OF MIDSHIPMAN HONOR | |
"How can a midshipman and gentleman act in that way?" | |
The voice of Midshipman David Darrin, United States Navy, vibrated | |
uneasily as he turned to his comrades. | |
"It's a shame--that's what it is," quivered Mr. Farley, also of the | |
third class at the United States Naval Academy. | |
"But the question is," propounded Midshipman Dan Dalzell, "what are we | |
going to do about it?" | |
"Is it any part of our business to bother with the fellow?" demanded | |
Farley half savagely. | |
Now Farley was rather hot-tempered, though he was "all there" in points | |
that involved the honor of the brigade of midshipmen. | |
Five midshipmen stood in the squalid, ill-odored back room of a Chinese | |
laundry in the town of Annapolis. | |
There was a sixth midshipman present in the handsome blue uniform of the | |
brigade; and it was upon this sixth one that the anger and disgust of | |
the other five had centered. | |
He lay in a sleep too deep for stirring. On the still, foul air floated | |
fumes that were new to those of his comrades who now gazed down on him. | |
"To think that one of our class could make such a beast of himself!" | |
sighed Dave Darrin. | |
"And on the morning of the very day we're to ship for the summer | |
cruise," uttered Farley angrily. | |
"Oh, well" growled Hallam, "why not let this animal of lower grade sleep | |
just where he is? Let him take what he has fairly brought upon himself!" | |
"That's the very question that is agitating me," declared Dave Darrin, | |
to whom these other members of the third class looked as a leader when | |
there was a point involving class honor. | |
Dave had became a leader through suffering. | |
Readers of the preceding volume in this series, "DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST | |
YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS," will need no introduction to this fine specimen of | |
spirited and honorable young American. | |
Readers of that preceding volume will recall how Dave Darrin and Dan | |
Dalzell entered the United States Naval Academy, one appointed by a | |
Congressman and the other by a United States Senator. Such readers will | |
remember the difficult time that Dave and Dan had in getting through the | |
work of the first hard, grinding year. They will also recall how Dave | |
Darrin, when accused of treachery to his classmates, patiently bided his | |
time until he, with the aid of some close friends, was able to | |
demonstrate his innocence. Our readers will also remember how two | |
evil-minded members of the then fourth class plotted to increase Damn's | |
disgrace and to drive him out of the brigade; also how these two | |
plotters, Midshipmen Henkel and Brimmer, were caught in their plotting | |
and were themselves forced out of the brigade. Our readers know that | |
before the end of the first year at the Naval Academy, Dave had fully | |
reinstated himself in the esteem of his manly classmates, and how he | |
quickly became the most popular and respected member of his class. | |
It was now only the day after the events whose narration closed the | |
preceding volume. | |
Dave Darrin and Dalzell were first of all brought to notice in "THE HIGH | |
SCHOOL BOYS' SERIES." In their High School days, back in Gridley, these | |
two had been famous members of Dick & Co., a sextette of youngsters who | |
had made a name for themselves in school athletics. | |
Dick Prescott and Greg Holmes, two other members of the sextette, had | |
been appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, | |
where they were serving in the corps of cadets and learning how to | |
become Army officers in the not far distant future. All of the | |
adventures of Dick and Greg are set forth in "THE WEST POINT SERIES." | |
The two remaining members of famous old Dick & Co., Tom Reade and Harry | |
Hazelton, became civil engineers, and went West for their first taste of | |
engineering work. Tom and Harry had some wonderful and startling | |
adventures, as fully set forth in "THE YOUNG ENGINEERS' SERIES." | |
On this early June day when we again encounter Dave Darrin and Dan | |
Dalzell in their handsome Naval uniforms, all members of the first, | |
second and third classes were due to be aboard one of the three great | |
battleships that lay off the Yard at Annapolis at four p.m. | |
These three great battleships were the "Massachusetts," the "Iowa" and | |
the "Indiana." These three huge, turreted fighting craft had their full | |
crews aboard. Not one of the battleship commanders would allow a | |
"jackie" ashore, except on business, through fear that many of the | |
"wilder" ones might find the attractions on shore too alluring, and fail | |
to return in time. | |
With the young midshipmen it was different. These young men were | |
officially and actually gentlemen, and could be trusted. | |
Yet here, in the back room of this laundry, was one who was apparently | |
not dependable. | |
This young midshipman's name was Pennington, and the fact was that he | |
lay in deep stupor from the effects of smoking opium! | |
It had been a storekeeper, with a shop across the street, who had called | |
the attention of Dave and his four comrades to the probable fate of | |
another of their class. | |
"Chow Hop runs a laundry, but I have heard evil stories about a lot of | |
young fools who flock to his back room and get a chance to 'hit' the | |
opium pipe," the storekeeper had stated to Dave. "One of your men, or at | |
least, one in a midshipman's uniform, went in there at eleven o'clock | |
this forenoon, and he hasn't been out since. It is now nearly two | |
o'clock and, I've been looking for some midshipmen to inform." | |
Such had been the storekeeper's careful statement. The merchants of | |
Annapolis always have a kindly feeling toward these fine young | |
midshipmen. The storekeeper's purpose was to enable them to help their | |
comrade out. | |
So the five had entered the laundry. The proprietor, Chow Hop, had | |
attempted to bar their way to the rear room. | |
But Dave had seized the yellow man and had flung him aside. | |
The reader already knows what they discovered, and how it affected these | |
young men. | |
"Bring that copper- chink in here, if you'll be so good," | |
directed Dave. | |
Dan and Hallam departed on the quest. | |
"You're wanted in there," proclaimed Dalzell, jerking a thumb over his | |
shoulder. | |
"Me no sabby," replied Chow Hop, looking up briefly from his ironing | |
board. | |
"Get in there--do you hear?" commanded Hallam, gripping the other's arm | |
with all his force. | |
"You lemme go chop-chop (quickly), or you get alle samee hurt--you | |
sabby?" scowled Chow Hop, using his free hand to raise a heavy flat-iron | |
menacingly. | |
But Dan Dalzell jumped in, giving the Chinaman's wrist a wrench that | |
caused him to drop the iron. | |
Then, without a bit of ceremony, Dan grasped the Oriental by the | |
shoulders, wheeled him about, while he protested in guttural tones, and | |
bluntly kicked the yellow-faced one through the door into the inner | |
room. | |
At this summary proceeding both the Chinese helpers gripped their | |
flat-irons firmly; and leaped forward to fight. | |
In an ugly temper the Chinaman is a bad man to oppose. But now this pair | |
were faced by a pair of quietly smiling midshipmen who were also | |
dangerous when angry. | |
"You two, get back," ordered Dalzell, advancing fearlessly upon the | |
pair. "If you don't, we'll drag you out into the street and turn you | |
over to the policemen. You 'sabby' that? You heathen are pretty likely | |
to get into prison for this day's work!" | |
Scowling for a moment, then muttering savagely, the two helpers slunk | |
back to their ironing boards. | |
Yet, while Dan turned to go into the rear room, Hallam stood just where | |
he was, to keep an eye on two possible sources of swift trouble. | |
"Chow Hop," began Dave Damn sternly, as the proprietor made his flying | |
appearance, "You've done a pretty mean piece of work here"--pointing to | |
the unconscious midshipman in the berth. "Do you understand that you're | |
pretty likely to go to prison for this?" | |
"Oh, that no maller," replied Chow, with a sullen grin. "Him plenty | |
'shipmen come here and smoke." | |
"You lie!" hissed Dave, grasping the heathen by the collar and shaking | |
him until the latter's teeth rattled. | |
Then Dave gave him a brief rest, though he still retained his hold on | |
the Chinaman's collar. But the yellow man began struggling again, and | |
Dave repeated the shaking. | |
Chow Hop had kept his hands up inside his wide sleeves. Now Farley | |
leaped forward as he shouted: | |
"Look out, Darry! He has a knife!" | |
Farley attempted to seize the Chinaman's wrist, for the purpose of | |
disarming the yellow man, but Dave swiftly threw the Chinaman around out | |
of Farley's reach. Then, with a lightning-like move, Dave knocked the | |
knife from Chow Hop's hand. | |
"Pick that up and keep it for a curio, Farley," directed Dave coolly. | |
In another twinkling Darrin had run the Chinaman up against the wall. | |
Smack! biff! thump! | |
With increasing force Dave's hard fist struck the heathen in the face. | |
"Now stand there and behave yourself," admonished Midshipman Dave, | |
dropping his hold on the yellow man's collar, "or we'll stop playing | |
with you and hurt you some." | |
The scowl on Chow Hop's face was ominous, but he stood still, glaring at | |
Dave. | |
"Chow, what can we do to bring this man out of his sleep!" asked Dave | |
coolly, and almost in a friendly tone. | |
"Me no sabby," sulked the Chinaman. | |
"Yes, you do," retorted Dave warningly. "Now, what can we do to get our | |
friend out of this!" | |
"You allee same cally (carry) him out," retorted Chow, with a suspicion | |
of a sulky grin. | |
"None of that, now, you yellow-face!" glared Dave. "How shall we get our | |
comrade out of this opium sleep!" | |
"Me no sabby no way," insisted Chow. | |
"Oh, yes, you do!" snapped Dave. "But you won't tell. All right; we'll | |
find the way, and we'll punish you into the bargain. Dan, get a piece of | |
paper from the other room." | |
Dalzell was quickly back with the desired item. On the paper Dave wrote | |
a name and a telephone number. | |
"It's near the end of the doctor's office hours," murmured Dave. "Go to | |
a telephone and ask the doctor to meet you at the corner above. Tell him | |
it's vastly important, and ask him to meet you on the jump." | |
"Shall I tell him what's up!" asked Dan cautiously. | |
"Yes; you'd better. Then he'll be sure to bring the necessary remedies | |
with him." | |
Dan Dalzell was off like a shot. | |
Chow tried to edge around toward the door. | |
"Here, you get back there," cried Dave, seizing the Chinaman and | |
slamming him back against the wall. "Don't you move again, until we tell | |
you that you may--or it will be the worse for you." | |
Ten minutes passed ere Dan returned with Dr. Lawrence. | |
"You see the job that's cut out for you," said Darrin, pointing to the | |
unconscious figure in the bunk. "Can you do it, Doctor?" | |
The medical man made a hasty examination of the unconscious midshipman | |
before he answered briefly: | |
"Yes." | |
"Will it be a long job, Doctor?" | |
"Fifteen minutes, probably." | |
"Oh, good, if you can do it in that time!" | |
"Me go now?" asked Chow, with sullen curiosity, as the medical man | |
opened his medicine-case. | |
"Yes; if you don't try to leave the joint," agreed Dave. "And I'm going | |
outside with you." | |
Chow looked very much as though he did not care for company, but | |
Midshipman Darrin kept at his side. | |
"Now, see here, Chow," warned Dave, "this is the last day you sell opium | |
for white men to smoke!" | |
"You heap too flesh (fresh)" growled the Chinaman. | |
"It's the last day you'll sell opium to white men," insisted Dave, "for, | |
as soon as I'm through here I'm going to the police station to inform | |
against you. They'll go through here like a twelve-inch shot." | |
"You alle same tell cop?" grinned Chow, green hatred showing through his | |
skin. "Then I tell evelybody about you fliend in there." | |
"Do just as you please about that," retorted Dave with pretended | |
carelessness. "For one thing, you don't know his name." | |
"Oh, yes, I do," swaggered Chow impudently. "Know heap 'bout him. His | |
name alle same Pen'ton." | |
Seizing a marking brush and a piece of paper, Chow Hop quickly wrote out | |
Pennington's name, correctly spelled. His ability to write English with | |
a good hand was one of Chow's great vanities, anyway. | |
"You go back to your ironing board, yellow-face," warned Darrin, and | |
something in the young third classman's face showed Chow that it would | |
be wise to obey. | |
Then Hallam drew Darrin to one side, to whisper earnestly in his ear: | |
"Look out, old man, or you will get Pen into an awful scrape!" | |
"I shan't do it," maintained Darrin. "If it happens it will have been | |
Pen's own work." | |
"You'd better let the chink go, just to save one of our class." | |
"Is a fellow who has turned opium fiend worth saving to the class!" | |
demanded Dave, looking straight into Hallam's eyes. | |
"Well, er--er--" stammered the other man. | |
"You see," smiled Dave, "the doubt hits you just as hard as it does me!" | |
"Oh, of course, a fellow who has turned opium fiend is no fellow ever to | |
be allowed to reach the bridge and the quarter-deck," admitted Hallam. | |
"But see here, are you going to report this affair to the commandant of | |
midshipmen, or to anyone else in authority?" | |
"I've no occasion to report," replied Dave dryly. "I am not in any way | |
in command over Pennington. But I mean to persuade him to report himself | |
for what he has done!" | |
"But that would ruin him!" protested Hallam, aghast. "He wouldn't even | |
be allowed to start on the cruise. He'd be railroaded home without loss | |
of a moment." | |
"Yet you've just said that an opium-user isn't fit to go on in the | |
brigade," retorted Darrin. | |
"Hang it, it's hard to know what to do," rejoined Hallam, wrinkling his | |
forehead. "Of course we want to be just to Pen." | |
"It doesn't strike me as being just exactly a question of justice to | |
Pennington," Darrin went on earnestly. "If this is anything it's a | |
question of midshipman honor. We fellows are bound to see that all the | |
unworthy ones are dropped from the service. Now, a fellow who has | |
fastened the opium habit on himself isn't fit to go on, is he?" | |
"Oh, say, but this is a hard one to settle!" groaned Hallam. | |
"Then I'll take all the responsibility upon myself," said Dave promptly. | |
"I don't want to make any mistake, and I don't believe I'm going to. | |
Wait just a moment." | |
Going to the rear room, Dave faced his three comrades there with the | |
question: | |
"You three are enough to take care of everything here for a few minutes, | |
aren't you?" | |
"Yes," nodded Dan. "What's up?" | |
"Hallam and I are going for a brief walk." | |
Then, stepping back into the front room, Darrin nodded to his classmate, | |
who followed him outside. | |
"Just come along, and say nothing about the matter on the street," | |
requested Dave. "It might be overheard." | |
"Where are you going?" questioned Hallam wonderingly. | |
"Wait and see, please." | |
From Chow Hop's wretched establishment it was not far to the other | |
building that Dave had in mind as a destination. | |
But when they arrived, and stood at the foot of the steps, Hallam | |
clutched Darrin's arm, holding him back. | |
"Why, see here, this is the police station!" | |
"I know it," Dave replied calmly. | |
"But see here, you're not--" | |
"I'm not going to drag you into anything that you'd object to," Darrin | |
continued. "Come along; all I want you for is as a witness to what I am | |
going to say." | |
"Don't do it, old fel--" | |
"I've thought that over, and I feel that I must," replied Dave firmly. | |
"Come along. Don't attract attention by standing here arguing." | |
In another instant the two midshipmen were going swiftly up the steps. | |
The chief of police received his two callers courteously. Dave told the | |
official how their attention had been called to the fact that one of | |
their number was in an opium joint. Dave named the place, but requested | |
the chief to wait a full hour before taking any action. | |
"That will give us a chance to get out a comrade who may have committed | |
only his first offense," Dave continued. | |
"If there's any opium being smoked in that place I'll surely close the | |
joint out!" replied the chief, bringing his fist down upon his desk. | |
"But I understand your reasons, Mr.--" | |
"Darrin is my name, sir," replied Dave quietly. | |
"So, Mr. Darrin, I give you my word that I won't even start my | |
investigations before this evening. And I'll keep all quiet about the | |
midshipman end of it." | |
"Thank you very much, sir," said Dave gratefully. | |
As the two midshipmen strolled slowly back in the direction of Chow | |
Hop's, Dave murmured: | |
"Now, you see why I took this step?" | |
"I'm afraid not very clearly," replied Midshipman Hallam. | |
"That scoundrelly Chow made his boast that other midshipmen patronized | |
his place. I don't believe it. Such a vice wouldn't appeal to you, and | |
it doesn't to me. But there are more than two hundred new plebes coming | |
in just now, and many of these boys have never been away from home | |
before. Some of them might foolishly seek the lure of a new vice, and | |
might find the habit fastened on them before they were aware of it. | |
Chow's vile den might spoil some good material for the quarter-deck, | |
and, as a matter of midshipman honor, we're bound to see that the place | |
is cleaned out right away." | |
"I guess, Darry, you come pretty near being right," assented Hallam, | |
after thinking for a few moments. | |
By the time they reached Chow Hop's again they found that Dr. Lawrence | |
had brought the unfortunate Pennington to. And a very scared and | |
humiliated midshipman it was who now stood up, a bit unsteadily, and | |
tried to smooth down his uniform. | |
"How do you feel now?" asked Dave. | |
"Awful!" shuddered Pennington. "And now see here, what are you fellows | |
going to do? Blab, and see me driven out of the Navy?" | |
"Don't do any talking in here," advised Dave, with a meaning look over | |
his shoulder at the yellow men in the outer room. "Doctor, is our friend | |
in shape to walk along with us now?" | |
"He will be, in two or three minutes, after he drinks something I'm | |
going to give him," replied the medical man, shaking a few drops from | |
each of three vials into a glass of water. "Here, young man, drink this | |
slowly." | |
Three minutes later the midshipmen left the place, Dave walking beside | |
Pennington and holding his arm lightly for the purpose of steadying him. | |
"How did this happen, Pen?" queried Dave, when the six men of the third | |
class at last found themselves walking down Maryland Avenue. "How long | |
have you been at this 'hop' trick?" | |
"Never before to-day," replied Midshipman Pennington quickly. | |
"Pen, will you tell me that on your honor?" asked Dave gravely. | |
The other midshipman flared up. | |
"Why must I give you my word of honor?" he demanded defiantly. "Isn't my | |
plain word good enough?" | |
"Your word of honor that you had never smoked opium before to-day would | |
help to ease my mind a whole lot," replied Darrin. "Come, unburden | |
yourself, won't you, Pen?" | |
"I'll tell you, Darry, just how it happened. To-day _was_ the first | |
time, on my word of honor, I came out into Annapolis with a raging | |
toothache. Now, you know how a fellow gets to hate to go before the | |
medical officers of the Academy with a tale about his teeth." | |
"Yes, I do," nodded Darrin. "If a fellow is too much on the medical | |
report for trouble with his teeth, then it makes the surgeons look his | |
mouth over with all the more caution, and in the end a fellow may get | |
dropped from the brigade just because he has invited over zeal from the | |
dentist. But what has all this to do with opium smoking?" | |
"Just this," replied Pennington, hanging his head. "I went into a drug | |
store and asked a clerk that I know what was the best thing for | |
toothache. He told me the best he knew was to smoke a pipe of opium, and | |
told me where to find Chow Hop, and what to say to the chink. And it's | |
all a lie about opium helping a sore tooth," cried the wretched | |
midshipman, clapping a hand to his jaw, "for there goes that fiendish | |
tooth again! But say! You fellows are not going to leak about my little | |
mishap?" | |
"No," replied Darrin with great promptness. "You're going to do that | |
yourself." | |
"What?" gasped Midshipman Pennington in intense astonishment. "What are | |
you talking about?" | |
"You'll be wise to turn in a report, on what happened," pursued Dave, | |
"for it's likely to reach official ears, anyway, and you'll be better | |
off if you make the first report on the subject." | |
"Why is it likely to reach official ears, if you fellows keep your | |
mouths shut?" | |
"You see," Darrin went on very quietly, "I reported the joint at the | |
police station, and Chow Hop threatened that, if I did, he'd tell all he | |
knew about everybody. So you'd better be first----" | |
"You broke the game out to the police!" gasped Pennington, staring | |
dumfoundedly at his comrade. "What on earth----" | |
"I did it because I had more than one satisfactory reason for | |
considering it my duty," interposed Dave, speaking quietly though | |
firmly. | |
"You--you--bag of wind!" exploded Midshipman Pennington. | |
"I'll accept your apology when you've had time to think it all over," | |
replied Dave, with a smile, though there was a brief flash in his eyes. | |
"I'll make no apology to you--at any time, you--you--greaser!" | |
Marks for efficiency or good conduct, which increase a midshipman's | |
standing, are called "grease-marks" or "grease" in midshipman slang. | |
Hence a midshipman who is accused of currying favor with his officers in | |
order to win "grease" is contemptuously termed a "greaser." | |
"I don't want to talk with you any more, Mr. Darrin," Pennington went on | |
bitterly, "or walk with you, either. When I get over this toothache I'll | |
call you out--you greaser!" | |
Burning with indignation, Midshipman Pennington fell back to walk with | |
Hallam. | |
CHAPTER II | |
DAVE'S PAP-SHEET ADVICE | |
When our party reached the landing a lively scene lay before them. | |
Fully a hundred midshipmen, belonging to the first, second and third | |
classes, were waiting to be transported out to one or another of the | |
great, gray battleships. | |
Several launches were darting back and forth over the water. The baggage | |
of the midshipmen had already been taken aboard the battleships. Only | |
the young men themselves were now awaited. | |
Near-by stood a lieutenant of the Navy, who was directing the | |
embarkation of the midshipmen of the different classes. | |
Five minutes after our party arrived a launch from the "Massachusetts" | |
lay in alongside the landing. | |
"Third classmen, this way!" shouted the lieutenant. "How many of you?" | |
Turning his eyes over the squad that had moved forward, the officer | |
continued: | |
"Twenty-two. You can all crowd into this launch. Move quickly, young | |
gentlemen!" | |
In another couple of minutes the puffing launch was steaming away to the | |
massive battleship that lay out in the stream. | |
Dave stood well up in the bow. Once he barely overheard Pennington | |
mutter to a comrade: | |
"The rascally greaser!" | |
"That means me," Dave muttered under his breath. "I won't take it up | |
now, or in any hurry. I'll wait until Pen has had time to see things | |
straight." | |
As soon as the launch lay alongside, the young midshipmen clambered | |
nimbly up the side gangway, each raising his cap to the flag at the | |
stern as he passed through the opening in the rail. | |
Here stood an officer with an open book in his hand. To him each | |
midshipman reported, saluting, stated his name, and received his | |
berthing. | |
"Hurry away to find your berthings, and get acquainted with the | |
location," ordered this officer. "Every midshipman will report on the | |
quarter-deck promptly at five p.m. In the meantime, after locating your | |
berthings, you are at liberty to range over the ship, avoiding the ward | |
room and the staterooms of officers." | |
The latest arrivals saluted. Then, under the guidance of messengers | |
chosen from among the apprentice members of the crew, the young men | |
located their berthings. | |
"I'm going to get mine changed, if I can," growled Pennington, wheeling | |
upon Dave Darrin. "I'm much too close to a greaser. I'm afraid I may get | |
my uniforms spotted, as well as my character." | |
"Stop that, Pen!" warned Dave, stationing himself squarely before the | |
angry Pennington. "I don't know just how far you're responsible for what | |
you're saying now. To-morrow, if you make any such remarks to me, you'll | |
have to pay a mighty big penalty for them." | |
"You'll make me pay by going to the commandant and telling him all you | |
know, I suppose?" sneered Pennington. | |
"You know better, Pen! Now, begin to practise keeping a civil tongue | |
behind your teeth!" | |
With that, Darrin turned on his heel, seeking the deck. | |
This left "Pen" to conjecture as to whether he should report his | |
misadventure, and, if so, how best to go about it. | |
"See here, Hallam," began the worried midshipman, "I begin to feel that | |
it will be safer to turn in some kind of report on myself." | |
"Much safer," agreed Hallam. "It will show good faith on your part if | |
you report yourself." | |
"And get me broken from the service, too, I suppose," growled the | |
unhappy one. | |
"I hardly think it will, if you report yourself first," urged Hallam. | |
"But you'll be about certain to get your walking papers if you wait for | |
the first information to come from other sources." | |
"Hang it," groaned Pennington, "I wish I could think, but my head aches | |
as though it would split and my tooth is putting up more trouble than I | |
ever knew there was in the world. And, in this racked condition, I'm to | |
go and put myself on the pap-sheet. In what way shall I do it, Hallam? | |
Can't you suggest something?" | |
"Yes," retorted Hallam with great energy. "Go to the medical officer and | |
tell him how your tooth troubles you. Tell him what you tried on shore. | |
I'll go with you, if you want." | |
"Will you, old man? I'll be a thousand times obliged!" | |
So the pair went off in search of the sick-bay, as the hospital part of | |
a battleship is called. The surgeon was not in his office adjoining, but | |
the hospital steward called him over one of the ship telephones, | |
informing him that a midshipman was suffering with an ulcerated tooth. | |
Dr. Mackenzie came at once, turned on a reflector light, and gazed into | |
Midshipman Pennington's mouth. | |
"Have you tried to treat this tooth yourself, in any way?" queried the | |
ship's surgeon. | |
"Yes, sir; I was so crazy with the pain, while in Annapolis, that I am | |
afraid I did something that will get me into trouble," replied | |
Pennington, with a quiver in his voice. | |
"What was that?" asked Dr. Mackenzie, glancing at him sharply. "Did you | |
try the aid of liquor?" | |
"Worse, I'm afraid, sir." | |
"Worse?" | |
Pennington told of his experience with the opium pipe. | |
"That's no good whatever for a toothache, sir," growled Dr. Mackenzie. | |
"Besides, it's a serious breach of discipline. I shall have to report | |
you, Mr. Pennington." | |
"I expected it, sir," replied Pennington meekly. | |
"However, the report won't cure your toothache," continued Dr. Mackenzie | |
in a milder tone. "We'll attend to that first." | |
The surgeon busied himself with dissolving a drug in a small quantity of | |
water. This he took up in a hypodermic needle and injected into the | |
lower jaw. | |
"The ache ought to stop in ten minutes, sir," continued the surgeon, | |
turning to enter some memoranda in his record book. | |
After that the surgeon called up the ship's commander over the 'phone, | |
and made known Pennington's report. | |
