WHY THE MIDSHIPMEN BALKED

"So Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton have been here?"demanded Midshipman

Dave Darrin.

That handsome young member of the brigade of midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis was now in mufti, or cits,—meaning, in other words, that he was out of his Naval uniform and attired in the conventional clothing of a young American when calling on his sweetheart.

It will make the situation even clearer to the reader to explain that Dave was back in the home town, on his September leave, after just having completed his second summer practice cruise with the three upper classes from Annapolis.

Dave was now a fine looking and"husky"second classman. He was just a shade more than half way through his course of instruction at Annapolis.

Being back in the home town, where would Midshipman Darrin be more naturally found than in the parlor at the home of his sweetheart, Miss Belle Meade?

The first greetings had been exchanged fifteen minutes before.

Since that time the young people, being sweethearts as they were, had naturally talked about themselves.

And Dave, who, in the Naval service, was fast learning to become a good listener, had been content to have Belle do most of the talking, while he sat back watching the motions of her pretty lips and catching glimpses of two rows of pearly teeth.

But now Belle had just mentioned two of Dave's former High School chums.

"So Tom and Harry were really here?"he repeated.

"Yes; they came up from Arizona on leave."

"I wonder why they couldn't have remained here longer?"mused Dave.

"They both told me that they were very young in their profession as civil engineers, and that they had to spend nearly all of their time'on the job,'as Tom phrased it,"replied Belle.

"How did they look?"asked Dave.

"A shade older, of course, than when they were in the High School."

"Are they much taller?"asked Darrin.

"Somewhat; but they have not shot up in height, the way you and Dan, and

Dick Prescott and Greg Holmes have done,"Belle continued.

"Brown as berries, I suppose, after working down in the alkali deserts?"asked Dave, who felt that he could not hear enough of those dear old chums.

"Meaning Tom and Harry?"smiled Belle."Or Dick and Greg?"

"Tom and Harry, that time, of course,"laughed Dave."But I'm waiting to hear a whole lot about Dick and Greg as well."

"No; I wouldn't call Tom and Harry exactly as brown as berries,"went on Belle, laughing,"for I am not acquainted with many kinds of brown berries."

"Coffee berries?"hinted Darrin.

"I would call Tom and Harry fully as bronzed as Indians,"Belle ventured.

"Have you ever seen any Indians?"asked Midshipman Darrin, looking at his sweetheart rather quizzically.

"Oh, haven't I?"laughed Belle Meade, her eyes sparkling."We had Indians here the early part of this summer. The re was a medicine show here, with Indians and cowboys, and that sort of thing. One day the Indians and cowboys got intoxicated and they went through Main Street like a tornado. They were yelling and shooting, and had people all along the street running for cover. Even the chief of police, though he wasn't a coward, ran into safety.

"In the midst of it all Dick Prescott, Greg Holmes, Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton came out of an ice cream parlor. Tom and Harry got a glimpse of the very Wild We st looking company of yellers and shooters. Tom and Harry have seen enough Indians and cowboys to know the real thing—and that these were only poor imitations. All of a sudden Tom and Harry and Dick and Greg charged into that howling, shooting crowd and knocked them right and left. Your four old-time chums simply disarmed the'bad'ones and turned the weapons over to the chief of police."

Belle went on, describing the famous incident, while Dave leaned back, laughing heartily.

"How I wish I had been on hand! I'd like to have helped, too,"he added.

"Those four youngsters didn't need any help,"laughed Belle.

"Which was the most surprised crowd—the'bad'We stern outfit or the police department?"chuckled Dave.

Readers of our"WEST POINT SERIES"will find the"Wild We st"scene fully narrated in"DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT."

"Isn't it outrageous,"demanded Dave,"that the We st Point and the Annapolis leave of absence should be so arranged that midshipmen and cadets who are old, old friends never get a chance to meet each other on furlough!"

"I don't suppose,"replied Belle,"that it often happens that one little city often has the honor of furnishing, at the same time, two midshipmen for Annapolis and two cadets for We st Point."