"Mr. Pennington, Captain Scott directs that you report at his office | |
immediately," said the surgeon, as he turned away from the telephone. | |
"Very good, sir. Thank you, sir." | |
Both midshipmen saluted, then left the sick-bay. | |
"This is where you have to go up alone, I guess," hinted Midshipman | |
Hallam. | |
"I'm afraid so," sighed Pennington. | |
"However, I'll be on the quarter-deck, and, if I'm wanted, you can send | |
there for me." | |
"Thank you, old man. You're worth a brigade of Darrins--confound the | |
greasing meddler!" | |
"Darrin acted according to his best lights on the subject of duty," | |
remonstrated Mr. Hallam mildly. | |
"His best lights--bah!" snarled Pennington. "I'll take this all out of | |
him before I'm through with him!" | |
Pennington reported to the battleship's commander. After some ten | |
minutes a marine orderly found Hallam and directed him to go to Captain | |
Scott's office. Here Hallam repeated as much as was asked of him | |
concerning the doings of the afternoon. Incidentally, the fact of | |
Midshipman Darrin's report to the police was brought out. | |
"Mr. Pennington, I shall send you at once, in a launch, over to the | |
commandant of cadets to report this matter in person to him," said | |
Captain Scott gravely. "Mr. Hallam, you will go with Mr. Pennington." | |
Then, after the two had departed, an apprentice messenger went through | |
the ship calling Dave's name. That young man was summoned to Captain | |
Scott's office. | |
"I am in possession of all the facts relating to the unfortunate affair | |
of Midshipman Pennington, Mr. Darrin," began Captain Scott, after the | |
interchange of salutes. "Will you tell me why you reported the affair to | |
the police?" | |
"I went to the police, sir," Dave replied, "because I was aware that | |
many members of the new fourth class are away from home for the first | |
time in their lives. I was afraid, sir, that possibly some of the new | |
midshipmen might, during one of their town-leaves, be tempted to try for | |
a new experience." | |
"A very excellent reason, Mr. Darrin, and I commend you heartily for it. | |
I shall also report your exemplary conduct to the commandant of | |
midshipmen. You have, in my opinion, Mr. Darrin, displayed very good | |
judgment, and you acted upon that judgment with promptness and decision. | |
But I am afraid," continued the Navy captain dryly, "that you have done | |
something that will make you highly unpopular, for a while, with some of | |
the members of your class." | |
"I hope not, sir," replied Dave. | |
"So do I," smiled Captain Scott "I am willing to find myself a poor | |
prophet. That is all, Mr. Darrin." | |
Once more saluting, Dave left the commanding officer's presence. Almost | |
the first classmate into whom he stumbled was Dan Dalzell. | |
"Well, from what quarter does the wind blow!" murmured Dan. | |
Darrin repeated the interview that he had just had. | |
"I'm afraid, Dave, little giant, that you've planted something of a mine | |
under yourself," murmured Dalzell. | |
"I feel as much convinced as ever, Danny boy, that I did just what I | |
should have done," replied Darrin seriously. | |
"And so does Captain Scott, and so will the commandant," replied Dan. | |
"But winning the commendation of your superior officers doesn't always | |
imply that you'll get much praise from your classmates." | |
"Unfortunately, you are quite right," smiled Dave. "Still, I'd do the | |
same thing over again." | |
"Oh, of course you would," assented Dan. "That's because you're Dave | |
Darrin." | |
Here a voice like a bass horn was heard. | |
"All third classmen report to the quarter-deck immediately!" | |
This order was repeated in other parts of the ship. Midshipmen gathered | |
with a rush, Pennington and Hallam being the only members absent. As | |
soon as the third classmen, or "youngsters," as they are called in | |
midshipman parlance, had formed, the orders were read off dividing them | |
into sections for practical instruction aboard ship during the cruise. | |
Dave's name was one of the first read off. He was assigned to duty as | |
section leader for the first section in electrical instruction. Dalzell, | |
Farley, Hallam, Pennington and others were detailed as members of that | |
section. | |
The same section was also designated for steam instruction, Dalzell | |
being made leader of the section in this branch. | |
The class was then dismissed. Somewhat later Pennington and Hallam | |
returned from their interview with the commandant. | |
Hallam at once sought out Dave. | |
"Darry, old man," murmured Hallam, "Pen is as crazy as a hornet against | |
you. As he had taken the first step by sticking himself on the pap-sheet | |
(placing himself on report), the commandant said he would make the | |
punishment a lighter one." | |
"What did Pen get?" queried Dave. | |
"Fifty demerits, with all the loss of privileges that fifty carry." | |
"He's lucky," declared Dave promptly. "Had the report come from other | |
sources, he would have been dismissed from the service." | |
"If Pen's lucky," rejoined Hallam, "he doesn't seem to realize the fact. | |
He's calling you about everything." | |
"He can keep that up," flashed Dave, "until his toothache leaves him. | |
Then, if he tries to carry it any further, Pen will collide with one of | |
my fists!" | |
Not much later a call sounded summoning the youngsters to the | |
midshipmen's mess. Dave was glad to note that Pennington sat at some | |
distance from him at table. | |
While the meal was in progress the "Massachusetts" and the other | |
battleships got under way. The midshipmen were on deck, an hour later, | |
when the fleet came to anchor for the night, some miles down Chesapeake | |
Bay. | |
Before the youngsters were ordered to their berths that night Third | |
Classman Pennington had found opportunity to do a good deal of talking | |
to a few comrades who would listen to him. | |
Pennington was determined to stir up a hornet's nest for Dave Darrin. | |
CHAPTER III | |
MIDSHIPMAN PENNINGTON GOES TOO FAR | |
At eight o'clock the following morning the various sections were formed | |
and marched to the deck. | |
Dave reported: | |
"All present, sir." | |
The chief electrician was now summoned, and to him the section was | |
turned over. This young man, Whittam, by name, was an enlisted man, but | |
a bright young sample of what the Navy can do for the boy who enlists as | |
an apprentice. | |
"You will take your orders from Mr. Whittam as though he were an | |
officer," directed the officer, his words intended for all members of | |
the section, though he looked only at Darrin. | |
Dave saluted, then, as Chief Electrician Whittam turned to lead the way, | |
Dave called quietly: | |
"Section, left wheel--march!" | |
They followed Whittam down into the dynamo room, an interesting spot for | |
a machinist. | |
"It's fine," muttered Dan, as he stared about him at the bright metal | |
work, the switch-board and the revolving machines. "But I'm afraid I | |
couldn't learn the use and sense of all this in five years." | |
"Silence in the section," commanded Dave, turning around upon his chum. | |
Whittam now began a short, preliminary talk upon the subjects in which | |
the midshipmen would be required to qualify. | |
"One of the first and most important requests I have to make," said | |
Whittam presently, "is that none of you touch the switches, except by | |
direction. None of you can guess the harm that might follow the careless | |
and ignorant handling of a switch." | |
"It's pretty cheeky for an enlisted man to talk to midshipmen about | |
ignorance," whispered Pennington to Farley. | |
"Oh, I don't know--" Farley started to reply, but Darrin's quiet voice | |
broke in with authority: | |
"Cease talking in section." | |
Farley knew this to be a merited rebuke, and accepted it as such, but | |
Pennington's face went violently red. | |
"Confound that grease-spot-chaser," growled Pen. "He'll be bound to take | |
it out of me as long as the cruise lasts. But I'll get even with him. No | |
cheap greaser is going to ride over me!" | |
That morning none of the midshipmen were called upon to handle any of | |
the fascinating-looking machinery. Nearly the whole of this tour of | |
practical instruction was taken up by the remarks of the chief | |
electrician. As he spoke, Whittam moved over to one piece or another of | |
mechanism and explained its uses. Finally, he began to question the | |
attentive young men, to see how much of his instruction they had | |
absorbed. | |
"This is a shame, to set an enlisted man up over us as quiz-master, just | |
to see how little we know," growled Pennington; but this time he had the | |
good sense not to address his remark to anyone. | |
Pennington was not yet in good shape, after his harrowing experiences of | |
the day before. | |
Ere the tour of instruction was over, he began to shift somewhat | |
uneasily. | |
Then his attention began to wander. | |
A brilliantly shining brass rod near him caught his eye. Something about | |
the glossy metal fascinated him. | |
Once or twice Pen put out his hand to touch the rod, but as quickly | |
reconsidered and drew back his hand. | |
At last, however, the temptation proved too strong. He slid one hand | |
along the rail. | |
"Here, sir, don't handle that!" rasped in the voice of Whittam. | |
Pennington drew back his hand, a flush mounting to his face. | |
"The fellow has no right to talk to a midshipman in that fashion!" | |
quivered Pennington to himself. "But it was the fault of that low-minded | |
greaser Darrin, anyway. Darrin saw me, and he glanced swiftly at the | |
chief electrician to draw attention to me." | |
It is only just to Pennington to state that he actually believed he had | |
seen Dave do this. Darrin, however, was not guilty of the act. He had in | |
no way sought to direct attention at Pennington. | |
Towards the close of the tour the officer in whose department this | |
instruction fell passed through the dynamo room. | |
"Are there any breaches of conduct to be reported, Whittam?" inquired | |
the officer, halting. | |
"Nothing worth mentioning, sir," replied the chief electrician. | |
"I asked you, Whittam, whether there had been any breaches of conduct," | |
retorted the officer with some asperity. | |
"One midshipman, sir, after having been instructed to touch nothing, | |
rested his hand on one of the brass rods." | |
"His name?" | |
"I don't know the names of many of the young gentlemen yet, sir, so I | |
don't know the particular midshipman's name, sir." | |
"Then point him out to me," insisted the officer. | |
There was hardly any need to do so. Pennington's face, flushed with | |
mortification, was sufficient identification. But the chief electrician | |
stepped over, halting in front of the hapless one, and said: | |
"This is the young gentleman, sir." | |
"Your name, sir?" demanded the officer. | |
"Pennington, sir." | |
"Mr. Pennington, you will place yourself on the report, sir, for | |
disobedience of orders," commanded the officer. "Is this the only case, | |
Whittam?" | |
"The only case, sir." | |
The officer passed out of the dynamo room, leaving the unlucky one more | |
than ever angry with Darrin, whom he incorrectly charged with his | |
present trouble. | |
The recall sounding, Dave turned to Whittam, saying crisply but | |
pleasantly: | |
"Thank you for our instruction." | |
"He's thanking the fellow for my new scrape," growled Pennington | |
inwardly. | |
Dave marched his section back to deck and dismissed it. Dan Dalzell, as | |
section leader in steam instruction, immediately re-formed it. | |
"You will report in the engine-room, Mr. Dalzell, to | |
Lieutenant-Commander Forman, who is chief engineer of this ship. He will | |
assign you to an instructor." | |
"Aye, aye, sir," Dan replied, saluting. "Section, right wheel--march!" | |
Dan already knew where, down in the bowels of the great battleship, to | |
find the engine room. | |
Reaching that department, Dan halted his section. | |
"Section all present, sir," reported Dan, saluting a strange officer, | |
who, however, wore the insignia of a lieutenant-commander. | |
"Your name, sir?" inquired the officer. | |
"Dalzell, sir." | |
"Let your section break ranks. Then you may all follow me, and keep your | |
eyes open, for you will go through one or two dark places." | |
"Aye, aye, sir. Section break ranks." | |
Lieutenant-Commander Forman led the way, with all the members of the | |
section wondering what was to be the nature of their first day's work in | |
the engineer department. | |
Descending lower into the ship, the chief engineer led the young middies | |
over a grating, and paused at the head of an iron ladder. | |
"Pass down in orderly fashion, single file," directed the chief | |
engineer, halting. "When at the foot of this ladder, cross a grating to | |
port side, and then descend a second ladder, which you will find." | |
All the midshipmen went down the first ladder in silence. Dan, who had | |
preceded the others, crossed the grating and found the second ladder. | |
Once more these youngsters descended. Pennington, as though by mere | |
accident, succeeded in following Dave Darrin down the ladder. | |
Just as they were near the bottom Dave felt a foot descend upon his | |
shoulder, almost with a kick, and then rest there with a crushing | |
pressure. | |
It hurt keenly until Darrin was able to dodge out from under and | |
hurriedly reach the bottom. | |
"Pardon, whoever you are," came a gruff voice. | |
Dave, with his shoulder crippled a good deal, and paining keenly, halted | |
as soon as his foot had touched bottom. It was dark down there, though | |
some reflected light came from an incandescent light at a distance. | |
Dave waited, to peer into the face of the man who had stepped on his | |
shoulder. | |
It was Pennington, of course! | |
"I'll take pains not to go down ahead of you again, or to follow you up | |
a ladder," grunted Darrin suspiciously. | |
"Oh, are you the man on whose shoulder my foot rested?" asked | |
Pennington, with apparent curiosity. | |
"Didn't you know it!" questioned Darrin, looking straight into the | |
other's eyes. | |
Instead of answering intelligibly, Pennington turned and walked away a | |
few feet. | |
"Perhaps that fellow thinks he's going to vent his spite on me in a lot | |
of petty ways," murmured Dave. "If that is the idea he has in his head, | |
he's going to wake up one of these days!" | |
Following the last midshipman came Lieutenant-Commander Forman. | |
"After me, gentlemen," directed the chief engineer. He turned down a | |
narrow passage, only a few feet long, and came out in the furnace room. | |
Here huge fires glowed through the furnace doors. Four of the Navy's | |
firemen stood resting on their shovels. Instantly, on perceiving the | |
chief engineer, however, the men stood at attention. | |
"Pass the word for the chief water tender," ordered the engineer, | |
turning to one of the firemen. | |
The messenger soon came back with a pleasant-faced, stalwart man of | |
forty. | |
"Heistand," ordered the chief engineer, "give these members of the first | |
section, third: class, steam instruction, a thorough drill in firing." | |
"Aye, aye, sir," replied the chief water tender, saluting. | |
"Heistand's orders are mine, Mr. Dalzell," continued the | |
lieutenant-commander, facing Dan. "Preserve order in your section." | |
"Aye, aye, sir," replied Dan, saluting. Acknowledging this courtesy in | |
kind, the chief engineer turned and left the furnace room. | |
Heistand was presumably of German parentage, though he had no accent. He | |
struck the midshipmen as being a pleasant, wholesome fellow, though the | |
water tenders and firemen of the "Massachusetts" knew that he could be | |
extremely strict and grim at need. | |
"You will now, young gentlemen," began Heistand, "proceed to learn all | |
about priming a furnace, lighting, building, cleaning and generally | |
taking care of a fire. Two furnaces have been left idle for this | |
instruction." | |
But two of the regular firemen now remained in the room. These were | |
ordered to hustle out coal before boilers B and D. Then Heistand taught | |
the members of the section how to swing a shovel to the best advantage | |
so as to get in a maximum of coal with the least effort. He also | |
illustrated two or three incorrect ways of shoveling coal. | |
"The idea of making coal heavers out of us!" growled a much-disgusted | |
voice. | |
Dan did not see who the speaker was, but his eyes flashed as he turned | |
and rasped out: | |
"Silence in the section! Speak only to ask for information, and then at | |
the proper time." | |
"Another young autocrat!" muttered a voice. | |
"Wait one moment, please, Heistand," begged Dan. Then, wheeling squarely | |
about, and facing all the members of the section, he declared with | |
emphasis: | |
"If there's any more unauthorized talking I shall feel obliged to pass | |
the word above that discipline is in a bad way in this section." | |
Then he wheeled about once more, facing the chief water tender. | |
"Now, young gentlemen," resumed the chief water tender, "take your | |
shovels and fill in lively under boilers B and D." | |
Three or four times Heistand checked one or another of the midshipmen, | |
to show him a more correct way of handling the shovel. Yet, in good | |
time, both furnaces were primed. | |
"Now, Mr. Dalzell, please detail four members of the section to follow | |
me with their shovels and bring red coals from under another boiler." | |
Dan appointed himself, Darrin, Farley and Pennington. | |
Burning coals were brought and thrown into each furnace, and in a little | |
while roaring fires were going. These, though not needed for the | |
handling of the battleship, were permitted to burn for a while, Heistand | |
explaining to the section practically the uses of the water gauges and | |
the test cocks. By this time the midshipmen's white working clothes were | |
liberally sprinkled with coal dust and somewhat smeared with oils. | |
"And now, young gentlemen, as we have no further use for these fires, | |
you will next learn how to haul them," announced Heistand. | |
This was interesting work, but hot and fast. The implements with which | |
the middies worked soon became red-hot at the end. Yet, as all entered | |
into this novel work with zest, the fires had soon been hauled out on to | |
the floor plates. | |
Just as the last of this work was being done Pennington, as an apparent | |
accident due to excess of zeal, dropped the red-hot end of his implement | |
across the toe of Darrin's left shoe. | |
In an instant the leather began to blaze. With swift presence of mind | |
Dave stepped his right foot on the flame, smothering it at once. | |
But he was "mad clean through." | |
"See here, Pen," he muttered, in a low voice, his eyes blazing fiercely | |
into the other midshipman's, "that is the last piece of impudence that | |
will be tolerated from you." | |
Midshipman Pennington's lip curled disdainfully. | |
Dan had not seen the "accident," but he was near enough to hear the | |
talking, and he caught Dave at it. So Dan ordered, impartially: | |
"Mr. Darrin, you will place yourself on report for unauthorized talking | |
in section!" | |
Dave flushed still more hotly, but said nothing. | |
Midshipman Dalzell now marched the section from the furnace room, and | |
dismissed it. It was near noon, and would soon be time for the middies | |
to eat. | |
Dave hurried away, washed, changed his uniform, and then stepped away | |
swiftly to place himself on the report. | |
"I was sorry to do that, old chum," murmured Dan, as he met Dave | |
returning. "But of course I couldn't play favorites. What made you so | |
far forget yourself?" | |
"A something that would have had the same effect on you," retorted Dave | |
grimly. Thereupon he described Pennington's two underhanded assaults | |
that morning. | |
"Humph!" muttered Dalzell. "That fellow Pen is bound to go the whole | |
limit with you." | |
"He won't go much further," declared Dave, his eyes flashing. | |
"And the chump ought to know it, too," mused Dan. "The class history of | |
the last year should have taught him that. But see here, Dave, I don't | |
believe Pen will do anything openly. He will construct a series of | |
plausible accidents." | |
"There will be one thing about him that will be open, if he goes any | |
further," retorted Dave, "and that will be his face when he collides | |
with my fist." | |
"I hope I see that when it happens," grinned Dalzell. "It's bound to be | |
entertaining!" | |
"Wait a second, then. Here comes Pennington now," murmured Dave Darrin | |
in an undertone. | |
Pennington, in his immaculate blue uniform, like the chums, came | |
strolling along the passageway between decks. | |
He affected not to see the chums, and would have passed by. But Dave, | |
eyeing him closely, waited until Pen was barely three feet away. Then | |
Darrin said tersely: | |
"Mr. Pennington, I wish an understanding with you." | |
"I don't want any with you," replied Pennington insolently, as he stared | |
at Dave from under much-raised eyebrows. He would have gone by, but Dave | |
sprang squarely in front of him. | |
"Just wait a moment!" warned Dave rather imperiously, for he was aglow | |
with justifiable indignation. | |
"Well?" demanded Pennington halting. "Out with it, whatever you may | |
think you have to say." | |
"I have two things to speak about," replied Dave, trying to control his | |
voice. "In the first place, while going down the ladders to the furnaces | |
this morning, you stepped on my shoulder." | |
"Well!" insisted Pennington coldly. | |
"The second thing you did was, when hauling the fires, to drop red-hot | |
metal across one of my shoes, setting it on fire." | |
"Well?" insisted Pennington more coldly. | |
"If you mean to contend that either one was an accident," resumed Dave, | |
"then--" | |
But he found himself obliged to pause for a moment in order to steady | |
his voice. | |
"Well?" asked Pennington with more insolence than ever. | |
"If you make such pretense in either case," tittered Dave Darrin, "then | |
you're a liar!" | |
"Fellow!" sputtered Pennington, turning white with anger. | |
"I mean what I say, and I can back it up," muttered Darrin. | |
"Then I'll make you eat your words!" roared Pennington. | |
Clenching his fists and with the boxer's attitude, Pen aimed two swift | |
blows at Darrin. | |
Neither blow reached, however, for Dave dodged out of the way. Then | |
Darrin struck back, a straight, true, forceful blow that landed on the | |
other midshipman's nose, knocking him down. | |
Pennington staggered somewhat when he rose, but he was quickly up, none | |
the less, and ready for anything that might happen. | |
All of a sudden Dan Dalzell felt his own heart going down into his | |
shoes. One of the ship's officers had just entered the passageway, in | |
time to see what was going on. | |
CHAPTER IV | |
A LITTLE MEETING ASHORE | |
"Stop it, both of you," whispered Dan. | |
"Stand at attention, ready to salute the officer." | |
Pennington, with the blood flowing from his damaged nose, would have | |
made a most ludicrous figure saluting! | |
The instant that he saw such evidence as Pen's nose presented the | |
officer would be bound to make inquiries. | |
Then, just as surely, his next step must be to Border the three before | |
the commandant of midshipmen. | |
Fighting carries with it a severe penalty. Even Dan was certain to be | |
reported, through the mere fact of his presence there, as aiding in a | |
fight. And those who aid are punished as severely as the principals | |
themselves. | |
It was a tense, fearsome instant, for midshipmen have been dismissed | |
from the Naval Academy for this very offense. | |
The passage was not brilliantly lighted. | |
The on-coming officer, a lieutenant, junior grade, was looking at the | |
floor as he came along. | |
Suddenly he paused, seemed lost in thought, then wheeled and walked back | |
whence he had come. | |
Dan breathed more easily. Dave heaved a sigh of relief. | |
As for Pennington, that midshipman had wheeled and was stealing rapidly | |
down the passageway, intent only on escape. | |
"That was the closest squeak we'll ever have without being ragged cold," | |
murmured Dalzell tremulously. | |
"Where is Pennington?" demanded Dave, wheeling about after he had | |
watched the Naval lieutenant out of sight. | |
"Ducked out of sight, like a submarine," chuckled Dan. | |
At that moment the call for midshipmen's dinner formation sounded. Dave | |
and Dan were ready. | |
Pennington showed up just after the line had started to march into the | |
midshipmen's mess tables. | |
To the inquiry of the officer in charge, Pen lamely explained that he | |
had bumped his nose into something hard in a poorly lighted passageway. | |
Though the officer accepted the excuse, he smiled within himself. | |
"It wasn't iron or steel that bumped that young man's nose," thought the | |
officer. | |
"Oh, the middies haven't changed a lot since I boned at Annapolis!" | |
Pennington's nose was no very lovely member of his face at that moment. | |
It had been struck hard, mashed rather flat, and now looked like a red | |
bulb. | |
"Meet with an accident, Pen?" asked Hallam curiously at table. | |
"Quit your kidding, please," requested Pennington sulkily. | |
That directed the curious glances of other middies at Pennington's new | |
bulbous nose. | |
The young man was so brusque about it, however, that other table mates | |
ceased quizzing him. | |
Yet, as soon as the meal was over, many a youngster asked others of his | |
class for news regarding Pen. But none possessed it. | |
During the brief rest that followed the meal, however, Midshipman | |
Pennington made it his business to try to meet Dave Darrin alone. He | |
succeeded, finding Dave staring off across the water at the port rail. | |
"Of course, Mr. Darrin," began the other midshipman, in a voice | |
suggestive of ice, "you are aware that the incident of an hour ago | |
cannot be allowed to pass unnoticed." | |
"I don't believe there's any danger of that," retorted Darrin, with an | |
ironical glance at Pennington's damaged-looking nose. | |
"Confound you, sir," hissed the other midshipman, "don't you dare to be | |
insolent with me." | |
"Why, I had thought," observed Dave, "that, of your own choice, the | |
period of courtesies between us had passed." | |
"I shall call you out, Mr. Darrin!" | |
"You'll find my hearing excellent," smiled Dave. "I shall make but one | |
stipulation." | |
"I'll do you the favor of asking what that stipulation is," sneered | |
Pennington. | |
"Why, after the narrow escape we had from being caught and reported, an | |
hour or so ago, I shall ask that the fight be held where we are not so | |
likely to be caught at it. I don't care about being dropped from the | |
Naval Academy, nor do I believe you do." | |
"It would be a good thing for the service, if one of us were to be | |
dropped," sneered Pennington. | |
"Yes! Oh, well, you can easily procure writing materials from the | |
captain's clerk," volunteered Dave generously. "On a cruise, I believe, | |
a resignation is sent direct to the commandant of midshipmen." | |
This ridicule served only to fan the flame of Pennington's wrath. | |
"Darrin," he hissed, "the Academy isn't big enough to hold us both!" | |
"But I've already told you how to get out," protested Dave coolly. | |
"I don't intend to get out!" | |
"No more do I," rejoined Dave. "I won't even toss pennies with you to | |
find out who quits the service." | |
"Mr. Darrin, you are merely seeking to divert my mind from what I have | |
said." | |
"What did you say--particularly?" | |
"That you would have to fight me." | |
"I have already signified my entire willingness, Mr. Pennington. To that | |
I really can add nothing." | |
Fourth classmen are always addressed as "mister," and they must use the | |
same "handle to the name" when addressing upper classmen. But members of | |
the three upper classes resort to the use of "mister," in addressing | |
classmates, only when they wish to be offensive or nearly so. | |
"I will send a friend to meet you," Pennington continued. | |
"Why, I thought," bantered Darrin ironically, "that you were going to | |
fight me yourself." | |
"So I am--be sure of it. I will amend my statement by saying that I will | |
send a second to see you." | |
"Save time by sending him to Dalzell." | |
"Very good, Mr. Darrin." | |
"Is that all you wished to say to me?" | |
"Yes." | |
"Very good, Mr. Pennington." | |
With two very stiff nods the midshipmen parted. | |
Pennington hastened at once in search of Hallam. | |
"Will you serve me, old man?" queried Pennington. | |
"Sorry, but----" | |
"Well, you see, Pen, not knowing all the facts of the case, I must admit | |
that all my sympathies are with Darrin." | |
"All your sympathies?" echoed Pen, frowning. | |
"Well, nearly all, anyway. You see, I've known and observed Darrin for a | |
full year now, and I don't believe patient old Darry is the one to start | |
any trouble." | |
"He called me a liar," protested Pennington. | |
"Did he?" gasped Hallam. | |
"Well, he qualified the statement, but his way of saying it was as | |
offensive as the direct lie could have been." | |
"So you're bent on fighting Darry?" | |
"I am." | |
"Too bad!" muttered Hallam, shaking his head. | |
"Are you anxious for your idol?" asked Pen in a disagreeable tone. | |
"No, Penny; it's you that I'm concerned about in my own mind. You're | |
going next to a very hard proposition. Darry is patient--almost as | |
patient as the proverbial camel--but when he fights he fights! You'll be | |
hammered to a pulp, Pen." | |
"Pooh!" | |
"No one has yet beaten Darrin at a fist fight." | |
"There always has to be a first time, you know." | |
"And you think you're It?" | |
"As far as Darrin is concerned--yes." | |
"Too bad--too bad!" sighed Hallam. "I'm afraid, Penny, that the heat in | |
the furnace room was too much for you this morning." | |
"Then you won't serve as one of my seconds?" | |
"The honor is most regretfully declined," replied Hallam in a tone of | |
mock sadness. | |
"You want to see Darrin win?" | |
"If there has to be a fight, I do," replied Midshipman Hallam. | |
"Don't bet your money on him, anyway." | |
"I'm not a gambler, Penny, and I don't bet," replied Hallam, with a | |
dignity that, somehow, ended the conversation. | |
Pennington had considerable difficulty, at first, in finding a second. | |
At last, however, he induced Decker and Briggs to represent him. | |
These two midshipmen went to see Dan Dalzell. | |
"Wait until I send for Mr. Farley," proposed Dalzell. He soon had that | |
midshipman, who was wholly willing to serve Darrin in any capacity. | |
"We're ready to have the fight this evening," proposed Midshipman | |
Decker. | |
"We're not," retorted Dan, with vigor. | |
"Why not?" | |
"This forenoon Pennington deliberately stepped on Darrin's shoulder, | |
with such force as to lame it a good deal," replied Dan. "Our man | |
insists that he has a right to rest his shoulder, and to wait until | |
to-morrow." | |
"But to-morrow we have a short shore liberty at Hampton Roads," | |
remonstrated Briggs. | |
"Yes; and during that shore liberty we can have the fight more safely | |
than on board ship," insisted Dalzell. | |
"But we intended to devote our shore leave to pleasure," objected | |
Decker. | |
"You'll find plenty of pleasure, if you accept our proposition," urged | |
Dan dryly. "At any rate, we won't hear of Darrin fighting before | |
to-morrow. He must have to-night to rest that shoulder." | |
"All right; so be it," growled Decker, after a side glance at Briggs. | |
"On shore, at some point to be selected by the seconds?" asked Dan | |
Dalzell. | |
"Yes; that's agreed." | |
Details as to whom to invite as referee and time-keeper were also | |
arranged. | |
"I suppose we'll have to use up our shore leave that way, then," grunted | |
Pennington, when told of the arrangement. | |
"There's one way you can save the day," grinned Decker. | |
"How?" | |
"Put Darrin to sleep in the first round, then hurriedly dress and leave, | |
and enjoy your time on shore." | |
"But Darrin is a very able man with his fists," observed Pennington. | |
"Yes; but you're a mile bigger and heavier, and you're spry, too. You | |
ought to handle him with all the ease in the world." | |
"I don't know," muttered Pennington, who didn't intend to make the | |
mistake of bragging in advance. "I'll do my best, of course." | |
"Oh, you'll win out, if you're awake," predicted Midshipman Briggs | |
confidently. | |
When the cadets were called, the following morning, they found the | |
battleship fleet at anchor in Hampton Roads. | |
CHAPTER V | |
WHEN THE SECONDS WONDERED | |
One after another the launches sped ashore, carrying their swarms of | |
distinguished looking young midshipmen. | |
The fight party managed to get off all in the same boat, and on one of | |
the earliest trips. | |
Pennington was to have ordinary shore leave on the cruise, his fifty | |
demerits to be paid for by loss of privileges on his return to the Naval | |
Academy. | |
"Decker," proposed Dan, "you and I can skip away and find a good place | |
in no time. Then we can come back after the others." | |
"That's agreeable to me," nodded Midshipman Decker. | |
In twenty minutes the two seconds were back. | |
"We've found just the place," announced Decker. "And it isn't more than | |
three minutes' walk from here. Will you all hurry along?" | |
"The place" turned out to be a barn that had not been used for a year or | |
more. The floor was almost immaculately clean. In consideration of two | |
dollars handed him, the owner had agreed to display no curiosity, and | |
not to mention the affair to any one. | |
"How do you like it, Darry?" asked Dan anxiously. | |
"It will suit me as well as any other place," responded Dave, slipping | |
off his blouse, folding it neatly and putting it aside, his uniform cap | |
following. | |
"And you?" asked Decker of his man. | |
"The floor's hard, but I don't expect to be the man to hit it," replied | |
Pennington. | |
In five minutes both midshipmen were attired for their "affair." Between | |
them the different members of the party had smuggled ashore shoes, old | |
trousers and belts for the fighters. | |
It being a class affair, Remington, of the third class, had come along | |
as referee, while Dawley; was to be the time-keeper. | |
"If the principals are ready, let them step forward," ordered Midshipman | |
Remington, going to the middle of the floor. "Now, I understand that | |
this is to be a finish fight; rounds, two minutes; rests, two minutes. I | |
also understand that the principals do not care to shake hands before | |
the call to mix up." | |
Darrin and Pennington nodded their assent. | |
"Take your places, gentlemen," ordered the referee quickly. "Are you | |
ready, gentlemen?" | |
"Yes," came from both principals. | |
"Time!" | |
Both men had their guards up. As the word left the referee's lips each | |
tried two or three passes which the other blocked. Midshipman Pennington | |
was trying to take his opponent's "measure." | |
Then Dave ducked, darted, dodged and wheeled about. Pennington had to | |
follow him, and it made the latter angry. | |
"Stand up and fight, can't you," hissed Pen. | |
"Silence during the rounds, Mr. Pennington," admonished the referee | |
quietly. "Let the officials do all the talking that may be necessary." | |
Dave, as he dodged again, and came up unscathed, grinned broadly over | |
this rebuke. That grin made Pen angrier than anything else could have | |
done. | |
"I'll wipe that grin off his face!" muttered Pennington angrily. | |
And this very thing Pennington tried hard to do. He was quick on his own | |
feet, and for a few seconds he followed the dodging Darrin about, | |
raining in blows that required all of Dave's adroitness to escape. | |
Dave's very success, however, made his opponent all the angrier. From | |
annoyance, followed by excessive irritation, Pennington went into almost | |
blind rage--and the man who does that, anywhere in life, must always pay | |
for it. | |
Suddenly Dave swung his right in on the point of Pen's chin with a force | |
that jolted the larger midshipman. As part of the same movement, | |
Darrin's left crashed against Pennington's nose. | |
Then, out of chivalry, Dave dropped back, to give Pen a few moments, in | |
case he needed them, to get his wits back. | |
"Time!" roared Dawley, and Pennington's seconds pounced upon him and | |
bore him away to his corner. | |
"Now I know how that fellow Darrin wins his fights," growled Pennington | |
in an undertone. "He keeps on running away until he has the other man | |
gasping for breath. Then Darrin jumps in and wins." | |
"The method doesn't much matter," commented Briggs dryly, as he and | |
Decker worked over their man. "It's the result that counts. Rush Darry | |
into a tight corner, Pen, and then slam him hard and sufficiently." | |
"Thanks, fellows; now I'm all right for the second round." muttered | |
Midshipman Pennington. | |
In a few seconds more Dave and his opponent were hard at work. | |
Dave still used his footwork, and most cleverly. Yet, wherever he went, | |
Pen followed him nimbly. It didn't look so one sided now. | |
Then Pennington, at last, managed to deliver one blow on Darrin's right | |
short ribs. It took a lot of Dave's spare wind; he raced about, seeking | |
to regain his wind before allowing close quarters. But at last | |
Pennington closed in again, and, after a swift feint, tried to land the | |
same short-rib blow. | |
Darrin was watching, and blocked. Then, his temples reddening with | |
anger, Dave swung in a huge one that crashed in under Pennington's right | |
ear. | |
"Time!" shouted Dawley, just as Pen went to the floor in a heap. That | |
saved the larger midshipman from having to take the count. His seconds | |
had him ready at the call for the third round. | |
Now, suddenly, Darrin seemed to change not only his tactics, but his | |
whole personality. To his opponent Dave seemed suddenly transformed into | |
a dancing demon. | |
It was about the same old footwork, but it was aggressive now, instead | |
of being defensive. | |
First, Dave landed a light tap on the already suffering nose. A few | |
seconds later he landed on the point of Pen's chin, though not hard | |
enough to send his man down. Then a rather light blow on the jaw, just | |
under Pen's right ear again. The larger midshipman was now thoroughly | |
alarmed. He feared that Darrin could do whatever he willed, and shivered | |
with wonder as to when the knockout blow would come. | |
The truth was, Pennington was still putting up a better battle than he | |
himself realized, and Darrin was not disposed to take any foolish | |
chances through rushing the affair. Thus, the third round ended. | |
By the time that they came up for the fourth round, after both men had | |
undergone some vigorous handling by their respective seconds, Pennington | |
was a good deal revived and far more confident. | |
Dave's tactics were the same in the fourth round. Pennington didn't find | |
time to develop much in the way of tactics for himself, save to defend | |
himself. | |
During the first minute no important blows were landed on either side. | |
Then, suddenly, Dave darted in and under, and brought a right-arm hook | |
against Pen's nose in a way that started that member to bleeding again, | |
and with a steady flow. | |
That jarred the larger midshipman. He plunged in, heavily and blindly, | |
blocking one of Darrin's blows by wrapping both arms around him. | |
"None of that, Mr. Pennington! Break away fast!" ordered Midshipman | |
Remington quickly. | |
Dave took a fair get away, not attempting to strike as the clinch was | |
broken. But an instant later Dave came back, dancing all around his | |
dazed opponent, landing on the short ribs, on the breast bone, under | |
either ear and finally on the tip of the chin. | |
Pen was sure that none of these blows had been delivered with the force | |
that Darrin could have sent in. | |
"Time!" shouted Midshipman Dawley. | |
The principals retired to their corners, Pennington almost wholly afraid | |
from the conviction that his antagonist was now merely playing with him | |
to keep the interest going. | |
So Pennington was still rather badly scared when the two came together | |
for the fifth round. | |
"Get lively, now, gentlemen, if you can," begged Referee Remington. | |
"Finish this one way or the other, and let us get some of the benefits | |
of our shore leave." | |
Pen started by putting more steam behind every blow. Dave, who had used | |
up so much of his wind by his brilliant footwork, began to find it | |
harder to keep the upper hand. | |
Twice, however, he managed to land body blows. He was trying to drive in | |
a third when Pennington blocked, following this with a left-arm jab on | |
Darrin's left jaw that sent the lighter man to the floor. | |
Instantly Dawley began to count off the seconds. | |
"--seven, eight, nine, te----" | |
Dave was up on his feet. Pen tried to make a quick rush, but Darrin | |
dodged cleverly, them wheeled and faced his opponent as the latter | |
wheeled about. | |
After that there was less footwork. Both men stood up to it, as keenly | |
alert as they could be, each trying to drive home heavy blows. While | |
they were still at it the call of time sounded. | |
"Don't let him put it over you, David, little giant!" warned Dan, as the | |
latter and Farley vigorously massaged Darrin's muscles. "He all but had | |
you, and there isn't any need of making Pen a present of the meeting." | |
"I tried to get him," muttered Dave in an undertone, "and I shall go on | |
trying to the last. But Pennington is pretty nearly superior to anyone | |
in my class." | |
"Just waltz in and show him," whispered Dalzell, as the call sounded. | |
Pennington entered the sixth round with more confidence. He began, at | |
the outset, to drive in heavy blows, nor did Dave do much dodging. | |
Bump! Twenty-five seconds only of this round had gone when Darrin landed | |
his right fist with fearful force upon the high point of Pennington's | |
jaw. | |
Down went the larger midshipman again. This time he moaned. His eyes | |
were open, though they had a somewhat glassy look in them. | |
Dawley was counting off the seconds in measured tones. | |
"--seven, eight, nine--ten!" | |
Pen had struggled to rise to his feet, but sank back with a gasp of | |
despair and rage. | |
"Mr. Pennington loses the count and the fight," announced Referee | |
Remington coolly. "I don't believe we're needed here, Dawley. The | |
seconds can handle the wreck. Come along." | |
As the two officials of the meeting hustled out of the barn, Dalzell | |
gave his attention to helping his chum, while Farley went over to offer | |
his services in getting the vanquished midshipman into shape. | |
"There were times when I could have closed both of Pennington's eyes," | |
murmured Dave to Dan. "But I didn't want to give him any disfiguring | |
marks that would start questions on board ship." | |
"You had him whipped from the start," murmured Dan confidently, as he | |
sprayed, then rubbed Dave's chest and arms. | |
"Maybe, but I'm not so sure of that," rejoined Darrin. "That fellow | |
isn't so easy a prize for any one in my class. There were times when I | |
was all but convinced that he had me." | |
"Oh, fairy tales!" grunted Dan. | |
"Have it your own way, then, Danny boy!" | |
When Darrin and his seconds left the barn they went off to enjoy what | |
remained of the shore leave. Pennington's seconds finally, at his own | |
request, left him at an ice cream parlor, where he proposed to remain | |
until he could return to the big, steel "Massachusetts" without exciting | |
any wonder over the little time he had remained ashore. Pennington had | |
strength to walk about, but he was far from being in really good shape, | |
and preferred to keep quiet. | |
CHAPTER VI | |
IN TROUBLE ON FOREIGN SOIL | |
From Hampton Roads the Battleship Squadron, with the midshipmen on | |
board, sailed directly for Plymouth, England. | |
During most of the voyage over slow cruising speed was used. By the time | |
that England's coast was sighted the third-class middies found they knew | |
much more about a battleship than they had believed to be possible at | |
the start of the voyage. | |
They had served as firemen; they had mastered many of the electrical | |
details of a battleship; they had received instruction and had "stood | |
trick" by the engines; there had been some drill with the smaller, | |
rapid-fire guns, and finally, they had learned at least the rudiments of | |
"wig-wagging," as signaling by means of signal flags is termed. | |
It was just before the call to supper formation when England's coast | |
loomed up. Most of the midshipmen stood at the rail, watching eagerly | |
for a better glimpse at the coast. | |
Some of the midshipmen, especially those who came from wealthier | |
families, had been in England before entering the Naval Academy. These | |
fortunate ones were questioned eagerly by their comrades. | |
The battleships were well in sight of Eastern King Point when the | |
midshipmen's call for supper formation sounded. Feeling that they would | |
much have preferred to wait for their supper, the young men hastened | |
below. | |
After the line was formed it seemed to the impatient young men as though | |
it had never taken so long to read the orders. | |
Yet there came one welcome order, to the effect that, immediately after | |
the morning meal, all midshipmen might go to the pay officer and draw | |
ten dollars, to be charged against their pay accounts. | |
"That ten dollars apiece looms up large David, little giant," murmured | |
Dan Dalzell, while the evening meal was in progress. | |
"We ought to have a lot of fun on it," replied Darrin, who was looking | |
forward with greatest eagerness to his first visit to any foreign soil. | |
"But how much shore leave are we to have?" | |
"Two days, the word is. We'll get it straight in the morning, at | |
breakfast formation." | |
In defiance of regulations, Midshipman Pennington, whose father was | |
wealthy, had several hundred dollars concealed in his baggage. He had | |
already invited Hallam, Mossworth and Dickey to keep in his wake on | |
shore, and these young men had gladly enough agreed. | |
"Say, but we're slackening speed!" quivered Dalzell, when the meal was | |
nearly finished. | |
"Headway has stopped," declared Darrin a few moments later. | |
"Listen, everyone!" called Farley. "Don't you hear the rattle of the | |
anchor chains?" | |
"Gentlemen, as we're forbidden to make too much racket," proposed | |
irrepressible Dan, "let us give three silent cheers for Old England!" | |
Rising in his place, Dan raised his hand aloft, and brought it down, as | |
his lips silently formed a "hurrah!" | |
Three times this was done, each time the lips of the midshipmen forming | |
a silent cheer. | |
Then Dan, with a mighty swoop of his right arm, let his lips form the | |
word that everyone knew to be "tiger!" | |
"Ugh-h-h!" groaned Midshipman Reilly. | |
"Throw that irresponsible Fenian out!" directed Dan, grinning. | |
Then the midshipmen turned their attention to the remnants of the meal. | |
Boom! sounded sharply overhead. | |
"There goes the twenty-one-gunner," announced Darrin. | |
When a foreign battleship enters a fortified port the visiting fleet, or | |
rather, its flagship, fires a national salute of twenty-one guns. After | |
a short interval following the discharge of the last gun, one of the | |
forts on shore answers with twenty-one guns. This is one of the methods | |
of observing the courtesies between nations by their respective fleets. | |
Ere all the guns had been fired from the flagship, the third classmen | |
received the rising signal; the class marched out and was dismissed. | |
Instantly a break was made for deck. | |
The midshipmen were in good time to see the smoke and hear the roar of | |
guns from one of the forts on shore. | |
In the morning the commandant of cadets, as commanding officer of the | |
squadron, would go ashore with his aide and pay a formal call to the | |
senior military officer. Later in the day that English officer and one | |
or two of his staff officers would return the call by coming out to the | |
flagship. That accomplished, all the required courtesies would have been | |
observed. | |
It was still broad daylight, for in summer the English twilight is a | |
long one, and darkness does not settle down until late. | |
"Oh, if we were only going ashore to-night!" murmured Hallam. There were | |
many others to echo the thought, but all knew that it could not be done. | |
"Couldn't we find a trick for slipping ashore after lights out?" eagerly | |
queried Dickey, who was not noted as a "greaser." | |
"Could we?" quivered Hallam, who, with few demerits against him, felt | |
inclined to take a chance. | |
But Pennington, to whom he appealed, shook his head. | |
"Too big a risk, Hally," replied Pen. "And trebly dangerous, with that | |
greaser, Darrin, in the class." | |
"Oh, stow that," growled Hallam. "Darrin is no greaser. You've got him | |
on your black books--that's all." | |
"He is a greaser, I tell you," cried Pennington fiercely. | |
There were a score of midshipmen in this group, and many of them nodded | |
approvingly at Pennington's statement. Though still a class leader, Dave | |
had lost some of his popularity since his report to the police of | |
Annapolis. | |
So the middies turned in, that night, with unsatisfied dreams of shore | |
life in England. | |
Soon after breakfast the next morning, however, every midshipman had | |
drawn his ten dollars, even to Pennington, who had no use for such a | |
trifling amount. | |
As fast as possible the launches ranged alongside at the side gangway, | |
taking off groups of midshipmen, everyone of whom had been cautioned to | |
be at dock in time to board a launch in season for supper formation. | |
Pennington and his party were among the first to land. They hurried | |
away. | |
It was on the second trip of one of the launches that Dave, Dan and | |
Farley made their get away. These three chums had agreed to stick | |
together during the day. They landed at the Great Western Docks, to find | |
themselves surrounded by eager British cabbies. | |
"Are we going to take a cab and get more quickly and intelligently to | |
the best part of the town to see?" asked Farley. | |
"I don't vote for it," replied Darrin. "We have only five dollars apiece | |
for each of the two days we're to be ashore. I move that we put in the | |
forenoon, anyway, in prowling about the town for ourselves. We'll learn | |
more than we would by riding." | |
"Come on, then," approved Dan. | |
Plymouth is an old-fashioned English seaport that has been rather famous | |
ever since the thirteenth century. Many parts of the town, including | |
whole streets, look as though the houses had been built since that time. | |
This is especially true of many of the streets near the water front. | |
For two hours the three middies roamed through the streets, often | |
meeting fellow classmen. Wherever the young midshipmen went many of the | |
English workmen and shopkeepers raised their hats in friendly salute of | |
the American uniform. | |
"We don't seem to run across Pen's gang anywhere," remarked Farley at | |
last. | |
"Oh, no," smiled Dave. "That's a capitalistic crowd. They'll hit only | |
the high spots." | |
Nevertheless, these three poor-in-purse midshipmen enjoyed themselves | |
hugely in seeing the quaint old town. At noon they found a real old | |
English chop house, where they enjoyed a famous meal. | |
"I wish we could slip some of these little mutton pies back with us!" | |
sighed Dan wistfully. | |
In the afternoon the three chums saw the newer market place, where all | |
three bought small souvenirs for their mothers at home. Darrin also | |
secured a little remembrance present for his sweetheart, Belle Meade. | |
The guild hall and some of the other famous buildings were visited. | |
Later in the afternoon Dave began to inspect his watch every two or | |
three minutes. | |
"No need for us to worry, with Dave's eye glued to his watch," laughed | |
Dan. | |
"Come on, fellows," summoned Darrin finally. "We haven't more than time | |
now to make the dock and get back to supper formation." | |
"Take a cab?" asked Farley. "You know, we've found that they're vastly | |
cheaper than American cabs." | |
"No-o-o, not for me," decided Dave. "We'll need the rest of our shore | |
money to-morrow, and our legs are good and sturdy." | |
Yet even careful Dave, as it turned out, had allowed no more than time. | |
The chums reached the dock in time to see the launches half way between | |
the fleet and shore. Some forty other midshipmen stood waiting on the | |
dock. | |
Among these were Pennington and his party, all looking highly satisfied | |
with their day's sport, as indeed they were. | |
Pennington's eyes gleamed when he caught sight of Darrin, Dalzell and | |
Farley--for Pen had a scheme of his own in mind. | |
Not far from Pennington stood a little Englishman with keen eyes and a | |
jovial face. Pen stepped over to him. | |
"There are the three midshipmen I was telling you about," whispered | |
Pennington, slipping a half sovereign into the Englishman's hand. "You | |
thoroughly understand your part in the joke, don't you?" | |
"Don't h'I, though--just, sir!" laughed the undersized Englishman, and | |
strolled away. | |
Darrin and his friends were soon informed by classmates that the | |
launches now making shore-ward were coming in on their last trip for | |
midshipmen. | |
"Well, we're here in plenty of time," sighed Dave contentedly. | |
"Oh, I knew we'd be, with you holding the watch," laughed Dan in his | |
satisfied way. | |
As the three stood apart they were joined by the undersized Englishman, | |
who touched his hat to them with a show of great respect. | |
"Young gentlemen," he inquired, "h'I suppose, h'of course, you've 'ad a | |
look h'at the anchor h'of Sir Francis Drake's flagship, the time 'e went | |
h'out h'and sank the great Spanish h'Armada?" | |
"Why, no, my friend," replied Dave, looking at the man with interest. | |
"Is that here at Plymouth?" | |
"H'assuredly, sir. H'and h'only a minute's walk h'over to that shed | |
yonder, sir. H'if you'll come with me, young gentlemen, h'I'll show h'it | |
to you. H'it's one of h'our biggest sights, h'and it's in me own | |
custody, at present. Come this way, young gentlemen." | |
"That sounds like something worth seeing," declared Dave to his | |
comrades. "Come along. It'll take the launches at least six minutes to | |
get in, and then they'll stay tied up here for another five minutes." | |
With only a single backward glance at the young midshipmen, the | |
undersized Englishman was already leading the way. | |
At quickened pace the young midshipmen reached the shed that had been | |
indicated. Their guide had already drawn a key from a pocket, and had | |
unsnapped the heavy padlock. | |
"Step right in, young gentlemen, h'and h'I'll follow h'and show h'it to | |
you." | |
Unsuspecting, the three middies stepped inside the darkened shed. | |
Suddenly the door banged, and a padlock clicked outside. | |
"Here, stop that, you rascally joker!" roared Dalzell, wheeling about. | |
"What does this mean?" | |
"Big trouble!" spoke Dave Darrin seriously and with a face from which | |
the color was fast receding. | |
CHAPTER VII | |
PENNINGTON GETS HIS WISH | |
"The scoundrel!" gasped Farley, his face whiter than any of the others. | |
Dave was already at the door, trying to force it open. But he might | |
almost as well have tried to lift one of the twelve-inch guns of the | |
battleship "Massachusetts." | |
"We're locked in--that's sure!" gasped Dalzell, almost dazed by the | |
catastrophe. | |
"And what's more, we won't get out in a hurry, unless we can make some | |
of our classmates hear," declared Dave. | |
For the next half minute they yelled themselves nearly hoarse, but no | |
response came. | |
"What could have been that little cockney's purpose in playing this | |
shabby trick on us?" demanded Farley. | |
"Perhaps the cockney thinks we're admirals, with our pockets lined with | |
gold. Perhaps he and some of his pals intend to rob us, later in the | |
evening," proposed Dan, with a ghastly grin. | |
"Any gang would find something of a fight on their hands, then," | |
muttered Dave Darrin grimly. | |
All three were equally at a loss to think of any explanation for such a | |
"joke" as this. Equally improbable did it seem that any thugs of the | |
town would expect to reap any harvest from robbing three midshipmen. | |
Desperately they turned to survey their surroundings. The shed was an | |
old one, yet strongly built. There were no windows, no other door save | |
that at which the three middies now stood baffled. | |
"Another good old yell," proposed Darrin. | |
It was given with a lusty will, but proved as fruitless as the former | |
one. | |
"We don't take the last launch back to ship," declared Farley, wild with | |
rage. | |
"Which means a long string of demerits," said Dan. | |
"No shore leave to-morrow, either," groaned Darrin. "Fellows, this | |
mishap will affect our shore leave throughout all the cruise." | |
"We can explain it," suggested Farley with a hopefulness that he did not | |
feel at all. | |
"Of course we can," jeered Dave Darrin. "But what officer is fool enough | |
to believe such a cock-and-bull story as this one will seem? At the very | |
least, the commandant would believe that we had been playing some pretty | |
stiff prank ourselves, in order to get treated in this fashion. No, no, | |
fellows! We may just as well undeceive ourselves, and prepare to take | |
the full soaking of discipline that we're bound to get. If we attempted | |
this sort of explanation, we'd be lucky indeed to get through the affair | |
without being tried by general court-martial for lying." | |
"Drake's anchor, indeed!" exclaimed Dan in deep self disgust. | |
"We ought to have known better," grunted Farley, equally enraged with | |
himself. "What on earth made us so absent-minded as to believe that a | |
priceless relic would be kept in an old shed like this?" | |
"We're sure enough idiots!" groaned Dan. | |
"Hold on there, fellows," interrupted Dave Darrin. "Vent all your anger | |
right on me. I'm the great and only cause of this misfortune. It was I | |
who proposed that we take up that cockney's invitation. I'm the real and | |
only offender against decent good sense, and yet you both have to suffer | |
with me." | |
"Let's give another yell, bigger than before," suggested Dan weakly. | |
They did, but with no better result than before. | |
"The launches are away now, anyway, I guess," groaned Farley, after | |
consulting his watch. | |
"Yes, and we're up the tree with the commandant," grunted Dalzell | |
bitterly. | |
"Yell again?" asked Farley. | |
"No," retorted Dave, shaking his head. "We've seen the uselessness of | |
asking help from outside. Let's supply our own help. Now, | |
then--altogether! Shoulder the door!" | |
A savage assault they hurled upon the door. But they merely caused it to | |
vibrate. | |
"We can't do it," gasped Dan, after the third trial. | |
Considerable daylight filtered in through the cracks at top, bottom and | |
one side of the door. Further back in the shed there was less light. | |
"Let's explore this old place in search of hope," begged Dave. | |
Together they started back, looking about keenly in what appeared to be | |
an empty room. | |
"Say! Look at that!" cried Dave suddenly. | |
He pointed to a solid looking, not very heavy ship's spar. | |
"What good will that thing do us?" asked Farley rather dubiously. | |
"Let's see if we can raise it to our shoulders," proposed Dave Darrin | |
radiantly. "Then well find out!" | |
"Hurrah!" quivered Dan Dalzell, bending over the spar at the middle. | |
"Up with it!" commanded Darrin, placing himself at the head of the spar. | |
Farley took hold at the further end. | |
"Up with it!" heaved Midshipman Darrin. | |
Right up the spar went. It would have been a heavy job for three young | |
men of their size in civil life, but midshipmen are constantly | |
undergoing the best sort of physical training. | |
"Now, then--a fast run and a hard bump!" called Darrin. | |
At the door they rushed, bearing the spar as a battering ram. | |
Bump! The door shook and shivered. | |
"Once more may do it!" cheered Darrin. "Back." | |
Again they dashed the head of their battering ram against the door. It | |
gave way, and, climbing through, they raced back to the pier. | |
But Dan, who had secured the lead, stopped with a groan, pointing out | |
over the water. | |
"Not a bit of good, fellows! There go the launches, and we're the only | |
fellows left! It's all up with our summer's fun!" | |
"Is it, though?" shouted Dave, spurting ahead. "Come on and find out!" | |
As they reached the front of the piers, down at the edge of a landing | |
stage they espied a little steam tender. | |
"That boat has to take us out to the 'Massachusetts'!" cried Darrin | |
desperately, as he plunged down the steps to the landing stage, followed | |
by his two chums. | |
[Illustration: The Three Midshipmen Raced Toward the Pier.] | |
"Who's the captain here?" called Dave, racing across the landing stage | |
to the tender's gangplank. | |
"I am, sir," replied a portly, red-faced Englishman, leaning out of the | |
wheel-house window. | |
"What'll you charge to land us in haste aboard the American battleship | |
'Massachusetts'?" asked Darrin eagerly. | |
"Half a sov. will be about right, sir," replied the tender's skipper, | |
touching his cap at sight of the American Naval uniform. | |
"Good enough," glowed Dave, leaping aboard. "Cast off as quickly as you | |
can, captain, or we'll be in a heap of trouble with our discipline | |
officers." | |
The English skipper was quick to act. He routed out two deckhands, who | |
quickly cast off. Almost while the deckhands were doing this the skipper | |
rang the engineer's bell. | |
"Come into the wheel-'ouse with me," invited the skipper pleasantly, | |
which invitation the three middies accepted. "Now, then, young | |
gentlemen, 'ow did it 'appen that you missed your own launches." | |
"It was a mean trick--a scoundrelly one!" cried Darrin resentfully. Then | |
he described just what had happened. | |
The skipper's own bronzed cheeks burned to a deeper color. | |
"I can 'ardly believe that an Englishman would play such a trick on | |
young h'officers of a friendly power," he declared. "But I told you, | |
sir, the fare out to your ship would be half a sov. I lied. If a nasty | |
little cockney played such a trick on you, it's my place, as a decent | |
Englishman, to take you out for nothing--and that's the fare." | |
"Oh, we'll gladly pay the half sov." protested Darrin. | |
"Not on this craft you can't, sir," replied the skipper firmly. | |
Looking eagerly ahead, the three middies saw two of the launches go | |
along side of the "Massachusetts" and discharge passengers. As the | |
second left the side gangway the Briton, who had been crowding on steam | |
well, ranged in along side. | |
"What craft is that, and what do you want?" hailed the officer of the | |
deck, from above. | |
"The tender 'Lurline,' sir, with three of your gentlemen to put h'aboard | |
of you, sir," the Briton bellowed through a window of the wheel-house. | |
"Very good, then. Come alongside," directed the officer of the deck. | |
In his most seamanlike style the Briton ranged alongside. Dave tried to | |
press the fare upon the skipper, but he would have none of that. So the | |
three shook hands swiftly but heartily with him, then sprang across to | |
the side gangway, where they paused long enough to lift their caps to | |
this stranger and friend. The Briton lifted his own cap, waving it | |
heartily, ere he fell off and turned about. | |
"You didn't get aboard any too soon, gentlemen," remarked the officer of | |
the deck, eyeing the three middies keenly as they came up over the side, | |
doffing their uniform caps to the colors. "Hustle for the formation." | |
Midshipman Pennington was chuckling deeply over the supposed fact that | |
he had at last succeeded in bringing Darrin in for as many demerits as | |
Darrin had helped heap upon him. | |
"That'll break his heart as an avowed greaser," Pen told himself. "With | |
all the demerits Darrin will get, he'll have no heart for greasing the | |
rest of this year. It's rough on Farley, but I'm not quite as sorry for | |
Dalzell, who, in his way, is almost as bad as Darrin. He's Darrin's | |
cuckoo and shadow, anyway. Oh, I wish I could see Darrin's face now!" | |
This last was uttered just as Midshipman Pennington stepped into line at | |
the supper formation. | |
"I wish I could see Darrin's face now!" Pen repeated to himself. | |
Seldom has a wish been more quickly gratified. For, just in the nick of | |
time to avoid being reported, Midshipmen Darrin, Dalzell and Farley came | |
into sight, falling into their respective places. | |
At that instant it was Midshipman Pennington's face, not Dave Darrin's, | |
that was really worth studying. | |
"Now how did the shameless greaser work this!" Pennington pondered | |
uneasily. | |
But, of course, he couldn't ask. He could only hope that, presently, he | |
would hear the whole story from some other man in the class. | |
CHAPTER VIII | |
THE TRAGEDY OF THE GALE | |
There is altogether too much to the summer practice cruise for it to be | |
related in detail. | |
Nor would the telling of it prove interesting to the reader. When at | |
sea, save on Sundays, the midshipman's day is one of hard toil. | |
It is no life for the indolent young man. He is routed out early in the | |
morning and put at hard work. | |
On a midshipman's first summer cruise what he learns is largely the work | |
that is done by the seamen, stokers, water tenders, electricians, the | |
signal men and others. | |
Yet he must learn every phase of all this work thoroughly, for some day, | |
before he becomes an officer, he must be examined as to his knowledge of | |
all this great mass of detail. | |
It is only when in port that some relaxation comes into the midshipman's | |
life. He has shore leave, and a large measure of liberty. Yet he must, | |
at all times, show all possible respect for the uniform that he wears | |
and the great nation that he represents. If a midshipman permits himself | |
to be led into scrapes that many college boys regard as merely "larks," | |
he is considered a disgrace to the Naval service. | |
Always, at home and abroad, the "middy" must maintain his own dignity | |
and that of his country and service. Should he fail seriously, he is | |
regarded by his superiors and by the Navy Department as being unfit to | |
defend the honor of his flag. | |
The wildest group from the summer practice fleet was that made up of | |
Pennington and his friends. Pen received more money in France from his | |
fond but foolish father. Wherever Pennington's group went, they cut a | |
wide swath of "sport," though they did nothing actually dishonorable. | |
Yet they were guilty of many pranks which, had the midshipmen been | |
caught, would have resulted in demerits. | |
Ports in France, Spain, Portugal and Italy were touched briefly. At some | |
of these ports the midshipmen received much attention. | |
But at last the fleet turned back past Gibraltar, and stood on for the | |
Azores, the last landing point before reaching home. | |
When two nights out from Gibraltar a sharp summer gale overtook the | |
fleet. Even the huge battleships labored heavily in the seas, the | |
"Massachusetts" bringing up the rear. | |
She was in the same position when the morning broke. The midshipmen, | |
after breakfast, enjoyed a few minutes on the deck before going below | |
for duty in the engine rooms, the dynamo room, the "stoke hole" and | |
other stations. | |
Suddenly, from the stern rail, there went up the startled cry: | |
"Man overboard!" | |
In an instant the marine sentry had tumbled two life-preservers over | |
into the water. | |
With almost the swiftness of telegraphy the cry had reached the bridge. | |
Without stopping to back the engine the big battleship's helm was thrown | |
hard over, and the great steel fighting craft endeavored to find her own | |
wake in the angry waters with a view to going back over it. | |
Signal men broke out the news to the flagship. The other two great | |
battleships turned and headed back in the interests of humanity. | |
It seemed almost as though the entire fleet had been swung out of its | |
course by pressure on an electric button. | |
Officers who were not on duty poured out. The captain was the first to | |
reach the quarter-deck. He strode into the midst of a group of | |
stricken-looking midshipmen. | |
"Who's overboard!" demanded the commanding officer. | |
"Hallam, sir----" | |
"And Darrin, sir----" | |
"And Dalzell, sir----" | |
"How many?" demanded the captain sharply. | |
"Three, sir." | |
"How did so many fall overboard?" | |
"Mr. Hallam was frolicking, sir," reported Midshipman Farley, "and lost | |
his footing." | |
"But Mr. Darrin and Mr. Dalzell?" inquired the captain sharply. | |
"As soon as they realized it, sir, Darrin and Dalzell leaped overboard | |
to go to Hallam's rescue, sir." | |
"It's a wonder," muttered the captain, glancing shrewdly at the bronzed, | |
fine young fellows around him, "that not more of you went overboard as | |
well." | |
"Many of them would, sir," replied Farley, "but an officer forward | |
shouted: 'No more midshipmen go overboard,' So we stopped, sir." | |
Modest Mr. Farley did not mention the fact that he was running toward | |
the stern, intent on following his chums into the rough sea at the very | |
instant when the order reached him. | |
The captain, however, paused for no more information. He was now running | |
forward to take the bridge beside the watch officer. | |
The midshipmen, too, hurried forward, mingling with the crew, as the big | |
battleship swung around and tried to find her wake. | |
The flagship had crowded on extra steam, and was fast coming over the | |
seas. | |
With such a sea running, it was well nigh impossible to make out so | |
small a thing as a head or a life-preserver, unless it could be observed | |
at the instant when it crested a wave. | |
Marine glasses were in use by every officer who had brought his pair to | |
the deck. Others rushed back to their cabins to get them. | |
A lieutenant of the marine corps stood forward, close to a big group of | |
sorrowing midshipmen. | |
"There are certain to be three vacancies in the Naval Academy," remarked | |
the lieutenant. | |
"Don't say that, sir," begged Farley, in a choking voice. "The three | |
overboard are among the finest fellows in the brigade!" | |
"I don't want to discourage any of you young gentlemen," continued the | |
marine corps lieutenant. "But there's just about one chance in a | |
thousand that we shall be able to sight and pick up any one of the | |
unlucky three. In the first place, it would take a wonderful swimmer to | |
live long in such a furious sea. In the second place, if all three are | |
still swimming, it will be almost out of the question to make out their | |
heads among the huge waves. You've none of you seen a man overboard | |
before in a big sea?" | |
Several of the mute, anxious midshipmen shook their heads. | |
"You'll realize the difficulties of the situation within the next few | |
minutes," remarked the lieutenant. "I am sorry to crush your hopes for | |
your classmates, but this is all a part of the day's work in the Navy." | |
The largest steam launches from all three of the battleships were being | |
swiftly lowered. Officers and men were lowered with the launches. As the | |
launch shoved off from each battleship tremendous cheers followed them. | |
"Stop all unnecessary noise!" bellowed the watch officer from the bridge | |
of the "Massachusetts." "You may drown out calls for help with your | |
racket." | |
While the three battleships went back over their courses in more stately | |
fashion, the launches darted here and there, until it seemed as though | |
they must cover every foot within a square mile. | |
"I don't see how they can help finding the three," Farley declared | |
hopefully. | |
"That is," put in another third classman, "if any of the three are still | |
afloat." | |
"Stow all talk of that sort," ordered Farley angrily. | |
Other midshipmen joined in with their protests. When a man is overboard | |
in an angry sea all hands left behind try to be optimists. | |
When fifteen minutes had been spent in the search the onlooking but | |
helpless middies began to look worried. | |
At the end of half an hour some of them looked haggard. Farley's face | |
was pitiable to see. | |
At the end of an hour of constant but fruitless searching hardly any one | |
felt any hope of a rescue now. | |
All three midshipmen, the "man overboard" and his two willing, would-be | |
rescuers, were silently conceded to be drowned. | |
Yet the hardest blow of all came when, at the end of an hour and a | |
quarter, the flagship signaled the recall of the small boats. | |
Then, indeed, all hope was given up. In an utter human silence, save for | |
the husky voicing of the necessary orders, the launches were hoisted on | |
board. Then the flagship flew the signal for resuming the voyage. | |
There were few dry eyes among the third class midshipmen when the | |
battleships fell in formation again and proceeded on their way. | |
As a result of more signals flown from the flagship, all unnecessary | |
duties of midshipmen for the day were ordered suspended. | |
In the afternoon the chaplain on each battleship held funeral services | |
over the three lost midshipmen. Officers, middies and crew attended on | |
board each vessel. | |
CHAPTER IX | |
THE DESPAIR OF THE "RECALL" | |
Dave Darrin stood within ten feet of Hallam when that latter midshipman | |
had lost his balance and fallen into the boiling sea. | |
Dave's spring to the stern rail was all but instantaneous. He was | |
overboard, after his classmate, ere the marine had had time to leap to | |
the life buoys. | |
Out of the corner of one eye Dan Dalzell saw the marine start on the | |
jump, but Dan was overboard, also, too soon to see exactly what the | |
marine sentry was doing. | |
Both daring midshipmen sank beneath the surface as they struck. | |
As Dan came up, however, his hand struck something solid and he clutched | |
at it. It was one of the life buoys. | |
As he grasped it, and drew his head up a trifle, Dan saw another | |
floating within thirty feet of him. Swimming hard, and pushing, Dan | |
succeeded in reaching the other buoy. He now rested, holding on to both | |
buoys. | |
"Now, where's David, that little giant?" muttered Dalzell, striving hard | |
to see through the seething waters and over the tops of foam-crested | |
waves. | |
After a few minutes Dan began to feel decidedly nervous. | |
"Yet Dave can't have gone down, for he's a better swimmer than I am," | |
was Dan's consoling thought. | |
At last Dalzell caught sight of another head. He could have cheered, but | |
he expended his breath on something more sensible. | |
"Dave!" he shouted. "Old Darry! This way! I have the life buoys." | |
At the same time, holding to both of them, but kicking frantically with | |
his feet, Dalzell managed slowly to push the buoys toward Dave. | |
Soon after he had started, Dan did utter a cheer, even though it was | |
checked by an inrush of salt water that nearly strangled him. | |
He saw two heads. Dave Darrin was coming toward him, helping Hallam. | |
The wind carried the cheer faintly to Dave. He raised his head a little | |
in the water, and caught sight of Dan and the buoys. | |
Some three minutes it took the two chums to meet. Dave Darrin was all | |
but exhausted, for Hallam was now unconscious. | |
As Darrin clutched at the buoy he tried to shout, though the voice came | |
weakly: | |
"Catch hold of Hallam. I'm down and----" | |
But Dan understood, even before he heard. While Dave clutched at one of | |
the life buoys Dalzell shot out an arm, dragging Hallam in to safety. | |
Now, it was Darrin who, with both arms, contrived to link the buoys | |
together. | |
At last the youngsters had a chance to observe the fact that the | |
battleships had put about and were coming back. | |
"We'll soon be all right," sighed Dave contentedly, as soon as he could | |
speak. "There are thirty-five hundred officers, middies and sailors of | |
the American Navy to look after our safety." | |
From where they lay as they hung to the buoys the chums could even see | |
the launches lowered. | |
Dan, with some of the emergency lashing about the buoy, succeeded, after | |
a good deal of effort, and with some aid from Dave, in passing a cord | |
about Hallam and under the latter's armpits that secured that midshipman | |
to one of the buoys. The next move of the chums was to lash the buoys | |
together. | |
"Now," declared Dave, "we can't lose. We can hang on and be safe here | |
for hours, if need be." | |
"But what a thundering long time it takes them to bring the battleships | |
around to get to us!" murmured Midshipman Dalzell in wonder. | |
"Be sure not an unnecessary second has been lost," rejoined Dave. "We're | |
learning something practical now about the handling of big craft." | |
"I wonder if Hally's a goner?" murmured Dan in an awe-struck voice. | |
"I don't believe it," Dave answered promptly. "Once we get him back | |
aboard ship the medicos will do a little work over him and he'll sit up | |
and want to know if dinner's ready." | |
Then they fell silent, for, with the roar of wind and waters, it was | |
necessary for them to shout when they talked. | |
As the minutes went by slowly, the two conscious midshipmen found | |
themselves filled with amazement. | |
A dozen times the launches darted by, not far away. It seemed impossible | |
that the keen, restless eyes of the seekers should not discover the | |
imperiled ones. | |
At such times Dave and Dan shouted with all the power of their lusty | |
young lungs. | |
Alternately Dan and Dave tried the effect of rising as far as they could | |
and frantically waving an arm. There was not a cap to wave among the | |
three of them. | |
"I'm beginning to feel discouraged," grunted Dave in disgust at last. | |
"They must have spent a full half day already looking for us." | |
"Merciful powers!" gasped Dan at last, as they rode half way up the | |
<DW72> of a big wave. "I just caught sight of the 'recall of boats' | |
flying from the flagship!" | |
"No!" gasped Dave incredulously. | |
"Yes, I did!" | |
"But--" | |
"They've failed and have given up the search," spoke Dan rather | |
despairingly. | |
"But--" | |
"We may as well face it," muttered Dan brokenly. "They don't believe | |
that any of us has survived, and we've been abandoned." | |
"Then," spoke Dave Darrin very coolly, "there's nothing left for us but | |
to die like men of the American Navy." | |
"It seems heartless, needless," protested Dan. | |
"No," broke in Darrin. "They've done their best. They're convinced that | |
we're lost. And I should think they would be, after all the time they've | |
searched for us--half a day, at least." | |
Dan said nothing, but tugged until he succeeded in bringing his watch up | |
to the light. | |
"The blamed thing is water-logged," he uttered disgustedly. | |
"Why?" | |
"The hands point to less than half past nine!" | |
Darrin managed to get at his own watch. | |
"My timepiece doesn't call for half past nine, either," he announced. | |
"Can it be possible--" | |
"Yes; the time has only seemed longer, I reckon," observed Dalzell. | |
"Well, we'll face it like men," proposed Dave. | |
"Of course," nodded Dan. "At least, we're going down in the ocean, and | |
we wear the American Naval uniform. If there's any choice in deaths, I | |
guess that's as good and manly a one as we could choose." | |
"Poor old Hally won't know much about it, anyway, I guess," remarked | |
Darrin, who seemed unnaturally cool. Possibly he was a bit dazed by the | |
stunning nature of the fate that seemed about to overtake them. | |
"Maybe the ships will go by us in their final get-away," proposed Dan | |
Dalzell very soberly. | |
"Not if I'm seaman enough to read the compass by what's visible of the | |
sun," returned Midshipman Darrin. | |
"Then there's no help for it," answered Dan, choking slightly. "I wonder | |
if we could do anything for Hallam?" | |
"We won't do anything to bring him to, anyway," muttered Darrin. "Under | |
these circumstances I wouldn't do anything as mean as that to a dog!" | |
"Maybe he's dead already, anyway," proposed Dan, now hopefully. | |
"I hope so," came from Darrin. | |
Now they saw the not very distant battleships alter their courses and | |
steam slowly away. | |
All was now desolation over the angry sea, as the battleships gradually | |
vanished. The two conscious midshipmen were now resolved to face the end | |
bravely. That was all they could do for themselves and their flag. | |
CHAPTER X | |
THE GRIM WATCH FROM THE WAVES | |
By the time that little more than the mastheads of the departing | |
battleships were visible, Hallam opened his eyes. | |
It would have seemed a vastly kinder fate had he been allowed to remain | |
unconscious to the last. | |
Hallam had not been strangled by the inrush of water. In going | |
overboard, this midshipman had struck the water with the back of his | |
head and had been stunned. In the absence of attention he had remained a | |
long time unconscious. | |
Even now the hapless midshipman whose frollicking had been the cause of | |
the disaster, did not immediately regain his full senses. | |
"Why, we're all in the water," he remarked after a while. | |
"Yes," assented Darrin, trying to speak cheerfully. | |
Midshipman Hallam remained silent for some moments before he next asked: | |
"How did it happen?" | |
"Fell overboard," replied Dan laconically, failing to mention who it was | |
who had fallen over the stern. | |
Again a rather long silence on Hallam's part. Then, at last, he | |
observed: | |
"Funny how we all fell over at the same time." | |
To this neither of his classmates made any rejoinder. | |
"See here," shouted Hallam, after a considerable period of silent | |
wondering, "I remember it all now. I was fooling at the stern rail and I | |
toppled overboard." | |
Dan nodded without words. | |
"And you fellows jumped in after me," roared Hallam, both his mental and | |
bodily powers now beginning to return. "Didn't you?" | |
"Of course," assented Darrin rather reluctantly. | |
"And what became of the fleet!" | |
Dave and Dan looked at each other before the former replied: | |
"Oh, well, Hally, brace up! The ships searched for us a long time, and | |
some launches were put out after us. But they couldn't see our little | |
heads above the big waves, and so----" | |
"They've gone away and left us?" queried Hallam, guessing at once. "Now, | |
fellows, I don't mind so much for myself, but it's fearful to think that | |
I've dragged you into the same fate. It's awful! Why couldn't you have | |
left me to my fate?" | |
"Would you have done a thing like that?" demanded Dave dryly. | |
"Oh, well, I suppose not, but--but--well, I wish I had been left to pay | |
the price of my tomfoolery all alone. It would have served me right. But | |
to drag you two into it--" | |
Hallam could go no further. He was choking up with honest emotion. | |
"Don't bother about it, Hally," urged Dave. "It's all in the day's work | |
for a sailor. We'll just take it as it comes, old fellow." | |
To not one of the trio did it occur to let go of the life buoys and sink | |
as a means of ending misery. In the first place, human instinct holds to | |
hope. In the second place, suicide is the resort of cowards. | |
"None of you happened to hide any food in his pockets at breakfast, I | |
take it?" asked Dan grimly, at last. | |
Of course they hadn't. | |
"Too bad," sighed Dan. "I'm growing terribly hungry." | |
"Catch a fish," smiled back Darrin. | |
"And eat it raw?" gasped Dalzell. "Darry, you know my tastes better than | |
that." | |
"Then wait a few hours longer," proposed Dave, "until even raw fish will | |
be a delicacy." | |
Hallam took no part in the chaffing. He was miserably conscious, all the | |
while, that his own folly had been solely responsible for the present | |
plight of these noble messmates. | |
Thus the time passed on. None kept any track of it; they realized only | |
that it was still daylight. | |
Then suddenly Dave gave a gasp and raised one hand to point. | |
His two classmates turned and were able to make out the mastheads of a | |
craft in the distance. | |
How they strained their eyes! All three stared and stared, until they | |
felt tolerably certain that the craft was headed their way. | |
"They may see us!" cried Hallam eagerly. | |
"Three battleships and as many launches failed to find us," retorted | |
Dan. "And they were looking for us, too." | |
As the vessel came nearer and the hull became visible, it took on the | |
appearance of a liner. | |
"Why, it looks as though she'd run right over us when she gets nearer," | |
cried Dave, his eyes kindling with hope. | |
"Don't get too excited over it," urged Dan. "For my part, I'm growing | |
almost accustomed to disappointments." | |
As the minutes passed and the liner came on and on, it looked still more | |
as though she would run down the three middies. | |
[Illustration: "Look! They See Us!"] | |
At last, however, the craft was passing, showing her port side, not very | |
far distant, to be sure. | |
Uniting their voices, the three midshipmen yelled with all their power, | |
even though they knew that their desperate call for help could not carry | |
the distance over the subsiding gale. | |
Boom! That shot came from the liner, and now her port rail was black | |
with people. | |
"They see us!" cried Hallam joyously. "Look! That craft is slowing up!" | |
Once more came the cheers of encouragement, as the liner, now some | |
distance ahead, put off a heavy launch. A masthead lookout, who had | |
first seen the midshipmen, was now signaling the way to the officer in | |
command of the launch. | |
Unable to see for himself, the officer in the launch depended wholly on | |
those masthead signals. So the launch steamed a somewhat zig-zag course | |
over the waves. Yet, at last, it bore down straight upon the midshipmen. | |
Darrin, Dalzell and Hallam now came very near to closing their eyes, to | |
lessen the suspense. | |
A short time more and all three were dragged in over the sides of the | |
launch. | |
"Get those life buoys in, if you can," begged Dave, as he sank in the | |
bottom of the launch. "They are United States property entrusted to our | |
care." | |
From officer and seamen alike a laugh went up at this request, but the | |
life buoys were caught with a boathook and drawn aboard. | |
What rousing cheers greeted the returning launch, from the decks of the | |
liner, "Princess Irene"! When the three midshipmen reached deck and it | |
was learned that they were midshipmen of the United States Navy, the | |
cheering and interest were redoubled. | |
But the captain and the ship's doctor cut short any attempt at lionizing | |
by rushing the midshipmen to a stateroom containing three berths. Here, | |
under the doctor's orders, the trio were stripped and rubbed down. Then | |
they were rolled into blankets, and hot coffee brought to them in their | |
berths, while their wet clothing was sent below to one of the furnace | |
rooms for hurried drying. | |
As soon as the medical man had examined them, the steamship's captain | |
began to question them. | |
"Headed for the Azores, eh?" demanded the ship's master. "We ought to be | |
able to sight your squadron before long." | |
He hastened out, to give orders to the deck officer. | |
By the time that the young midshipmen had been satisfactorily warmed, | |
and their clothing had been dried, the ship's surgeon consented to their | |
dressing. After this they were led to a private cabin where a satisfying | |
meal was served them. | |
"Oh, I don't know," murmured Dan, leaning back, with a contented sigh, | |
after the meal was over; "there are worse things than what happened to | |
us to-day!" | |
The greater speed of the liner enabled her to sight the battleship | |
squadron something more than two hours afterward. Then the nearest | |
vessel of the fleet was steered for directly. | |
The deck officers of the liner sent their heavy overcoats for the use of | |
the midshipmen, who, enveloped in these roomy garments, went out on deck | |
to watch the pursuit of their own comrades. | |
Within another hour it was possible to signal, and from the "Princess | |
Irene's" masthead the signal flags were broken out. | |
"Now, watch for excitement on board your own craft," smiled the liner's | |
commander, an Englishman. | |
As soon as the liner's signal had been read by the vessels of the | |
squadron a wild display of signal bunting swiftly broke out. | |
"Heaven be thanked!" read one set of signal flags. | |
"We have officially buried the young men, but ask them to go on living," | |
read another. | |
While the most practical signal of all was: | |
"The 'Massachusetts' will fall astern of the squadron. Kindly stand by | |
to receive her launch." | |
In a few minutes more the two vessels were close enough. Both stopped | |
headway. One of the big battleship's launches put off and steamed over, | |
rolling and pitching on the waves. | |
Most carefully indeed the three midshipmen climbed down a rope ladder | |
and were received by an ensign from the "Massachusetts," who next gave | |
the American Navy's profound thanks to the rescuers of the middies. | |
"Kindly lower that United States property that was in our care, sir!" | |
Dave Darrin called up. | |
There was good-humored laughter above, and a look of amazement on Ensign | |
White's face until the two buoys, attached to lines, were thrown down | |
over the side. | |
"When your time comes you will make a very capable officer, I believe, | |
Mr. Darrin, judging by your care of government property," remarked | |
Ensign White, working hard to keep down the laughter. | |
"I hope to do so, sir," Dave replied, saluting. | |
Then away to the "Massachusetts" the launch bore, while the whole | |
battleship squadron cheered itself hoarse over the happy outcome of the | |
day. | |
Dave, Dan and Hallam all had to do a tremendous amount of handshaking | |
among their classmates when they had reached deck. Pennington was the | |
only one who did not come forward to hold his hand out to Darrin--a fact | |
that was noted at the time by many of the youngsters. | |
To the captain the trio recounted what had befallen them, as matter for | |
official record. | |
"Mr. Darrin and Mr. Dalzell," announced the battleship's captain, "I | |
must commend you both for wholly heroic conduct in going to the aid of | |
your classmate. And, Mr. Darrin, I am particularly interested in your | |
incidental determination to preserve government property--the life buoys | |
that you brought back with you." | |
"It's possible I may need them again, sir," returned Dave, with a smile, | |
though he had no notion of prophetic utterance. | |
CHAPTER XI | |
MIDSHIPMAN PENNINGTON'S ACCIDENT | |
The stop at the Azores was uneventful. It remained in the minds of the | |
midshipmen only as a pleasant recollection of a quaint and pretty place. | |
Once more the squadron set sail, and now the homeward-bound pennant was | |
flying. The course lay straight across the Atlantic to the entrance of | |
Chesapeake Bay. | |
On the second night out the wind was blowing a little less than half a | |
gale. | |
Darkness had fallen when Dave, Dan, Farley and several other midshipmen | |
gathered to talk in low tones at the stern rail. | |
Presently all of them wandered away but Dave. He stood close to the | |
rail, enjoying the bumping motion every time the descending stern hit | |
one of the rolling waves. | |
Presently, thinking he saw a light astern, he raised himself, peering | |
astern. | |
Another group of restless middies had sauntered up. Pennington, after a | |
swift look at the pacing officer in charge here, and discovering that | |
the officer's back was turned, executed a series of swift cartwheels. | |
"Look out, Pen!" called Midshipman Dwight, in a low, though sharp voice. | |
Just too late the warning came. | |
As Pen leaped to his feet after the last turn, one of his hands struck | |
Darrin forcefully. | |
Dave swayed, tried to clutch at something, then-- | |
"O-o-o-oh!" rang the first startled chorus. | |
Then, instantly, on top of it, came the rousing hail: | |
"Man overboard--astern!" | |
Farley and Hallam were the first to reach the rail. But Lieutenant | |
Burton was there almost as quickly. | |
"Haul back!" commanded the lieutenant sternly. "No one go overboard!" | |
That held the middies in check, for in no place, more than in the Navy, | |
are orders orders. | |
Clack! was the sound that followed the first cry. Like a flash the | |
marine sentry had thrown his rifle to the deck. A single bound carried | |
him to one of the night life buoys. This he released, and hurled far | |
astern. | |
As the night buoy struck the water a long-burning red light was fused by | |
contact. The glow shone out over the waters. | |
In the meantime, the "Massachusetts's" speed was being slowed rapidly, | |
and a boat's crew stood at quarters. | |
The boat put off quickly, guided by the glow of the red signal light on | |
the buoy. Ere the boat reached the buoy the coxswain made out the head | |
and shoulders of a young man above the rim of the floating buoy. | |
Soon after the boat lay alongside. Dave, with the coxswain's aid, pulled | |
himself into the small craft. | |
Recovering the buoy, the coxswain flashed the red light three times. | |
From the deck of the battleship came a cheering yell sent up from | |
hundreds of throats. | |
In the meantime, however, while the boat was on its way to the buoy, a | |
pulsing scene had been enacted on board. | |
Farley went straight up to Midshipman Pennington. | |
"Sir," demanded Farley hotly, "why did you push Mr. Darrin over the | |
rail." | |
Pennington looked at his questioner as one stunned. | |
"I--I did push Darrin over," admitted Pennington, "but it was an | |
accident." | |
"An easily contrived one, wasn't it?" demanded Midshipman Farley, rather | |
cynically. | |
"It was pure accident," contended Pennington, paling. "Until it happened | |
I hadn't the least idea in the world that I was going to send Mr. Darrin | |
or anyone else overboard." | |
"Huh!" returned Farley dubiously. | |
"Huh!" quoth Hallam. | |
Dan Dalzell uttered not a word, but the gaze of his eyes was fixed | |
angrily on Pennington. | |
That latter midshipman turned as white as a sheet. His hands worked as | |
though he were attempting to clutch at something to hold himself up. | |
"Surely, you fellows don't believe, do you--" he stammered weakly, then | |
paused. | |
"One thing we did notice, the other day," continued Farley briskly, "was | |
that, when Darrin was rescued from the sea and returned to us, you were | |
about the only member of the class who didn't go up to him and | |
congratulate him on his marvelous escape." | |
"How could--" | |
"Mr. Pennington, I haven't the patience to talk with you now," rejoined | |
Farley, turning on his heel. | |
At that moment the yell started among the midshipmen nearer the rail. | |
Farley, Dan, Hallam and others joined in the yell and rushed to better | |
points of vantage. | |
Pennington tried to join in the cheer, but his tongue seemed fixed to | |
the roof of his mouth. He stood clenching and unclenching his hands, his | |
face an ashen gray in his deep humiliation. | |
"I don't care what one or two fellows may say," groaned Pennington. "But | |
I don't want the class to think such things of me." | |
He was the most miserable man on board as the small boat came alongside. | |
The boat, occupants and all, was hoisted up to the davits and swung | |
in-board. To the officer of the deck, who stood near-by, Dave turned, | |
with a brisk salute. | |
"I beg to report that I've come aboard, sir," Darrin uttered. | |
"And very glad we are of it, Mr. Darrin," replied the officer. "You will | |
go to your locker, change your clothing and then report to the captain, | |
sir." | |
"Aye, aye, sir." | |
With another salute, Dave hastened below, followed by Dan Dalzell, who | |
was intent on attending him. | |
Ten minutes later Dave appeared at the door of the captain's cabin. Just | |
a few minutes after that he came out on deck. | |
A crowd gathered about him, expressing their congratulations. | |
"Thank you all," laughed Dave, "but don't make so much over a middy | |
getting a bath outside of the schedule." | |
To the rear hung Pennington, waiting his chance. At last, as the crowd | |
thinned, Pennington made his way up to Dave. | |
"Mr. Darrin, I have to apologize for my nonsense, which was the means of | |
pushing you overboard. It was purely accidental, on my honor. I did not | |
even know it was you at the stern, nor did I realize that my antics | |
would result in pushing any one overboard. I trust you will do me the | |
honor of believing my statement." | |
"Of course I believe it, Mr. Pennington," answered Darrin, opening his | |
eyes. | |
"There are some," continued Pennington, "who have intimated to me their | |
belief that I did it on purpose. There may be others who half believe or | |
suspect that I might, or would, do such a thing." | |
"Nonsense!" retorted Dave promptly. "There may be differences, | |
sometimes, between classmates, but there isn't a midshipman in the Navy | |
who would deliberately try to drown a comrade. It's a preposterous | |
insult against midshipman honor. If I hear any one make a charge like | |
that, I'll call him out promptly." | |
"Some of your friends--I won't name them--insisted, or at least let me | |
feel the force of their suspicions." | |
"If any of my friends hinted at such a thing, it was done in the heat of | |
the moment," replied Dave heartily. "Why, Mr. Pennington, such an act of | |
dishonor is impossible to a man bred at Annapolis." | |
Darrin fully believed what he said. On the spur of the moment he held | |
out his hand to his enemy. | |
Pennington flushed deeply, for a moment, then put out his own hand, | |
giving Dave's a hearty, straightforward grasp. | |
"I was the first to imply the charge," broke in Farley quickly. "I | |
withdraw it, and apologize to both of you." | |
There was more handshaking. | |
During the next few days, while Darry and Pen did not become by any | |
means intimate, they no longer made any effort to avoid each other, but | |
spoke frankly when they met. | |
The remaining days of the voyage passed uneventfully enough, except for | |
a great amount of hard work that the middies performed as usual. | |
On the twenty-second of August they entered Chesapeake Bay. Once well | |
inside, they came to anchor. There was considerable practice with the | |
sub-caliber and other smaller guns. On the twenty-ninth of August the | |
battleship fleet returned to the familiar waters around Annapolis. The | |
day after that the young men disembarked. | |
Then came a hurried skeltering, for the first, second and third classmen | |
were entitled to leave during the month of September. | |
CHAPTER XII | |
BACK IN THE HOME TOWN | |
Back in the old, well-known streets of their home town, Gridley! | |
Dave and Dan, enjoying every minute of their month's leave, had already | |
greeted their parents, and had told them much of their life as | |
midshipmen. | |
What hurt was the fact that the skipper of the "Princess Irene" had | |
already told the marine reporters in New York the thrilling story of how | |
Dave and Dan had nearly come to their own deaths rescuing Midshipman | |
Hallam. | |
Everyone in Gridley, it seemed, had read that newspaper story. Darrin | |
and Dalzell, before they had been home twelve hours, were weary of | |
hearing their praises sung. | |
"There go two of the smartest, finest boys that old Gridley ever turned | |
out," citizens would say, pointing after Dave and Dan. "They're | |
midshipmen at Annapolis; going to be officers of the Navy one of these | |
days." | |
"But what's the matter with Dick Prescott and Greg Holmes? They're at | |
West Point." | |
"Oh, they're all right, too, of course. But Darrin and Dalzell----" | |
It was the old circumstance of being "the lions of the minute" and of | |
being on the spot. | |
On the first morning of his arrival home Dave Darrin went frankly and | |
openly to call on his old schoolgirl sweetheart, Belle Meade. | |
Dan, having no particular associations with the gentler sex, took a | |
stroll around town to meet any old friends who might care to see him | |
again. | |
Dave was shown into the parlor at the Meade home. Soon after Belle came | |
swiftly in, her face beaming with delight. | |
"Oh, but you're not in uniform!" was her first disappointed comment. | |
"No," smiled Dave. "I'm allowed every possible chance, for one month, to | |
forget every detail of the big grind which for a short time I've left | |
behind." | |
"But you're the same old Dave," cried Belle, "only bigger and manlier. | |
And that magnificent work you and Dan did in jumping over-bo----" | |
"Stop!" begged Dave. "You're a friend of mine, aren't you! Then don't | |
add to the pain that has been already inflicted on me. If I had had the | |
newspapers in mind I wouldn't have the nerve to---- But please let's not | |
talk about it anymore." | |
Then the two young people seated themselves and spent a delightful hour | |
in talking over all that had befallen them both since they had last met. | |
Belle, too, through Laura Bentley, had some much later news of the old | |
chums, Dick and Greg, now cadets at West Point. | |
This news, however, will be found in full in "DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND | |
YEAR AT WEST POINT." | |
"What are your plans for this afternoon?" Belle asked at last. | |
"That's what I want your help in making," Dave answered. | |
"Can you get hold of Dan?" | |
"No trouble about that. But keeping hold of him may be more difficult," | |
laughed Dave. | |
"I was going to propose that you get Dan, call here and then we'll all | |
go over to Laura Bentley's. I know she'll be anxious to see us." | |
"Nothing could be better in the way of a plan," assented Dave. "I'll pin | |
Danny boy down to that. It would really seem like a slight on good old | |
Dick if we didn't make Laura an early call." | |
"I'll go to the telephone, now, and tell her that we're coming," cried | |
Belle, rising quickly. | |
"Laura is delighted," she reported, on her return to the room. "But | |
Dave, didn't you at least bring along a uniform, so that we could see | |
what it looks like?" | |
"I didn't," replied Dave, soberly, then added, quizzically: | |
"You've seen the district messenger boys on the street, haven't you?" | |
"Yes, of course; but what--" | |
"Our uniforms look very much like theirs," declared Dave. | |
"I'm afraid I can't undertake to believe you," Belle pouted. | |
"Well, anyway, you girls will soon have a chance to see our uniforms. | |
Just as soon as our hops start, this fall, you and Laura will come down | |
and gladden our hearts by letting us drag you, won't you!" | |
"Drag us?" repeated Belle, much mystified. | |
"Oh, that's middies' slang for escorting a pretty girl to a midshipman | |
hop." | |
"You have a lot of slang, then, I suppose." | |
"Considerable," admitted Dave readily. | |
"What, then, is your slang for a pretty girl?" | |
"Oh, we call her a queen." | |
"And a girl who is--who isn't--pretty?" | |
"A gold brick," answered Dave unblushingly. | |
"A gold brick?" gasped Belle. "Dear me! 'Dragging a gold brick' to a hop | |
doesn't sound romantic, does it?" | |
"It isn't," Darrin admitted. | |
"Yet you have invited me--" | |
"Our class hasn't started in with its course of social compliments yet," | |
laughed Dave. "Please go look in the glass. Or, if you won't believe the | |
glass, then just wait and see how proud Dan and I are if we can lead you | |
and Laura out on the dancing floor." | |
"But what horrid slang!" protested Belle. "The idea of calling a homely | |
girl a gold brick! And I thought you young men received more or less | |
training in being gracious to the weaker sex." | |
"We do," Dave answered, "as soon as we can find any use for the | |
accomplishment. Fourth classmen, you know, are considered too young to | |
associate with girls. It's only now, when we've made a start in the | |
third class, that we're to be allowed to attend the hops at all." | |
"But why must you have to have such horrid names for girls who have not | |
been greatly favored in the way of looks? It doesn't sound exactly | |
gallant." | |
"Oh, well, you know," laughed Dave, "we poor, despised, no-account | |
middies must have some sort of sincere language to talk after we get our | |
masks off for the day. I suppose we like the privilege, for a few | |
minutes in each day, of being fresh, like other young folks." | |
"What is your name for 'fresh' down at Annapolis!" Belle wanted to know. | |
"Touge." | |
"And for being a bit worse than touge?" | |
"Ratey." | |
"Which did they call you?" demanded Belle. | |
Dave started, then sat up straight, staring at Miss Meade. | |
"I see that your tongue hasn't lost its old incisiveness," he laughed. | |
"Not among my friends," Belle replied lightly. "But I can't get my mind | |
off that uniform of yours that you didn't bring home. What would have | |
happened to you if you had been bold enough to do it?" | |
"I guess I'd have 'frapped the pap,'" hazarded Dave. | |
"And what on earth is 'frapping the pap'?" gasped Belle. | |
"Oh, that's a brief way of telling about it when a midshipman gets stuck | |
on the conduct report." | |
"I'm going to buy a notebook," asserted Belle, "and write down and | |
classify some of this jargon. I'd hate to visit a strange country, like | |
Annapolis, and find I didn't know the language. And, Dave, what sort of | |
place is Annapolis, anyway?" | |
"Oh, it's a suburb of the Naval Academy," Dave answered. | |
"Is it dreadfully hard to keep one's place in his class there?" asked | |
Belle. | |
"Well, the average fellow is satisfied if he doesn't 'bust cold,'" Dave | |
informed her. | |
"Gracious! What sort of explosion is 'busting cold'?" | |
"Why, that means getting down pretty close to absolute zero in all | |
studies. When a fellow has the hard luck to bust cold the superintendent | |
allows him all his time, thereafter, to go home and look up a more | |
suitable job than one in the Navy. And when a fellow bilges----" | |
"Stop!" begged Belle. "Wait!" | |
She fled from the room, to return presently bearing the prettiest hat | |
that Dave ever remembered having seen on her shapely young head. In one | |
hand she carried a dainty parasol that she turned over to him. | |
"What's the cruise?" asked Darrin, rising. | |
"I'm going out to get that notebook, now. Please don't talk any more | |
'midshipman' to me until I get a chance to set the jargon down." | |
As she stood there, such a pretty and wholesome picture, David Darrin | |
thought he never before had seen such a pretty girl, nor one dressed in | |
such exquisite taste. Being a boy, it did not occur to him that Belle | |
Meade had been engaged for weeks in designing this gown and others that | |
she meant to wear during his brief stay at home. | |
"What are you thinking of?" asked Belle. | |
"What a pity it is that I am doomed to a short life," sighed Darrin. | |
"A short life? What do you mean?" Belle asked. | |
"Why, I'm going to be assassinated, the first hop that you attend at the | |
Naval Academy." | |
"So I'm a gold brick, am I?" frowned Belle. | |
"You--a--gold brick?" stammered Dave. "Why, you--oh, go look in the | |
glass!" | |
"Who will assassinate you?" | |
"A committee made up from among the fellows whose names I don't write | |
down on your dance card. And there are hundreds of them at Annapolis. | |
You can't dance with them all." | |
"I don't intend to," replied Belle, with a toss of her head. "I'll | |
accept, as partners, only those who appear to me the handsomest and most | |
distinguished looking of the midshipmen. No one else can write his name | |
on my card." | |
"Dear girl, I'm afraid you don't understand our way of making up dance | |
cards at Crabtown." | |
"Where?" | |
"Crabtown. That's our local name for Annapolis." | |
"Gracious! Let me get out quickly and get that notebook!" | |
"At midshipmen's hops the fellow who drags the----" | |
"Gold brick," supplied Belle, resignedly. | |
"No--not for worlds! You're no gold brick, Belle, and you know it, even | |
though you do refuse to go to the mirror. But the fellow who drags any | |
femme--" | |
"Please--?" | |
"'Femme' stands for girl. The fellow who drags any femme makes up her | |
dance card for her." | |
"And she hasn't a word to say about it?" | |
"Not as a rule." | |
"Oh!" cried Belle, dramatically. | |
She moved toward the door. Dave, who could not take his eyes from her | |
pretty face, managed, somehow, to delay her. | |
"Belle, there's something--" he began. | |
"Good gracious! Where? What?" she cried, looking about her keenly. | |
"It's something I want to say--must say," Dave went on with more of an | |
effort than anyone but himself could guess. | |
"Tell me, as we're going down the street," invited Belle. | |
"_Wha-a-at?_" choked Dave. "Well, I guess not!" | |
He faced her, resting both hands lightly on her shoulders. | |
"Belle, we were pretty near sweethearts in the High School, I think," he | |
went on, huskily, but looking her straight in the eyes. "At least, that | |
was my hope, and I hope, most earnestly, that it's going to continue. | |
Belle, I am a long way from my real career, yet. It will be five years, | |
yet, before I have any right to marry. But I want to look forward, all | |
the time, to the sweet belief that my schoolgirl sweetheart is going to | |
become my wife one of these days. I want that as a goal to work for, | |
along with my commission in the Navy. But to this much I agree: if you | |
say 'yes' now, and find later that you have made a mistake, you will | |
tell me so frankly." | |
"Poor boy!" murmured Belle, looking at him fully. "You've been a plebe | |
until lately, and you haven't been allowed to see any girls. I'm not | |
going to take advantage of you as heartlessly as that." | |
Yet something in her eyes gave the midshipman hope. | |
"Belle," he continued eagerly, "don't trifle with me. Tell me--will you | |
marry me some day?" | |
Then there was a little more talk and--well, it's no one's business. | |
"But we're not so formally engaged," Belle warned him, "that you can't | |
write me and draw out of the snare if you wish when you're older. And | |
I'm not going to wear any ring until you've graduated from the Naval | |
Academy. Do you understand that, Mr. David Darrin?" | |
"It shall be as you say, either way," Dave replied happily. | |
"And now, let us get started, or we shan't get out on the street | |
to-day," urged Belle. | |
Then they passed out on the street, and no ordinarily observant person | |
would have suspected them of being anything more than school friends. | |
Being very matter-of-fact in some respects, Belle's first move was to go | |
to a stationer's, where she bought a little notebook bound in red | |
leather. | |
Dave tried to pay for that purchase, but Belle forestalled him. | |
"Why didn't you allow me to make you that little gift?" he asked in a | |
low tone, when they had reached the street. | |
"Wait," replied Belle archly. "Some day you may find your hands full in | |
that line." | |
"One of my instructors at Annapolis complimented me on having very | |
capable hands," Dave told her dryly. | |
"The instructor in boxing?" asked Belle. | |
It was a wonderfully delightful stroll that the middy and his sweetheart | |
enjoyed that September forenoon. | |
Once Dave sighed, so pronouncedly that Belle shot a quick look of | |
questioning at him. | |
"Tired of our understanding already?" she demanded. | |
"No; I was thinking how sorry I am for Danny boy! He doesn't know the | |
happiness of having a real sweetheart." | |
"How do you know he doesn't?" asked Belle quickly. "Does he tell you | |
everything?" | |
"No; but I know Danny's sea-going lines pretty well. I'd suspect, at | |
least, if he had a sweetheart." | |
"Are you sure that you would?" | |
"Oh, yes! By gracious! There's Danny going around the corner above at | |
this very moment." | |
Belle had looked in the same instant. | |
"Yes; and a skirt swished around the corner with him," declared Belle | |
impressively. "It would be funny, wouldn't it, if you didn't happen to | |
know all about Dan Dalzell?" | |
In the early afternoon, however, the mystery was cleared up. | |
On the street Dalzell had encountered Laura Bentley. Both were full of | |
talk and questions concerning Dick Prescott and Greg Holmes, at West | |
Point, for which reason Dan had strolled home with Miss Bentley without | |
any other thought, on the midshipman's part, than playing substitute | |
gallant for his chum, Cadet Richard Prescott, U.S. Military Academy. | |
A most delightful afternoon the four young people spent together at the | |
Bentley home. | |
These were the forerunners of other afternoons. | |
Belle and Laura, however, were not able to keep their midshipmen to | |
themselves. | |
Other girls, former students at the High School, arranged a series of | |
affairs to which the four young people were invited. | |
Dave's happiest moments were when he had Belle to himself, for a stroll | |
or chat. | |
Dan's happiest moments, on the other hand, were when he was engaged in | |
hunting the old High School fellows, or such of them as were now at | |
home. For many of them had entered colleges or technical schools. Tom | |
Reade and Harry Hazelton, of the famous old Dick & Co., of High School | |
days, were now in the far southwest, under circumstances fully narrated | |
in "THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA," the second volume of "THE YOUNG | |
ENGINEERS' SERIES.'" | |
Day by day Belle jotted down in her notebook more specimens of | |
midshipman slang. | |
"I shall soon feel that I can reel off the language like a native of | |
Crabtown," she confided laughingly to Dare. | |
"It won't be very long before you have an opportunity to try," Dave | |
declared, "if you and Laura embrace your first opportunity to come to a | |
middy hop." | |
Dan had a happy enough time of it, even though Dave's suspicion was true | |
in that Dan had no sweetheart. That, however, was Dan's fault entirely, | |
as several of the former High School girls would have been willing to | |
assure him. | |
Since even the happiest times must all end so the latter part of | |
September drew near. | |
Then came the day when Dave and Dan met at the railway station. A host | |
of others were there to see them off, for the midshipmen still had | |
crowds of friends in the good old home town. | |
A ringing of bells, signaling brakesmen, a rolling of steel wheels and | |
the two young midshipmen swung aboard the train, to wave their hats from | |
the platform. | |
Gridley was gone--lost to sight for another year. Dan was exuberant | |
during the first hour of the journey, Dave unusually silent. | |
"You need a vast amount of cheering up, David, little giant!" exclaimed | |
Dalzell. | |
"Oh, I guess not," smiled Dave Darrin quietly, adding to himself, under | |
his breath: | |
"I carry my own good cheer with me, now." | |
Lightly his hand touched a breast pocket that carried the latest, | |
sweetest likeness of Miss Belle Meade. | |
One journey by rail is much like another to the traveler who pays little | |
heed to the scenery. | |
At the journey's end two well-rested midshipmen joined the throng of | |
others at Crabtown. | |
CHAPTER XIII | |
DAN RECEIVES A FEARFUL FACER | |
"Oh, you heap!" sighed Dan Dalzell dismally. | |
He sat in his chair, in their new quarters in Bancroft Hall, United | |
States Naval Academy, gazing in mock despair at the pile of new books | |
that he had just drawn. | |
These text-books contained the subjects in which a midshipman is | |
required to qualify in his second academic year. | |
"Been through the books for a first look?" called Dave from behind his | |
own study table. | |
"Some of 'em," admitted Dalzell. "I'm afraid to glance into the others." | |
"I've looked in all of my books," continued Darrin, "and I've just come | |
to a startling conclusion." | |
"What?" | |
"I'm inclined to believe that I have received a complete set of | |
text-books for the first and second classes." | |
"No such luck!" grunted Dan, getting up and going over to his chum. "Let | |
me see if you got all the books I did." | |
Before Dave could prevent it, Dan started a determined over-tossing of | |
the book pile. As he did so, Dan suddenly uncovered a photograph from | |
which a fair, sweet, laughing face gazed up at him. | |
"Oh, I beg a million pardons, Dave, old boy!" cried Dalzell. | |
"You needn't," came Dave's frank answer. "I'm proud of that treasure and | |
of all it means to me." | |
"And I'm glad for you, David, little giant." | |
Their hands met in hearty clasp, and that was all that was said on that | |
subject at the time. | |
"But, seriously," Dan grumbled on, after a while, "I'm aghast at what an | |
exacting government expects and demands that we shall know. Just look | |
over the list--mechanical drawing and mechanical processes, analytical | |
geometry, calculus, physics, chemistry, English literature, French and | |
Spanish, integral calculus, spherical trigonometry, stereographic | |
projection and United States Naval history! David, my boy, by the end of | |
this year we'll know more than college professors do." | |
"Aren't you getting a big head, Danny?" queried Darrin, looking up with | |
a smile. | |
"I am," assented Dalzell, "and I admit it. Why, man alive, one has to | |
have a big head here. No small head would contain all that the Academic | |
Board insists on crowding into it." | |
By the time that the chums had attended the first section recitations on | |
the following day, their despair was increased. | |
"Davy, I don't see how we are ever going to make it, this year," Dalzell | |
gasped, while they were making ready for supper formation. "We'll bilge | |
this year without a doubt." | |
"There's only one reason I see for hoping that we can get through the | |
year with fair credit," murmured Darrin. | |
"And what's that?" | |
"Others have done it, before us, and many more are going to do it this | |
year," replied Dave slowly, as he laid comb and brush away and drew on | |
his uniform blouse. | |
"I know men have gotten through the Naval Academy in years gone by," | |
Dalzell agreed. "But, the first chance that I have, I'm going to look | |
the matter up and see whether the middies of old had any such fearful | |
grind as we have our noses held to." | |
"Oh, we'll do it," declared Darrin confidently. "I shall, anyway--for | |
I've got to!" | |
As he spoke he was thinking of Belle Meade, and of her prospects in life | |
as well as his own. | |
As the days went by, however, Dave and Dan became more and more dull of | |
spirits. The grind was a fearful one. A few very bright youngsters went | |
along all right, but to most of the third classmen graduation began to | |
look a thousand years away. | |
The football squad was out now and training in deadly earnest. There | |
were many big games to be played, but most of all the middies longed to | |
tow West Point's Army eleven into the port of defeat. | |
In their first year Dave and Dan had looked forward longingly to joining | |
the gridiron squad. They had even practised somewhat. But now they | |
realized that playing football in the second year at Annapolis must be, | |
for them, merely a foolish dream. | |
"I'm thankful enough if I can study day and night and keep myself up to | |
2.5," confessed Darrin, as he and Dan chatted over their gridiron | |
longings. | |
Two-and-five tenths is the lowest marking, on a scale of four, that will | |
suffice to keep a midshipman in the Naval Academy. | |
"I'm not going to reach 2.5 in some studies this month," groaned Dan. "I | |
know that much by way of advance information. The fates be thanked that | |
we're allowed until the semi-ans to pick up. But the question is, are we | |
ever going to pick up? As I look through my books it seems to me that | |
every succeeding lesson is twice as hard as the one before it." | |
"Other men have gone through, every year." | |
"And still other men have been dropped every year," Dalzell dolefully | |
reminded him. | |
"We're among those who are going to stay," Dave contended stubbornly. | |
"Then I'm afraid we'll be among those who are dropped after Christmas | |
and come back, next year, as bilgers," Dalzell groaned. | |
"Now, drop that!" commanded Darrin, almost roughly. "Remember one thing, | |
Daniel little lion slayer! My congressman and your senator won't appoint | |
us again, if we fail now. No talk of that kind, remember. We've got to | |
make our standing secure within the next few weeks." | |
Before the month was over the football games began in earnest on the | |
athletic field. Darrin and Dalzell, however, missed every game. They | |
were too busy poring over their text-books. Fortunately for them their | |
drills, parades and gym. work furnished them enough exercise. | |
The end of October found Darrin at or above 2.5 in only three studies. | |
Dan was above 2.5 in two studies--below that mark in all others. | |
"It's a pity my father never taught me to swear," grumbled Dalzell, in | |
the privacy of their room. | |
"Stow that talk," ordered Darrin, "and shove off into the deeper waters | |
of greater effort." | |
"Greater effort?" demanded Dan, in a rage. "Why I study, now, every | |
possible moment of the time allowed for such foolishness. And we can't | |
run a light. Right after taps the electric light is turned off at the | |
master switch." | |
"We're wasting ninety seconds of precious time, now, in grumbling," | |
uttered Dave, seating himself doggedly at his study table. | |
"Got any money, Darry?" asked Dalzell suddenly. | |
"Yes; are you broke?" | |
"I am, and the next time I go into Annapolis I mean to buy some | |
candles." | |
"Don't try that, Danny. Running a light is dangerous, and doubly so with | |
candles. The grease is bound to drip, and to be found in some little | |
corner by one of the discipline officers. It would be no use to study if | |
you are going to get frapped on the pap continuously." | |
Immediately after supper both midshipmen forfeited their few minutes of | |
recreation, going at once back to their study tables. There they | |
remained, boning hard until the brief release sounded before taps was | |
due. | |
Almost at the sound of the release there came a knock at the door. | |
Farley and his roommate, Page, came bounding in. | |
"I've got to say something, or I'll go daffy," cried Farley, rubbing his | |
eyes. "Fellows, did you ever hear of such downright abuse as the second | |
year course of studies means?" | |
"It is tough," agreed Dave. "But what can we do about it, except fight | |
it out?" | |
"Can you make head or tail out of calculus?" demanded Farley. | |
"No," admitted Darrin, "but I hope to, one of these days." | |
Just then Freeman, of the first class, poked his head in, after a soft | |
knock. | |
"What is this--a despair meeting?" he called cheerily. | |
"Yes," groaned Page. "We're in a blue funk over the way recitations are | |
going." | |
"Oh, buck up, kiddies!" called Freeman cheerily, as he crossed the | |
floor. "Youngsters always get in the doldrums at the beginning of the | |
year." | |
"You're a first classman. When you were in the third class did you have | |
all the studies that we have now?" | |
"Every one of them, sir," affirmed Midshipman Freeman gravely, though | |
there was a twinkle in his eyes. | |
"And did you come through the course easily?" asked Page. | |
"Not easily," admitted the first classman. "There isn't anything at | |
Annapolis that is easy, except the dancing. In fact, during the first | |
two months very few of our class came along like anything at all. After | |
that, we began to do better. By the time that semi-ans came around | |
nearly all of us managed to pull through. But what seems to be the worst | |
grind of all--the real blue paint?" | |
"Calculus!" cried the four youngsters in unison. | |
"Why, once you begin to see daylight in calculus it's just as easy as | |
taking a nap," declared the first classman. | |
"At present it seems more like suffering from delirium," sighed Dave. | |
"What's the hard one for to-morrow?" asked Freeman. | |
"Here it is, right here," continued Dave, opening his text-book. "Here's | |
the very proposition." | |
The others crowded about, nodding. | |
"I remember that one," laughed Freeman lightly. "Our class named it | |
'sticky fly paper.'" | |
"It was rightly named," grumbled Farley. | |
"None of you four youngsters see through it?" demanded Midshipman | |
Freeman. | |
"Do you mean to claim, sir, that you ever did?" insisted Dan Dalzell. | |
"Not only once, but now," grinned Mr. Freeman. "You haven't been looking | |
at this torturing proposition from the right angle--that's all. Now, | |
listen, while I read it." | |
"Oh, we all know how it runs, Mr. Freeman," protested Page. | |
"Nevertheless, listen, while I read it." | |
As the first classman read through the proposition that was torturing | |
them he threw an emphasis upon certain words that opened their eyes | |
better as to the meaning. | |
"Now, it works out this way," continued the first classman, bending over | |
the disk and drawing paper and pencil toward him. "In the first place." | |
Freeman seemed to these youngsters like a born demonstrator. Within five | |
minutes he had made the "sticky fly paper" problem so plain to them all | |
that they glanced from one to another in astonishment. | |
"Why, it does seem easy," confessed Farley. | |
"It sounds foolish, now," grinned Darrin. "I'm beginning to feel ashamed | |
of myself." | |
"Mr. Freeman," protested Page, "you've saved us from suicide, or some | |
other gruesome fate." | |
"Then I'll drop in once in a while again," promised the first classman. | |
"But that will take time from your own studies," remonstrated Darrin | |
generously. | |
"Not in the least. I won't come around before release. By the time a | |
fellow reaches the first class, if he's going to graduate anyway, he | |
doesn't have to study as hard as a youngster does. The man who reaches | |
the first class has had all the habits of true study ground into him." | |
Darrin, Dalzell, Farley and Page were all in different sections in | |
mathematics. When they recited, next day, it so happened that each was | |
the man to have the "sticky fly paper" problem assigned to him by the | |
instructor. Each of the quartette received a full "4" for the day's | |
marking. | |
"Did you have any assistance with this problem, Mr. Darrin?" asked | |
Dave's instructor. | |
"Yes, sir; a member of the first class tried to make it plain to me last | |
night." | |
"He appears to have succeeded," remarked the instructor dryly. | |
There was, however, no discredit attached to having received proper | |
assistance before coming into section. | |
True to his promise Freeman dropped in every fourth or fifth evening, to | |
see if he could be of any help to the four youngsters. Always he found | |
that he could be. | |
Even when Thanksgiving came, Dave Darrin did not go to Philadelphia, but | |
remained at the Academy, devoting his time to study. | |
Dan, in sheer desperation, took in the trip to Philadelphia. He hoped to | |
meet Dick Prescott and Greg Holmes, but they did not come down from West | |
Point. | |
On the first day of December, Dan Dalzell's name was formally reported | |
by the Academic Board in a report to the superintendent which | |
recommended that Midshipman Dalzell be dropped from the rolls for | |
"inaptitude in his studies." | |
Poor Dan. It was a staggering blow. Yet it struck Dave Darrin just about | |
as hard. | |
CHAPTER XIV | |
THE FIRST HOP WITH THE HOME GIRLS | |
That report was allowed to reach Dan's ears on a Friday. | |
On the evening of the day following there was to be a midshipman hop on | |
the floor of the great gym. | |
Moreover, it was the very hop that Belle Meade and Laura Bentley had | |
finally selected to attend. Mrs. Meade was coming with the girls as | |
chaperon. | |
"Oh, but I shall feel fine and light hearted for going to the dance!" | |
muttered Dan miserably. "Facing the kick-off from the Academy, and doing | |
the light hearted and the fantastic toe with the girls." | |
"I shan't feel a whole lot more merry myself," sighed Dave, as he gazed | |
affectionately, wistfully at his chum. "Danny, this has hit me about as | |
hard as it has you. And it warns me, too, that my turn will probably | |
come next. I don't stand an awful lot higher in my markings than you | |
do." | |
"Doesn't it feel fine to be a bilger?" gulped Dalzell, staring at the | |
floor. | |
A "bilger," as has been already explained, is a midshipman who has | |
failed and has been dropped. | |
"Oh, but you're not a bilger, yet!" cried Darrin, leaping up and resting | |
both hands on his chum's shoulder. | |
"What's the odds?" demanded Dan grimly. "I shall be, after I've been | |
before the Board next Monday forenoon at ten o'clock." | |
"Nonsense! Not if you make a good fight!" | |
"Fight--nothing!" sighed Dan wearily. "In a fight there's some one else | |
that you can hit back at. But I won't have a blessed soul to fight. I'm | |
up against a gang who are all referees, and all down on me at the | |
outset." | |
"Nonsense," combatted Dave. "You----" | |
"Oh, that's all right, David, little giant," returned Dalzell with an | |
attempt at cheeriness. "You mean well, but a fellow isn't reported | |
deficient unless he's so far behind that the Board has his case settled | |
in advance. From all I can hear it isn't once in a camel's age that a | |
fellow so reported, and ordered before the Board, gets off with anything | |
less than a hard, wet bilge. What I'm thinking of now is, what am I | |
going to pick up as a career when I go home from here as a failure." | |
If it hadn't been for the pride he felt in still having the uniform on, | |
Dalzell might not have been able to check the tears that tried to flow. | |
"Come on," commanded Dave, leaping up, "we'll run up to the deck above, | |
and see if we can't find Mr. Freeman in." | |
"What good will that do?" demanded Dan. "Freeman is a first classman, | |
but he hasn't any particular drag with the Board." | |
"It won't do any harm, anyway, for us to have a talk with an older | |
classman," argued Dave. "Button your blouse, straighten your hair and | |
come along." | |
"So it's as bad as that, is it!" asked Freeman sympathetically, after | |
his cheery "come in" had admitted the unhappy youngsters. | |
"Yes," replied Dave incisively. "Now, the question is, what can be done | |
about it?" | |
"I wish you had asked me an easier one," sighed the first classman. | |
"You're mighty well liked, all through the Academy, Dalzell, and every | |
one of us will hate to see you go." | |
"But what can be done to ward off that fate?" insisted Darrin as | |
impatiently as a third classman might speak to a venerable first | |
classman. | |
"Well, now, I want to think over that," confessed Freeman frankly. "Of | |
course, Dalzell's record, this term, is in black and white, and can't be | |
gainsaid. It's just possible our young friend can put up some line of | |
talk that will extend his time here, and perhaps enable him to pull | |
through. It's a mighty important question, so I'll tell you what we'll | |
do. Of course, the hop comes on for to-morrow night. Let me have until | |
Sunday evening. Meanwhile I'll talk with some of the other fellows of my | |
class. You both come in here Sunday evening, and I'll have the answer | |
for you--if there's any possible way of finding one." | |
With that the chums had to be content. Expressing their gratitude to | |
this friendly first classman, they withdrew. | |
That Saturday forenoon Dan did considerably better with the two | |
recitations that he had in hand. | |
"I got easier questions than usual, I guess," he said to Dave, with a | |
mournful smile. | |
After Saturday dinner, Dave and Dan, having secured permission to visit | |
in Annapolis, steered their course through the gate, straight up | |
Maryland Avenue, through State Circle and around into Main Street, to | |
the Maryland House. | |
At the desk they sent up their cards to Mrs. Meade, then stepped into | |
the parlor. | |
Barely two minutes had passed when Belle and Laura flew downstairs. | |
"Mother says she'll be down as soon as she fancies you'll care about | |
seeing her," laughed Belle. | |
"And how are you getting on in your classes?" asked Laura Bentley, | |
glancing straight at unhappy Dan. | |
Both midshipmen had agreed not to mention a word of Dan's heartache to | |
either of the girls. | |
Dan gulped hard, though he managed to conceal the fact. | |
Darrin, however, was ready with the answer: | |
"Oh, we're having pretty rough sailing, but we're both still in our | |
class." | |
Which statement was wholly truthful. | |
"Up at West Point," Laura continued, "Dick told us that the first two | |
years were the hardest for a man to keep his place. I fancy it's just | |
about the same here, isn't it?" | |
"Just about," Dave nodded. "The first two years are hardest because it | |
takes all that time for a fellow to get himself keyed up to the gait of | |
study that is required in the government academies. But won't you let us | |
talk about something that's really pleasant, girls?" Dave asked, with | |
his charming smile. "Suppose we talk about yourselves. My, but you girls | |
are good to look at!" | |
After that, the conversation was shifted to lighter subjects. | |
Even Dan, in the joy of meeting two girl friends from home, began to be | |
less conscious of his load of misery. | |
Presently Mrs. Meade came down. She chatted with the two fine-looking | |
young midshipmen for a few moments. Then Dave proposed: | |
"Wouldn't you like us to escort you through the Academy grounds, so that | |
you can get a good idea of the place in daylight?" | |
"We've been waiting only for you to invite us," rejoined Belle. | |
For the next two hours the time was passed pleasantly. | |
But Belle, behind all her light chatter, was unusually keen and | |
observing. | |
"Is anything wrong with either of you?" she asked Dave suddenly, when | |
this pair were out of easy hearing of the others. | |
"Why do you ask that?" inquired Dave, looking at her in his direct | |
fashion. | |
"Why, I may be unnecessarily sensitive, but I can't help feeling that | |
some sort of disaster is hanging over either you or Dan." | |
"I hope not," replied Darrin evasively. | |
"Dave, that isn't a direct answer," warned Belle, raising her eyebrows. | |
"Do you consider me entitled to one?" | |
"Yes. What's the question?" | |
"Are you in any trouble here?" | |
"No, I'm thankful to say." | |
"Then is Dan?" | |
"Belle, I'd rather not answer that." | |
"Why----" | |
"Well, because, if he is, I'd rather not discuss it." | |
"Has Dan been caught in any scrape?" | |
"No. His conduct record is fine." | |
"Then it must be failure in his studies." | |
Dave did not answer. | |
"Why don't you tell me?" insisted Belle. | |
"If anything were in the wind, Belle, we'd rather not tell you and spoil | |
your visit. And don't ask Dan anything about it." | |
"I think I know enough," went on Belle thoughtfully and sympathetically. | |
"Poor Dan! He's one of the finest of fellows." | |
"There are no better made," retorted Dave promptly. | |
"If anything happens to Dan here, dear, I know you will feel just as | |
unhappy about it as if it happened to yourself." | |
"Mighty close to it," nodded Darrin. "But it would be a double | |
heartbreak for me, if I had to leave." | |
"Why?" | |
"On account of the future I've planned for you, Belle." | |
"Oh, you silly boy, then!" Belle answered, smiling into his eyes. "I | |
believe I have half committed myself to the idea of marrying you when | |
you've made your place in life. But it was Dave Darrin to whom I gave | |
that half promise--not a uniform of any sort. Dave, if anything ever | |
happens that you have to quit here, don't imagine that it's going to | |
make a particle of difference in our understanding." | |
"You're the real kind of sweetheart, Belle!" murmured Dave, gazing | |
admiringly at her flushed face. | |
"Did you ever suspect that I wasn't?" asked Miss Meade demurely. | |
"Never!" declared Midshipman Darrin devoutly. "Nevertheless, it's fine | |
to be reassured once in a while." | |
"What a great fellow Dan is!" exclaimed Belle a few minutes later. "See | |
how gayly he is chatting with Laura. I don't believe Laura guesses for a | |
moment that Dan Dalzell is just as game a fellow as the Spartan boy of | |
olden times." | |
CHAPTER XV | |
A DISAGREEABLE FIRST CLASSMAN | |
The hop that night was one of the happiest occasions Dave had ever | |
known, yet it was destined to result in trouble for him. | |
Midshipman Treadwell, of the first class, caught sight of Belle as she | |
entered the gym at Dave Darrin's side. | |
With Treadwell it happened to be one of those violent though unusually | |
silly affairs known as "love at first sight." | |
As for Belle, she was not likely to have eyes for anyone in particular, | |
save Dave. | |
Treadwell, who had come alone, and who was not to be overburdened with | |
dances, went after Dave as soon as that youngster left Belle for the | |
first time. | |
"Mighty sweet looking girl you have with you, Darry," observed the first | |
classman, though he took pains not to betray too much enthusiasm. | |
"Right!" nodded Dave. | |
"You'll present me, won't you?" | |
"Assuredly, as soon as I come back. I have a little commission to attend | |
to." | |
"And you might be extremely kind, Darry, and write me down for a couple | |
of numbers on Miss----" | |
"Miss Meade is the young lady's name." | |
"Then delight me by writing down a couple of reservations for me on Miss | |
Meade's card." | |
Darrin's face clouded slightly. | |
"I'd like to, Treadwell, but the card is pretty crowded, and some other | |
fellows--" | |
"One dance, anyway, then." | |
"I will, then, if there's a space to be left, and if Miss Meade is | |
agreeable," promised Dave, as he hurried away. | |
Two minutes later, when he returned, looking very handsome, indeed, in | |
his short-waisted, gold-laced dress coat, Dave felt his arm touched. | |
"I'm waiting for you to keep your engagement with me," Midshipman | |
Treadwell murmured. | |
"Come along; I shall be delighted to present you to Miss Meade." | |
Since every midshipman is granted to be a gentleman, midshipman | |
etiquette does not require that the lady be consulted about the | |
introduction. | |
"Miss Meade," began Dave, bowing before his sweetheart, "I wish to | |
present Mr. Treadwell" | |
Belle's greeting was easy. Treadwell, gazing intensely into her eyes, | |
exchanged a few commonplaces. Belle, entirely at her ease, did not | |
appear to be affected by the battery of Mr. Treadwell's gaze. Then good | |
breeding required that the first classman make another bow and stroll | |
away. | |
As he left, Treadwell murmured in Dave's ear: | |
"Don't forget that dance, Darry! Two if there is any show." | |
Midshipman Darrin nodded slightly. As he turned to Belle, that young | |
lady demanded lightly: | |
"Is that pirate one of your friends, Dave?" | |
"Not more so than any other comrades in the brigade," Darrin answered. | |
"Why?" | |
"Nothing, only I saw you two speaking together a little while ago----" | |
"That was when he was asking me to present him." | |
"Then, after you left him," continued Belle, in a low voice, "Mr. | |
Treadwell scowled after you as though he could have demolished you." | |
"Why, I've no doubt Mr. Treadwell is very jealous of me," laughed Damn | |
happily. "Why shouldn't he be? By the way, will you let me see your | |
dance card? Mr. Treadwell asked me to write his name down for one or two | |
dances." | |
"Please don't," begged Belle suddenly, gripping her dance card tightly. | |
"I hope you don't mind, Dave," she added in a whisper, "but I've taken | |
just a shadow of a dislike to Mr. Treadwell, after the way that he | |
scowled after you. I--I really don't want to dance with him." | |
Dave could only bow, which he did. Then other midshipmen were presented. | |
Belle's card was quickly filled, without the appearance of Midshipman | |
Treadwell's name on it. | |
The orchestra struck up. Dave danced the first two numbers with Belle, | |
moving through a dream of happiness as he felt her waist against his | |
arm, one of her hands resting on his shoulder. | |
The second dance was a repetition of Dave's pleasure. Then Dave and Dan | |
exchanged partners for two more dances. | |
After their first dance, a waltz, Dave led Laura to a seat. | |
"Will you get me a glass of water, Dave?" Laura asked, fanning herself. | |
As Dave hastened away he felt, once more, a light, detaining touch. | |
"Darry, did you save those two dances for me with Miss Meade?" asked | |
Treadwell. | |
"Oh, I'm sorry," Dave replied. "But there had been many other | |
applicants. By the time that Miss Meade's card was filled there were | |
many disappointed ones." | |
"And I'm one of them?" demanded Mr. Treadwell. | |
"Very sorry," replied Darrin regretfully, "but you were one of the | |
left-over ones." | |
"Very good, sir," replied Treadwell coldly, and moved away. | |
"Now, I'll wager anything that Treadwell is sore with me," murmured Dave | |
to himself. "However, Belle is the one to be pleased." | |
It was a particularly gay and pleasant hop. When it was over Dave and | |
Dan escorted the girls and Mrs. Meade back to the hotel. The little room | |
in Bancroft Hall seemed especially small and dingy to the returning | |
midshipmen. | |
Especially was Dan Dalzell in the blues. Though he had been outwardly | |
gay with the girls, he now suffered a re-action. Dave, too, shivered for | |
his friend. | |
Mrs. Meade and the girls returned by an early morning train, so the two | |
chums did not see the girls again during that visit. | |
On Sunday, Dave went at his books with a dogged air, after morning | |
chapel and dinner. | |
"I suppose this is the last day of study for me here," grimaced Dan, "so | |
I mean to make the most of the pleasure." | |
"Nonsense," retorted Darrin heartily; "you'll finish out this year, and | |
then have two more solid years of study here ahead of you." | |
"Cut it!" begged Dan dolefully. "Don't try to jolly me along like that." | |
"You're down in the dumps, just now, Danny boy," smiled Darrin | |
wistfully. "Just bombard the Board with rapid-fire talk to-morrow, and | |
you'll pull through all right." | |
Dan sighed, then went on with his half-hearted study. | |
Later in the afternoon Dave, feeling the need of fresh air, closed his | |
books. | |
"Come for a walk, Danny boy?" | |
"Don't dare to," replied Dalzell morosely. | |
So, though Darrin went out, he resolved not to remain long away from his | |
moody chum. | |
Outside, on one of the cement walks, Dave turned toward Flirtation Walk. | |
It seemed the best surrounding in which to think of Belle. | |
"Mr. Darrin!" called a voice. | |
Dave turned, to behold Mr. Treadwell coming at a fast stride with a | |
scowl on his face. | |
"That was a dirty trick you played me last night, Mr. Darrin!" cried the | |
first classman angrily. | |
"What?" gasped Dave, astonished, for this was not in line with the usual | |
conversation of midshipmen. | |
"You know well enough what I mean," cried Treadwell angrily. "You spiked | |
my only chance to dance with Miss Meade." | |
"You're wrong there," retorted Dave coldly and truthfully "I didn't." | |
"Then how did it happen?" | |
"I can't discuss that with you," Darrin rejoined. "I didn't make any | |
effort, though, to spoil your chance of a dance with the young lady." | |
"Mr. Darrin, I don't choose to believe you, sir!" | |
Dave's face went crimson, then pale. | |
"Do you realize what you're saying, Mr. Treadwell?" | |
"Of course"--sneeringly. | |
"Are you trying to pick trouble with me?" demanded Dave, his eyes | |
flashing with spirit. | |
"I repeat that I don't choose to believe your explanation, sir." | |
"Then you pass me the lie?" | |
"As you prefer to consider it," jeered the first classman. | |
"Oh, very good, then, Mr. Treadwell," retorted Dave, eyeing the first | |
classman and sizing him up. | |
Treadwell was one of the biggest men, physically, in the brigade. He was | |
also one of the noted fighters of his class. Beside Treadwell, | |
Midshipman Darrin did not size up at all advantageously. | |
"If you do not retract what you just said," pursued Dave Darrin, growing | |
cooler now that he realized the deliberate nature of the affront that | |
had been put upon him, "I shall have no choice but to send my friends to | |
you." | |
"Delighted to see them, at any time," replied the first classman, | |
turning disdainfully upon his heel and strolling away. | |
"Now, why on earth does that fellow deliberately pick a fight with me?" | |
wondered Darrin, as he strolled along by himself. "Treadwell can thump | |
me. He can knock me clean down the Bay and into the Atlantic Ocean, but | |
what credit is there in it for a first classman to thrash a youngster?" | |
It was too big a puzzle. After thinking it over for some time Dave | |
turned and strolled back to Bancroft Hall. | |
"You didn't stay out long!" remarked Dan, looking up with a weary smile | |
as his chum re-entered their room. | |
"No," admitted Dave. "There wasn't much fun in being out alone." | |
With a sigh, Dan turned back to his book, while Dave seated himself at | |
his own study table, in a brown daze. | |
Things were happening fast--Dan's impending "bilge" from the Naval | |
Academy, and his own coming fight with the first classman who would be | |
sure to make it a "blood fight"! | |
CHAPTER XVI | |
HOW DAN FACED THE BOARD | |
"We trust, Mr. Dalzell, that you can make some statement or explanation | |
that will show that we shall be justified in retaining you as a | |
midshipman in the Naval Academy." | |
It was the superintendent of the United States Naval Academy who was | |
speaking. | |
Dan's hour of great ordeal had come upon him. That young midshipman | |
found himself in the Board Room, facing the entire Academic Board, | |
trying to remember what Freeman had told him the night before. | |
The time was 10.30 a.m. on that fateful Monday. | |
Midshipman Dalzell appeared to be collected, but he was also very | |
certainly white-faced. | |
Many a young man, doomed to be sent forth from a Naval career, back into | |
the busy, unheeding world, had faced this Board in times past. So it was | |
hardly to be expected that Dan would inspire any unusual interest in the | |
members of the Board. | |
Dan swallowed at something hard in his throat, then opened his lips to | |
speak. | |
"I am aware, sir, and gentlemen, that I am at present sufficiently | |
deficient in my studies to warrant my being dropped," Dan began rather | |
slowly. "Yet I would call attention to the fact that I was nearly as | |
badly off, in the matter of markings, at this time last year. It is also | |
a matter of record that I pulled myself together, later on, and | |
contrived to get through the first year with a considerable margin of | |
credits to spare. If I am permitted to finish the present term here I | |
believe I can almost positively promise that I will round out this year | |
with as good a showing as I did last year." | |
"You have thought the matter carefully out in making this statement, | |
have you, Mr. Dalzell?" asked the superintendent. | |
"I have, sir." | |
"Have you any explanation to offer for falling below the standards so | |
far this year, Mr. Dalzell?" | |
"I believe, sir, that I make a much slower start, with new studies, than | |
most of my classmates," Dan continued, speaking more rapidly now, but in | |
a most respectful manner. "Once I begin to catch the full drift of new | |
studies I believe that I will overtake some of my classmates who showed | |
a keener comprehension at the first. I think, sir, and gentlemen, that | |
my record, as contrasted with the records of some of my classmates who | |
achieved about the same standing I did for last year will bear my | |
statement out." | |
[Illustration: "Have You Any Explanation to Offer, Mr. Dalzell?"] | |
The superintendent turned to a printed pamphlet in which were set forth | |
the records of the midshipmen for the year before. | |
"Mr. Dalzell," asked another member of the Board, "do you feel that you | |
are really suited for the life of the Navy? Is it your highest ambition | |
to become an officer of the Navy?" | |
"It's my only ambition, sir, in the way of a career," Dan answered | |
solemnly. "As to my being suited for the Navy, sir, I can't make a good | |
answer to that. But I most earnestly hope that I shall have an | |
opportunity, for the present, to try to keep myself in the service." | |
"And you feel convinced that you need only to be carried for the balance | |
of the term to enable you to make good, and to justify any action that | |
we may take looking to that end?" asked another member of the Board. | |
"That is my firm conviction, sir." | |
The superintendent, who had been silently examining and marking some | |
statements in the pamphlet, now passed it to the nearest member of the | |
Board, who, after a glance or two, passed the pamphlet on to another | |
member. | |
Silence fell upon the room while Dan's printed record was being read. | |
"Have you anything else that you wish to say, Mr. Dalzell?" asked the | |
superintendent at last. | |
"Only this, sir and gentlemen," replied Dan promptly. "If I am permitted | |
to go on with the brigade, I promise, as far as any human being may | |
promise, that I will not only be found to have passed at the end of this | |
term, but that I will also have a higher marking after the annual | |
examinations than after the semi-annuals." | |
These last few words Dan spoke with his whole soul thrown into the | |
words. How he longed to remain in the Navy, now that he stood at the | |
threshold of the life, uncertain whether he was about to be kicked | |
across it into the outer world! | |
After glancing around the table, the superintendent turned once more to | |
the young man. | |
"That will be all, at present, Mr. Dalzell." | |
Saluting briskly, crisply, Dan wheeled about, marching from the room. | |
He was in time to make a section recitation before dinner. | |
"How did you come out, Danny boy?" anxiously inquired Dave Darrin as the | |
two, in their room, hastily prepared to answer the coming call for | |
dinner formation. | |
"I wish I knew," replied Dalzell wistfully. "I said all that I could say | |
without being everlastingly fresh." | |
After the brigade had been formed for dinner, and the brigade adjutant | |
had reported the fact, the command was given: | |
"Publish the orders!" | |
This the brigade adjutant did rapidly, and in perfunctory tones. | |
Dalzell jumped, however, when he heard his own name pronounced. He | |
strained his ears as the brigade adjutant read: | |
"In the matter of Daniel Dalzell, summoned before the Academic Board to | |
determine his fitness and aptitude for continuing in the brigade, the | |
Board has granted Midshipman Dalzell's urgent request that he be | |
continued as a midshipman for the present." | |
There was a great lump, instantly, in Dan's throat. It was a reprieve, a | |
chance for official life--but that was all. | |
"I'll make good--I'll make good!" he told himself, with a violent gulp. | |
The orders were ringing out sharply now. The midshipmen were being | |
marched in to dinner. | |
Hardly a word did Dalzell speak as he ate. As for Dave Darrin, he was | |
too happy over his chum's respite to want to talk. | |
Yet, when they strolled together in the open air during the brief | |
recreation period following the meal, Dalzell suddenly asked: | |
"Dave when do you fight with Treadwell?" | |
"To-night, I hope," replied Darrin. | |
"Oh, then I must get busy!" | |
"Why?" | |
"Why, I'm to represent you, Darry. Who are Treadwell's--" | |
"Danny boy, don't make a fuss about it," replied Dave quietly, "but just | |
for this once you are not to be my second." | |
"Why--" | |
"Danny boy, you have just gotten by the Board by a hair's breadth. What | |
kind of an act of gratitude would it be for you to make your first act a | |
breach of discipline? For a fight, though often necessary here, is in | |
defiance of the regulations." | |
"But Dave, I've never been out of your fights!" | |
"You will be this time, Danny. Don't worry about it, either. Farley and | |
Page are going to stand by me. In fact, I think that even now they are | |
talking with Treadwell's friends." | |
"You're wrong," murmured Dalzell, looking very solemn. "Here come Farley | |
and Page right now." | |
In another moment the seconds had reached Darrin and his chum. | |
"To-night?" asked Dave quietly. | |
"Yes," nodded Page. | |
"Time?" | |
"Just after recall." | |
"Good," murmured Darrin. "You two come for me, and I'll be ready. And I | |
thank both of you fellows for taking up the matter for me." | |
"We'll be mighty glad to be there, Darry," grinned Farley, "for we look | |
to see you finish off that first classman." | |
"Maybe," smiled Dave quietly. "I'll do all I can, anyway." | |
"And to think," almost moaned Dan Dalzell, "that you're to be in a | |
scrap, David, little giant, and I'm not to be there to see!" | |
"There'll be other fights, I'm afraid," sighed Darry. "I seem destined | |
to displease quite a few of the fellows here at Annapolis." | |
Dan tried to study, that night, after Darrin had left the room in the | |
company of his seconds. Certainly Dan, in the light of his promise made | |
to the Board that morning, had need to study. Yet he found it woefully | |
hard to settle his mind on mathematics while Dave was fighting the fight | |
of his Naval Academy career. | |
"Oh, well," muttered Dan, picking up a pencil for the third time, "Dave | |
and I each have our own styles of fights, just now. Here goes for a | |
knockout blow at math!" | |
CHAPTER XVII | |
LOSING THE TIME-KEEPER'S COUNT | |
Conners and Brayton were Treadwell's seconds. | |
Since it is not considered fair to have the referee or time-keeper from | |
either class represented in a fight, Edgerton and Wheeler, of the second | |
class, were referee and time-keeper respectively. | |
All of the young men were early at the usual fighting ground. The fall | |
air was cool and crisp, but it was not yet considered cold enough to | |
justify the extra risk of holding a fight in-doors. | |
Dave was quickly stripped and made ready by his seconds. His | |
well-developed chest bespoke fine powers in the way of "wind" and | |
endurance. His smooth, hard, trim muscles stood out distinctly. | |
Treadwell took more time in getting himself ready for the ring. When at | |
last, however, the first classman stood bared to the waist, he looked | |
like a giant beside Dave Darrin. | |
"It looks like a shame to take the money, Tread," murmured referee | |
Edgerton. | |
"I don't want to pound the youngster hard," explained Midshipman | |
Treadwell, in an undertone. "Yet I've got to teach him both to respect | |
my class and myself." | |
On this point, as an official of the fight, Referee Edgerton did not | |
feel called upon to express an opinion. | |
Farley, at his first glimpse of the waiting first classman, felt a chill | |
of coming disaster. | |
"Page," he growled, "that huge top-classman makes our Darry look like a | |
creeping infant." | |
"Darry will take care of himself," retorted Midshipman Page in an | |
undertone. | |
"Do you believe it?" | |
"I surely do." | |
"But Treadwell looks a whole lot more vast now that he's stripped." | |
"Darry is much smaller, I know; But Darrin is one of those rare fellows | |
who don't know what it means to be whipped. He can't be put out of | |
business by anything smaller than a twelve-inch gun!" | |
"I hope you're right," sighed Farley. | |
Dave, in the meantime, to keep himself from being chilled by the frosty | |
air, was running lightly about, swinging his arms. | |
"Are you both ready, gentlemen?" inquired Midshipman Edgerton, while | |
Time-keeper Wheeler drew out his stop watch. | |
Both stepped to toe the scratch. | |
"Yes." nodded Dave. | |
"Ready!" rumbled Treadwell. | |
The referee briefly made the usual announcement about it being a fight | |
to the finish, with two-minute rounds and two minutes between rounds. | |
"Time!" | |
As Treadwell leaped forward, both fists in battery, Dave took a swift, | |
nimble sidestep. He felt that he had to study this big fellow carefully | |
before doing more than keep on the defensive. | |
Now footwork was one of the fighting tricks for which Darry was famous. | |
Yet he had too much courage to rely wholly upon it. | |
Five times Treadwell swung at his smaller opponent, but each time Dave | |
was somewhere else. | |
Despite his greater size, Treadwell was himself nimble and an adept at | |
footwork. | |
Finding it hard, however, to get about as quickly as his smaller | |
opponent, the first classman soon went in for close, in-body fighting, | |
following Dave, half-cornering him, and forcing him to stand and take | |
it. | |
Two or three body blows Dave succeeded in parrying so that they glanced, | |
doing him little harm. | |
Then there came an almost crunching sound. Treadwell's right fist had | |
landed, almost dazing the youngster with its weight against his nose. | |
There was a swift, free rush of the red. Darrin had yielded up "first | |
blood" in the fight. | |
"I've got to dodge more, and not let myself be cornered," Darrin told | |
himself, keeping his fists busy in warding off blows. | |
Then, of a sudden, Dave turned on the aggressive. He struck fast and | |
furiously, but Treadwell, with a grin, beat down his attack, then soon | |
landed a swinging hook on Dave's neck that sent him spinning briefly. | |
"He expects to finish this fight for his own amusement," flashed angrily | |
through Darrin's mind. "I'll get in something that hurts before I toss | |
the sponge." | |
"Time!" | |
Two minutes were up. To Dave it seemed more like half an hour. | |
"Steady, now!" murmured Page, in his principal's ear, as the two seconds | |
leaped at the task of rubbing down their men. "Unless you let yourself | |
get rattled, Darry, that big fellow isn't going to get you. Whenever | |
you're on the defensive, and being crowded hard, change like lightning | |
and drive in for the top classer's solar plexus." | |
"I tried that three times in this last round," murmured Dave. "But the | |
fellow is too big and powerful for me. He simply pounds me down when I | |
go for him." | |
"Work for more strategy," whispered Page, as he held a sponge to Dave's | |
battered nose, while Farley rubbed the muscles of his right arm. | |
"I haven't given up the fight," muttered Dave, "But, of course, I've | |
known from the start that Treadwell is a pretty big fighter for one of | |
my weight." | |
"Oh, you'll get him yet," spoke Page confidently. | |
The fighters were being called for the second round. | |
In this Dave received considerable punishment, though he landed three or | |
four times on Treadwell's body. | |
Then twice in succession the champion of the third class was knocked | |
down. | |
Neither, however, was a knockout blow. | |
Dave took plenty of time, within his rights, about leaping to his feet, | |
and in each instance got away from Treadwell's leaping assault. | |
Just after the second knock-down, time was called for the end of the | |
round. | |
"You'll get him yet, Darry," was Page's prediction, but he did not speak | |
as hopefully as before. | |
Farley, too, was full of loyalty for his friend and fellow-classman, but | |
he did not allow this to blind his judgment. Farley's opinion was that | |
Dave was done for, unless he could land some lucky fluke in a knockout | |
blow. | |
"Go right in and land that youngster," Treadwell's own seconds were | |
advising him. "Don't let him have the satisfaction of standing up to you | |
for three whole rounds or more." | |
"Do you think that little teaser is as easy as he looks?" growled | |
Treadwell. | |
"Oh, Darrin is all right at his own weight," admitted Midshipman | |
Conners. "But he has no business with you, Tread. You're quick enough, | |
too, when you exert yourself. So jump right in and finish it before this | |
round is over." | |
"I'll try it, then," nodded Treadwell. | |
Though he had not the slightest notion that he was to be defeated, this | |
big top classman was learning a new respect for Darrin's prowess. He | |
could thrash Dave, of course, but Treadwell did not expect to do it | |
easily. | |
For the first twenty seconds of the third round the two men sparred | |
cautiously. Dave had no relish for standing the full force of those | |
sledge-hammer blows, while Treadwell knew that he must look out for the | |
unexpected from his still nimble opponent. | |
"Lie down when you've had enough," jeered Treadwell, as he landed a jolt | |
on one of the youngster's shoulders and sent him reeling slightly. | |
Dave, however, used his feet well enough to get away from the follow-up. | |
"Are you getting tired?" Darrin shot back at his opponent. | |
"Silence, both of you," commanded Referee Edgerton. "Do all your talking | |
with your fists!" | |
Just then Treadwell saw an opening, and followed the referee's advice by | |
aiming a blow at Dave's left jaw. It landed just back of the ear, | |
instead, yet with such force that Dave sank dizzily to the ground, while | |
Treadwell drew back from the intended follow-up. | |
Farley and Page looked on anxiously from their corner. Midshipman | |
Wheeler, scanning his watch, was counting off the seconds. | |
"--five, six, seven, eight, nine--ten!" | |
At the sound of eight Dave Darrin had made a strenuous effort to rise. | |
Yet he had swayed, fallen back slightly, then forced himself with a rush | |
to his feet. | |
But Midshipman Treadwell drew back, both fists hanging at his sides, for | |
the "ten" had been spoken, and Dave Darrin had lost the count. | |
While Dave stood there, looking half-dizzily at his opponent, Referee | |
Edgerton's voice broke in crisply: | |
"Mr. Darrin required more than the full count to come back. The fight is | |
therefore awarded to Mr. Treadwell." | |
CHAPTER XVIII | |
FIGHTING THE FAMOUS DOUBLE BATTLE | |
"It wasn't fair," hissed Midshipman Page hotly. | |
"It was by a mighty small margin, anyway," quivered Farley. | |
"I don't feel whipped yet," remarked Dave quietly. | |
"Oh, well, Darry," urged Farley, "don't feel humiliated over being | |
thrashed by such a human mountain of a top classer." | |
Dave, whose chest had been heaving, and whose lungs had been taking in | |
great gulps of air, suddenly pushed his second gently away. | |
"Mr. Treadwell, sir, will you come over here a moment?" he called. "And | |
also the officials of the fight?" | |
Treadwell, with a self-satisfied leer on his face, stepped away from his | |
seconds coming jauntily over. | |
Midshipman Edgerton and Wheeler followed in some wonder. | |
"Mr. Treadwell," began Dave, looking full into the eyes of his late | |
antagonist, "I have no fault, sir, to find with your style of fighting. | |
You behaved fairly at every point." | |
"Thank you, sir," interjected the big midshipman grimly. | |
"The verdict was also fair enough," Dave continued, "for I am aware that | |
I took a hair's-breadth more than the count. Still, I do not feel, Mr. | |
Treadwell, that the result was decisive. Therefore I have to ask of you | |
the favor of another early meeting, for a more definite try-out." | |
Treadwell gasped. So did his recent seconds and the late officials of | |
the fight. Even Farley's jaw dropped just a trifle, but Page's face | |
flushed with new-found pleasure. | |
"Another fight, sir?" demanded Midshipman Treadwell. | |
"Yes, sir," replied Darrin quietly. | |
"Oh, very well," agreed Treadwell, nonchalantly. "At any time that you | |
wish, Mr. Darrin--any time." | |
"How would fifteen minutes from now do?" demanded Dave, smiling coolly. | |
Treadwell fairly gasped, though only from sheer astonishment. | |
"Why, if your seconds and the officials think that fair to you, Mr. | |
Darrin," replied Treadwell in another moment, "I am sure that I have no | |
objection to remaining around here a little longer." | |
"Do you insist on calling for the second fight within fifteen minutes, | |
Mr. Darrin?" asked Second Classman Edgerton. | |
"For my own part, I do," replied Dave quietly; "I leave the decision to | |
Mr. Treadwell's courtesy." | |
"Well, of all the freaks!" muttered Mr. Wheeler, as the two fight | |
officials walked aside to discuss the matter. | |
"Darry," demanded the agitated Farley, "are you plumb, clean crazy?" | |
"Do you know what we're fighting about, Farley, old man?" asked Dave | |
very quietly. | |
"No; of course not." | |
"It's a personal matter." | |
"O-oh!" | |
"It's a matter in which I can't accept an imitation whipping." | |
"But surely you don't expect to whip Treadwell in your present | |
condition?" | |
"I very likely shall get a thorough trouncing," smiled Darrin. | |
"It's madness," broke in Page worriedly. | |
"I told you it was a personal matter," laughed Dave softly. "I shan't | |
mind getting whacked if it is done up in good shape. It's only this | |
near-whipping to which I object." | |
"Well--great Scott!" gasped Page. | |
"Hush!" warned Farley. "Here comes Edgerton." | |
Midshipman Edgerton, looking very much puzzled, stepped over to Dave | |
Darrin's corner. | |
"Darrin," began the referee in a friendly tone, "Tread doesn't like the | |
idea of fighting you again to-night." | |
"Didn't he say he would?" demanded Darrin. | |
"Yes; but of course, but--" | |
"I hold him to his word, Mr. Edgerton." | |
"But of all the crazy--" | |
"I have my own reasons, sir," Darrin interposed quietly. "I think it | |
very likely, too, that Mr. Treadwell will comprehend my reasons." | |
"But he doesn't like the idea of fighting an already half-whipped man." | |
"Will it get on his nerves and unsteady him?" asked Dave ironically. | |
"Are you bound to fight to-night, Mr. Darrin?" | |
"I am, sir." | |
"Then I suppose it goes--it has to," assented Midshipman Edgerton | |
moodily. "But of all the irrational--" | |
"Just what I said, sir," nodded Page. | |
"I shall be ready, sir, when the fifteen minutes are up," continued | |
Dave. "But I am certain that I shall need all the time until then for | |
getting myself into first-class condition." | |
"Darry is a fool--and a wonder!" ejaculated Edgerton under his breath, | |
as he walked away. | |
"I'm sorry, Darry," murmured Farley mournfully, "but--well, beat your | |
way to it!" | |
"I intend to," retorted Dave doggedly. | |
Rubbed down by his seconds, Dave drew on his blouse, without a shirt. | |
Quitting the others, Dave walked briskly back and forth. At last he | |
broke into a jog-trot. | |
At last he halted, inflating and emptying his lungs with vigorous | |
breathing. | |
"I feel just about as good as ever," he declared, nodding cheerily to | |
his seconds. | |
"Get off that blouse, then," ordered Midshipman Farley, after a glance | |
at his watch. "We've two minutes left out of the fifteen." | |
"I'll go forward at the scratch, then," nodded Dave. | |
Treadwell, in the meantime, had pulled on his outer clothing and had | |
stood moodily by, watching Dave's more workmanlike preparations with a | |
disdainful smile. | |
"I'll get the fellow going quickly this time," Mr. Treadwell told | |
Conners. "As soon as I get him going I'll dive in with a punch that will | |
wind up the matter in short order. I've planned to do considerable | |
reviewing of navigation to-night." | |
"I hope you have your wish," murmured Conners. | |
"What do you mean?" | |
"Just what I said." | |
"Do you think I'm going to have any trouble whatever about finishing up | |
that touge youngster!" demanded Tread well sarcastically. | |
"No; I don't imagine you will. But at the same time, Tread, I tell you I | |
don't care about having enemies among fellows who come back as swiftly, | |
strongly and as much like a bulldog as Darry does." | |
Seeing Dave pull off his blouse, Treadwell slowly removed his own | |
clothing above the waist. | |
"Rub me down along the arms a bit," said Midshipman Treadwell, after he | |
had exercised his arms a moment. | |
"I reckon we'd better," nodded Conners. "You must have got stiff from | |
standing still after the late mix-up." | |
"No kinks but what will iron out at once," chuckled Treadwell. "I'll | |
show you as soon as I get in action." | |
His two seconds rubbed him down loyally. | |
"Are you ready, gentlemen?" called Midshipman Edgerton. | |
Both men stepped quickly forward, but all of the onlookers thought they | |
saw rather more spring in Dave Darrin than in his more bulky opponent. | |
The preliminaries were announced in a few words. | |
Of course, there was no handshaking. | |
"Time!" sounded the call. | |
Dave Darrin quickly proved to be so full of vigor that Treadwell lay | |
back on the defensive after the first two or three passes. Dave followed | |
him right up with vim. | |
Yet, for the first forty seconds of the round no real damage was done on | |
either side. Then: | |
Bump! | |
"O-o-oh!" | |
That cry came simultaneously from Treadwell and from all the spectators. | |
Dave's right fist had landed crushingly on the top classman's left eye, | |
almost instantly closing that organ. | |
Darrin leaped nimbly back, both from a chivalrous impulse to give | |
Treadwell a chance to recover his steadiness and to save himself from | |
any sudden rush and clinch by his big opponent. | |
But Treadwell, standing with his guard up, showed no inclination to | |
follow the one who had just given him such punishment. | |
"Mix it up, gentlemen--mix it!" called Midshipman Edgerton impatiently. | |
At that command from the referee Dave Darrin sprang forward. | |
Treadwell seemed wholly on the defensive now, though he struck as | |
heavily as ever. Toward the end of the round Treadwell, having gotten | |
over the worst of the stinging from his eye, once more tried to rush | |
matters. | |
Whenever the big fellow's undamaged eye caught sight of the cool, | |
hostile smile on Darrin's face, Treadwell muttered savage words. | |
Some hard body blows were parried and others exchanged. | |
Both men were panting somewhat when the call of time closed the first | |
round. | |
"Darry, you nervy little rascal, waltz in and put that other eye up in | |
black clothes!" begged Page ecstatically, as he and Farley worked over | |
their principal. | |
Dave was ready quite twenty seconds before the call of time for the | |
second round. | |
Treadwell, however, took his full time in responding. At the last moment | |
he took another dab with the wet sponge against his swollen left eye. | |
"Time!" | |
With a suppressed yell Treadwell rushed at his opponent. Dave had to | |
sidestep to his own right, out of range of Treadwell, to save himself. | |
Then at it they went, all around the ring. Darrin had determined to keep | |
himself out of the way of those sledge-hammer fists until he saw his own | |
clear opening. | |
Four or five times Treadwell landed heavily on Darrin's ribs. The | |
younger, smaller midshipman was getting seriously winded, but all the | |
time he fought to save himself and to get that one opening. | |
It came. | |
Pound! | |
Darrin's hard-clenched left fist dropped in on Treadwell's right eye. | |
This time there was no exclamation from the bruised one. | |
Alert Dave was careful to give him no chance. Within a second after that | |
eye-closer landed Darrin struck with his right, landing on the jaw bone | |
under Treadwell's ear. | |
Down in a heap sank the top classman. He was unconscious before his body | |
struck the ground. | |
Wheeler counted off the seconds. | |
"--ten!" | |
Still Mr. Treadwell lay motionless. | |
"Do your best for him, gentlemen," begged Referee Edgerton, turning to | |
the first classman's seconds. "Mr. Darrin wins the second fight." | |
Dave, a satisfied look on his face, stepped back to his seconds. | |
This time he did not require as much attention. Within five minutes he | |
was dressed. | |
By this time Mr. Treadwell, under the ministrations of his seconds and | |
of the late officials, was just coming back to consciousness. | |
"Something happened, eh?" asked the top classman drowsily. | |
"Rather!" murmured Mr. Edgerton dryly. | |
"Did I--did I--lose the fight?" | |
"You did," Edgerton assented. "But don't let that disturb you. You went | |
down before the best man in the Naval Academy." | |
Treadwell sighed gloomily. It was a hard blow to his pride--much harder | |
than any that Dave had landed on his head. | |
"Mr. Treadwell," inquired Dave, stepping over, "we are comrades, even if | |
we had a slight disagreement. Do you care to shake hands?" | |
"Help me to my feet," urged the first classman, who was sitting up. | |
His seconds complied. Then Midshipman Treadwell held out his hand. | |
"Here's my hand," he said rather thickly. "And I apologize, too, Mr. | |
Darrin." | |
"Then say no more about it, please," begged Dave, as their hands met in | |
a strong clasp. | |
None of the others present had the least idea of the provocation of this | |
strange, spirited double fight. All, however, were glad to see the | |
difficulty mended. | |
Then Dave and his seconds, leaving the field first, made their way back | |
to Bancroft Hall. Farley and Page went straight to their own room. | |
"How did it come out?" demanded Dan Dalzell eagerly, as soon as his chum | |
entered their quarters. | |
Dropping into a chair, Dave told the story of the double fight briefly. | |
He told it modestly, too, but Dan could imagine what his chum omitted. | |
"David, little giant," exclaimed Dalzell, leaping about him, "that fight | |
will become historic here! Oh, how I regret having missed it. Don't you | |
ever dare to leave me out again!" | |
"It wasn't such a much," smiled Dave rather wearily, as he went over to | |
his study desk. | |
"Perhaps it's indiscreet, even of a chum," rambled on Dalzell, "but | |
what--" | |
"What was the fight all about?" laughed Dave softly. "Yes; I suppose you | |
have a right to know that, Danny boy. But you must never repeat it to | |
any one. Treadwell wanted to dance with Belle at the hop, but she had | |
already noticed him, and declared she didn't want to dance with him. Of | |
course that settled it. But Treadwell accused me of not having asked | |
Belle." | |
"The nerve!" ejaculated Dan in disgust. | |
"And then he accused me of lying when I declared I had done my best for | |
him," continued Dave. | |
"I feel that I'd like to fight the fellow myself!" declared Dan Dalzell | |
hotly. | |
"Oh, no, you don't; for Treadwell apologized to-night, and we have | |
shaken hands. We're all comrades, you know, Danny boy." | |
* * * * * | |
Unknown to any of the parties to the fight, there had been spectators of | |
the spirited double battle. | |
Two men, a sailor and a marine, noting groups of midshipmen going toward | |
the historic battle ground of midshipmen, had hidden themselves near-by | |
in order "to see the fun." | |
These two enlisted men of the Navy had been spectators and auditors of | |
all that had taken place. | |
Not until the last midshipman had left the ground did the sailor and | |
marine emerge from their hiding place. | |
"Well, of all the game fights!" muttered the marine. | |
"Me? I'm hoping that some day I fight under that gallant middy," cried | |
the sailor. | |
"Who is this Mr. Darrin?" asked the marine, as the pair strolled away. | |
"He's a youngster--third classman. But he's one of the chaps who, on the | |
cruise, last summer, went over into a gale after another middy--Darrin | |
and his chum did it." | |
"There must be fine stuff in Mr. Darrin," murmured the marine. | |
"Couldn't you see that much just now?" demanded the sailor, who took the | |
remark as almost a personal affront, "My hat's off to Mr. Darrin. He's | |
one of our future admirals. If I round out my days in the service it | |
will be the height of my ambition to have him for my admiral. And a | |
mighty sea-going officer he'll be, at that!" | |
In their enthusiasm over the spectacle they had seen, the sailor and the | |
marine talked rather too much. | |
They were still talking over the battle as they strolled slowly past one | |
of the great, darkened buildings. | |
In the shadow of this building, not far away, stood an officer whom | |
neither of the enlisted men of the Navy saw; else they would have | |
saluted him. | |
That officer, Lieutenant Willow, U.S. Navy, listened with a good deal of | |
interest. | |
Mr. Willow was one of those officers who are known as duty-mad. He | |
gathered that there had been a fight, so he deemed it his duty to report | |
the fact at once to the discipline officer in charge over at Bancroft | |
Hall. | |
Regretting the necessity, yet full of the idea of doing his duty, | |
Lieutenant Willow wended his way promptly towards the office of the | |
officer in charge. | |
CHAPTER XIX | |
THE OFFICER IN CHARGE IS SHOCKED | |
Through the main entrance of Bancroft Hall, into the stately corridor, | |
Lieutenant Willow picked his way. | |
He looked solemn--unusually so, even for Lieutenant Willow, U.S.N. He | |
had the air of a man who hates to do his duty, but who is convinced that | |
the heavens would fall if he didn't. | |
To his left he turned, acknowledging smartly the crisp salute given him | |
by the midshipman assistant officer of the day. | |
Into the outer office of the officer in charge stepped Mr. Willow, and | |
thence on into the smaller room where Lieutenant-Commander Stearns sat | |
reading. | |
"Oh, good evening, Willow," hailed Lieut. Stearns heartily. | |
"Good evening, Stearns," was the almost moody reply. | |
"Sit down and let's have a chat. I'm glad to see you," urged | |
Lieutenant-Commander Stearns. | |
Mr. Stearns, he of the round, jovial face, gazed at his junior with | |
twinkling eyes. | |
"Willow," he muttered, "I'm half inclined to believe that you've come to | |
me to make an official report." | |
"I guess I have," nodded Lieutenant Willow. | |
"And against some unfortunate midshipman, at that!" | |
"Against two, at least," sighed Mr. Willow, "and there were others | |
involved in the affair." | |
"It must be something fearful," said Mr. Stearns, who knew the junior | |
officer's inclination to be duty-mad. "But, see here, if you make an | |
official report you'll force me to take action, even though it's | |
something that I'd secretly slap a midshipman on the shoulder for doing. | |
No--don't begin to talk yet, Willow. Try a cigar and then tell me, | |
personally, what's worrying you. Then perhaps it won't be altogether | |
needful to make an official report." | |
"I never was able to take you--er--somewhat jovial views of an officer's | |
duty, Stearns," sighed Lieutenant Willow. | |
Nevertheless, he selected a cigar, bit off the end, lighted it and took | |
a few whiffs, Lieutenant-Commander Stearns all the while regarding his | |
comrade in arms with twinkling eyes. | |
"Now, fire ahead, Willow," urged the officer in charge, "but please | |
don't make your communication an official one--not at first. Fire ahead, | |
now, Willow." | |
"Well--er--just between ourselves," continued Lieutenant Willow slowly, | |
"there has been a fight to-night between two midshipmen." | |
"No!" | |
Lieutenant-Commander Stearns struck his fist rather heavily against the | |
desk. | |
"A fight--a real fight--with fists?" continued the officer in charge, in | |
a tone of mock incredulity. "No, no, no, Willow, you don't mean it--you | |
can't mean it!" | |
"Yes, I do," rejoined the junior officer rather stiffly. | |
"Oh, dear, what is the service coming to?" gasped Stearns ironically. | |
"Why, Willow, we never heard of such things when we were midshipmen | |
here. Now, did we?" | |
"I'm afraid we did--sometimes," admitted the junior officer. "But duty | |
is duty, you know, my dear Stearns. And this was an unusual fight, too. | |
The man who was whipped insisted on another fight right then and there, | |
and--he won the second fight." | |
"Bully!" chuckled the officer in charge. "Whew, but I wish I had been | |
there!" | |
"Stearns, you surely don't mean that?" gasped duty-mad Mr. Willow. | |
"You're quite right, Willow. No; I certainly don't want to be a | |
spoilsport, and I'm glad I wasn't there--in my official capacity. But | |
I'd like to have been divested of my rank for just an hour so that I | |
could have taken in such a scene as that." | |
"I'm--I'm just a bit astonished at your saying it, Stearns," rejoined | |
Lieutenant Willow. "But then, you're always joking." | |
"Perhaps I am joking," assented the officer in charge dryly, "but I | |
never lose sight of the fact that our Navy has been built up, at huge | |
expense, as a great fighting machine. Now, Willow, it takes fighting men | |
to run a fighting machine. Of course, I'm terribly shocked to know that | |
two midshipmen really had the grit to fight--but who were they! Mind | |
you, I'm not asking you in an official way. This question is purely | |
personal--just between ourselves. Who were the men? And, especially, who | |
was the fellow who lost the decision, and then had the utter effrontery | |
to demand a second chance at once, only to win the second fight?" | |
"Darrin was the man who lost the first fight and won the second," | |
replied Lieutenant Willow. | |
"Mr. Darrin? One of our youngsters? Yes; I think I know him. And what | |
man of his class did he whip, the second time he tried!" | |
"It wasn't a man of his own class. It was Mr. Treadwell, of the first | |
class," rejoined Lieutenant Willow. | |
"What?" almost exploded the officer in charge. "Did you say that Mr. | |
Darrin fought with Mr. Treadwell, that husky top classman, and, losing | |
the decision on the count, insisted on fighting again the same evening? | |
Oh, say, what a fellow misses by being cooped up in an office like | |
this!" | |
"But--but the breach of regulations!" stammered the duty-mad lieutenant. | |
"My dear fellow, neither you nor I know anything about this | |
fight--officially. The Navy, after all, is a fighting machine. Do you | |
feel that the Navy can afford to lose a fighting man like that | |
youngster?" | |
So Lieutenant Willow left Lieutenant-Commander Stearns' presence, not | |
quite convinced he was performing his whole duty, but glad to bow to the | |
decision of a ranking officer. | |
Two days later Dave and Dan were surprised at being halted by | |
Lieutenant-Commander Stearns. | |
"Good afternoon, Mr. Darrin," came the pleasant greeting. "Good | |
afternoon, Mr. Dalzell. Mrs. Stearns and I would be greatly pleased if | |
you could take dinner with us. Couldn't you come next Sunday?" | |
The two midshipmen were astonished and delighted at this invitation. | |
While it was not uncommon for officers to invite midshipmen to their | |
homes, where there were so many midshipmen, it was as a rule only the | |
young men who made themselves prominent socially who captured these | |
coveted invitations. Darrin and Dalzell concealed their surprise, but | |
expressed their pleasure in accepting the gracious invitation. | |
On entering Mrs. Stearns' drawing room the next Sunday Mr. Darrin and | |
Mr. Dalzell were introduced to two pretty girls. Miss Flora Gentle was a | |
cousin of their hostess. She had visited Annapolis before, and, being | |
pretty and vivacious, at the same time kind and considerate, she had | |
many friends among the midshipmen. Marian Stevens, who had accompanied | |
her on this visit, was a direct contrast. Flora was blonde. Marian was | |
the dark, flashing type. She was spoiled and imperious, yet she had a | |
dashing, open way about her that made her a favorite among young people. | |
The two girls had heard of the double fight. Marian, therefore, was | |
pleased when she found that Dave was to be her dinner partner. | |
"He's handsome," thought the girl, "and he's brave and dashing. He'll | |
make his mark in the Navy. He doesn't know it yet, but he'll become | |
mine, and mine alone." | |
Miss Stevens was a calculating young person, and had already decided | |
that Navy life was the life for her and that she would marry into it. At | |
seventeen, she looked upon the officers as old men, even the youngest of | |
them, so was giving her time and her smiles to the midshipmen. That the | |
Navy pay is small did not trouble Maid Marian, as she liked to be | |
called, as on her twenty-first birthday she would come into a | |
considerable fortune of her own. | |
She exerted herself all through the Stearns' dinner to captivate Dave | |
Darrin. He, without diminution of love and loyalty to Belle Mead, was | |
glad to be on friendly terms with this dashing and sprightly girl. | |
Coffee was served in the drawing room. Several officers dropped in. | |
Marian, who wished no one to come between her and Dave for a while, | |
turned to her host. | |
"Mr. Stearns, do the regulations make it improper for Flora and me to | |
ask Mr. Darrin and Mr. Dalzell to take us for a stroll about the yard?" | |
she asked with a pretty air of deference. The "yard" includes all the | |
grounds belonging to the Naval Academy. | |
"They do not, Miss Marian," was the smiling response. | |
"With our hostess's approval we shall be charmed to grant any request | |
the young ladies make," ventured Dave, as Marian smiled into his eyes. | |
But Marian, the wily and experienced, found herself baffled during this | |
walk. Using all her cajoleries, she could bring him to a certain point | |
beyond which he would not go. As a matter of fact, Dave Darrin, secure | |
in his loyalty to Belle, did not perceive what Maid Marian was striving | |
to lead up to, but saw in her only a lively and interesting girl. | |
"I'll get you yet, Midshipman Darrin," she vowed to herself after they | |
had parted. | |
The gossip of a sweetheart in his home town which in time reached her | |
ears only made the girl more determined to get her way. Looking in the | |
mirror with satisfaction, she murmured: | |
"There'll be the added zest of making Midshipman Darrin forget the | |
distant face of that home girl." | |
Not on that visit did Maid Marian succeed in leading Dave beyond the | |
point of simple but sincere friendship. However, Miss Stevens could be | |
charming to whomsoever she wished, and before she left Annapolis she had | |
secured invitations to visit the wife of more than one of the officers. | |
CHAPTER XX | |
CONCLUSION | |
Christmas came and went, and soon after this the semi-annual | |
examinations were on in earnest. Some of the midshipmen failed and sadly | |
turned their faces homeward to make a place for themselves in some other | |
lane of life. Dan Dalzell, however, made good his promise, and by a | |
better margin than he had dared hope. Dave came through the examination | |
somewhat better than his chum. Both felt assured now that they would | |
round out the year with fair credit to themselves. | |
Marian Stevens came to Annapolis several times during the latter half of | |
the year, and as it is expected that the future officer shall have | |
social as well as Naval training, Dave Darrin met her often. | |
Exasperation that she could draw the young midshipman on only so far | |
soon changed in Miss Stevens to anger and chagrin. Still Dave, giving | |
prolonged thought to no girl except Belle Meade, saw in her only a | |
lively companion. Sometimes he was her dinner partner. Always at a dance | |
he danced with her more than once. | |
It was at one such dance that she looked up as they circled the room to | |
say: | |
"I wonder if you know, Mr. Darrin, how much I enjoy dancing with you." | |
"Not as much as I enjoy dancing with you," he replied smilingly. Just | |
then the music stopped suddenly and an officer called in a voice that | |
carried over the great floor of the gymnasium and over all the chatter: | |
"Ladies and gentlemen, one moment's attention, please!" | |
In an instant all was still. | |
"Ladies and gentlemen," continued the officer, "official permission has | |
been granted for taking a flashlight photograph of the scene to-night. | |
Will everybody please remain where he is until after the exposure has | |
been made?" | |
Dave and Marian had paused directly in front of the lens of the camera. | |
Maid Marian looked up and made a light, jesting remark, gazing straight | |
into the midshipman's eyes. Dave, smiling, bent forward to hear what she | |
said. | |
Just then came the flash, and the photographer, his work finished for | |
the time, gathered his paraphernalia together and left. The music | |
recommenced and the dancing proceeded. | |
Three weeks later that photograph was reproduced as a double-page | |
illustration in one of the prominent pictorial weeklies. | |
The day the magazine was on the newsstands Dan Dalzell bought a copy. | |
Entering their quarters with it in his hand he opened it at the | |
illustration and handed it to Dave. | |
"You and Miss Stevens show up better than any one else, Dave," remarked | |
Dan. | |
"The photograph is a good piece of work," was Dave's only comment. He | |
did not wish to express the annoyance he felt when he noted the | |
appearance of intimacy between him and Marian, whose beauty showed, even | |
in this reproduction. "I'd a bit rather Belle shouldn't see this paper," | |
he admitted to himself. | |
"David, old boy, this picture would make a good exhibit in a | |
breach-of-promise suit." | |
"That's an unkind remark to make about a fine girl like Miss Stevens," | |
said Dave coldly. | |
Dan stared, then went off, pondering. | |
Belle Meade, in her Gridley home, received one day a large, square, thin | |
package. She saw the mark of the Annapolis express office, and hastily | |
snatched up scissors to cut the string. Out came a huge photograph. | |
"A picture of an Annapolis dance! How thoughtful of Dave to send it to | |
me!" Then her eyes fell on two figures around which a ring had been | |
drawn in ink. They were Dave Darrin and a pretty girl. On the margin of | |
the card had been scrawled in bold letters: | |
"Your affair of the heart will bear close watching if you still | |
cherish!" | |
This was signed, contemptibly and untruthfully, "A Friend." | |
"Uh!" murmured Belle in hurt pride and loyalty. Then she said resolutely | |
to herself: "I will pay no attention to this. An anonymous communication | |
is always meant to hurt and to give a false impression." | |
But there was the picture before her eyes of Dave and the pretty girl in | |
seemingly great intimacy. So though she continued to write to the | |
midshipman and tried hard to make her letters sound as usual, in spite | |
of herself a coldness crept into them that Dave felt. | |
"She must have seen that pictorial weekly," thought the boy miserably. | |
But as Belle said nothing of this, he could not write of it. | |
The season was well along. Dave and Dan sent Belle Meade and Laura | |
Bentley invitations to one of the later spring dances. | |
"I wonder if she'll come or if she's tiring of me," thought Dave Darrin | |
bitterly. | |
But Belle answered, accepting the invitation for Laura and herself. | |
When Saturday afternoon came both midshipmen hurried to the hotel in the | |
town and sent up their cards. Mrs. Meade soon appeared, saying the girls | |
would be down shortly. | |
"Are they both well?" asked Dave. His tone was as one giving a | |
meaningless greeting, but in his heart he waited anxiously to hear what | |
her mother should say of Belle. | |
"Well, yes. But Belle has been moping around the house a great deal, | |
Dave, rather unlike her usual self," replied Mrs. Meade slowly. | |
If Mrs. Meade deplored this, Dave Darrin did not. It showed him at least | |
that the girl's apparent coldness was not caused by her interest in some | |
other young man. | |
But when the girls came in and Belle greeted him cordially, to be sure, | |
but with something of restraint, his heart sank again. | |
"What's the matter, Belle? Has something gone wrong?" asked Dave when | |
Dan was engaging the attention of Mrs. Meade and Laura. | |
"Nothing. Is all right with you?" | |
"Surely!" | |
"Dave, when we're alone I have something to show you. I fear you have an | |
enemy here." | |
"An enemy! Oh, no. But I shall be glad to see what you have to show me." | |
It was not long before, at a word from Dave, Dan took Mrs. Meade and | |
Laura out for a walk. It was then that Belle got the large photograph | |
with the two figures ringed in ink and showed it to Dave. | |
"Why, what does this mean? Some one must have taken a good deal of | |
trouble to secure this photograph. The picture was taken for a pictorial | |
weekly. One can get a photograph from which the cut is made, but it is | |
troublesome and possibly expensive!" | |
"You have an enemy, then; some one bent on hurting you?" | |
"I don't know who it could be. My, how angry Miss Stevens would be if | |
she knew of this!" | |
"Miss Stevens? Is that the girl?" | |
"Yes. She's visited here often this year. She knows a number of the | |
officers' wives. She's vivacious and always has a good time, but she's | |
nothing to me, Belle. You know that, don't you?" | |
"I have never doubted you, Dave. Let us tear this up. I thought at first | |
I'd not show it to you; then decided it was best not to begin concealing | |
things from you. But let us not think of the thing again." | |
"Belle, you're a thoroughbred!" and here the matter dropped as far as it | |
was between Dave Darrin and Belle Meade. | |
Miss Stevens was at the dance that evening. Though she tried hard to | |
make that impossible, Dave did not dance with her, nor did he introduce | |
her to Belle, though there again Marian tried to force this. | |
It would have been well for Marian if Dan Dalzell had been equally | |
circumspect. | |
This time it was Belle who contrived and got the introduction to the | |
other girl, but Marian was by no means reluctant, so it was that they | |
managed to get a few moments alone together when they had sent their | |
dance partners to get something for them. | |
"You are a friend of Dave's, aren't you?" asked Marian. | |
"Of Mr. Darrin's? Oh, yes, we've always known each other." | |
"Then you've been here to many of these dances?" | |
"Only two." | |
"Too bad you could not have been here oftener. This has been an | |
unusually brilliant season. Really, many of the young people have lost | |
their heads--or their hearts. I often wonder if these midshipmen have | |
sweethearts at home." This daring--and impertinent--remark was made | |
musingly but smilingly. | |
"These Annapolis affairs are never very serious, I imagine," Belle | |
observed calmly. | |
"On the contrary, most of the Navy marriages date back to an Annapolis | |
first meeting." | |
"Then you think it well to come often?" | |
"Unless one has other ways of keeping in touch," was the brazen reply. | |
"I have," said Belle sweetly. "I receive a good many souvenirs in the | |
course of a year. One last winter was a photograph." With the words | |
Belle gazed intently into Miss Stevens' eyes. Then she went on: "There | |
was an anonymous message written on it. It was a lying message, of | |
course, as anonymous messages always are, written in a coarse hand. Did | |
you ever study handwriting, Miss Stevens?" | |
Marian gasped, realizing she was out-maneuvered. | |
"This writing had all the characteristics of a woman whose instincts are | |
coarse, that of a treacherous though not dangerous person--" | |
"Here's Mr. Sanderson back. Will you excuse me, Miss Meade?" and Marian | |
fairly fled. | |
Belle told Dave she had found out who had sent the photograph, but | |
added: | |
"I wish you wouldn't ask me who it was, Dave. I can assure you that the | |
person who did it will never trouble us again," and as Dave did not like | |
to think evil of any one, he consented, and continued to think of Marian | |
Stevens, when he thought of her at all, as a jolly girl. | |
The annual examinations were approaching. Dan Dalzell was buried deep in | |
gloom. Dave Darrin kept cheerful outwardly, but doubts crept into his | |
heart. | |
The examinations over, Dave felt reasonably safe. But Dan's gloom | |
deepened, for he was sure he had failed in "skinny," as the boys termed | |
chemistry and physics. So it was that when the grades were posted Dave | |
scanned the D's in the list of third classmen who had passed. Dan, on | |
the other hand, turned instantly to what he termed the "bust list." | |
"Why, why, I'm not there!" he muttered. | |
"Look at the passing list, Danny," laughed Dave. | |
Unbelieving, Dan turned his eyes on the list and to his utter | |
astonishment found his name posted. True, in "skinny" he had a bare | |
passing mark. But in other subjects he was somewhat above the minimum. | |
"So you see, old man, we'll both be here next year as second classmen," | |
said Dave jubilantly. | |
This was as Dave Darrin said, and what happened during this time may be | |
learned in a volume entitled, "DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; | |
or, Leaders of the Second Class Midshipmen." | |
THE END | |
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dave Darrin's Second Year at Annapolis | |
by H. Irving Hancock | |
*** |