"Very likely not,"nodded Dave."But it seems too bad, just the same.

What wouldn't I give to see Tom or Harry? Or Greg or Dick? And now that

I'm here Dick Prescott and Greg Holmes are but just barely gone."

"Yes; they have been but four days gone,"assented Belle."It does seem too bad that you and your We st Point chums couldn't have been one day together."

"I haven't seen a blessed one of the good old four since I left for Annapolis, more than two years ago,"muttered Dave complainingly."What wouldn't I give—just to see what they look like in these days?"

"We ll, what would you give?"demanded Belle, rising and hesitating.

"They've given you their photos, then!"asked Dave Darrin guessing.

"Please be quick—let me see the photos."

Belle glided from the room, to return with a large card.

"They were taken altogether,"she explained, handing the card over to

Darrin."The re they are—all in one group."

Dave seized the card, studying eagerly the print mounted thereon.

"Whew! What a change two years make in a High School boy, doesn't it?"demanded Darrin.

"Of course,"answered Belle Meade."Do you imagine that you and Dan

Dalzell haven't changed any, either?"

Readers of our"HIGH SCHOOL SERIES"will well remember Dick Prescott, Greg Holmes, Tom Reade, Harry Hazelton, Dave Darrin and Dan Dalzell, a famous sextette of young High School athletes, who, in their High School days, were known as Dick & Co.

Readers of the four volumes of that series will recall that Dick Prescott received the congressman's nomination to We st Point, and that Greg Holmes was appointed a cadet at the same big government Army school by one of the state's senators. Dave Darrin and Dan Dalzell, a little later, secured nominations to Annapolis from the same gentlemen; and Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton, who had thrown their lot with civil engineering, had gone We st to engage with an engineering firm of railroad builders.

From that passing of the old High School days the experiences and adventures of Dick Prescott and Greg Holmes are told in the volumes of"THE WEST POINT SERIES."

Those of Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton are set forth fully in"THE YOUNG

ENGINEERS'SERIES."

As for Dave Darrin and Dan, their life, since leaving the High School, and casting their lot with the Navy, has been fully told in the two preceding volumes of the present series,"DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT AKNAPOLIS"and"DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS."

"We ll, I'll meet Dick and Greg this coming Thanksgiving, at any rate,"predicted Midshipman Darrin."You know what happens the Saturday after Thanksgiving on Franklin Field, don't you, Belle?"

"You young men of Annapolis and We st Point play football, don't you!"asked Belle.

"Do we?"demanded Dave, his eyes aglow with enthusiasm."Don't we, though. And, mark me, Belle, the Navy is going to carry away the Army's scalp this year."

"Are you going to join the team?"asked Belle.

"I can't say, until I get back. But I've been training. I hope to be called to the team. So does Dan."

"I hope you and Dan both make the eleven,"cried Belle,"so that you can get away to see the game."

"Why, we can see the game better,"retorted Dave,"if we don't make the team."

"Why, are midshipmen who don't belong to the eleven allowed to see the game?"asked Belle in some surprise.

"Are we?"demanded Dave."Belle, don't you know what the Army-Navy game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day is like? The entire brigade of midshipmen and the whole corps of cadets travel over to Philadelphia. The re, on Franklin Field, before an Average of thirty thousand yelling spectators, the great annual game of the two great national academies is fought out."

"You haven't gone to see the annual game at Philadelphia before this, have you?"asked Miss Meade.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because, Belle, both years, at Thanksgiving time, Danny boy and I have found ourselves so far behind in our studies that we just took the time to stay behind and bone, bone, bone over our books."

"And you think this year will be different?"

"Oh, yes; when a man is half way through Annapolis the studies become easier to him. You see, in two years of the awful grind a fellow, if he lasts that long, has learned how to study in the right way. I'm going to get two tickets, Belle, so that you and your mother can go to see the game. And of course good old Dick can do as much for Laura Bentley and her mother. You'll come, of course, to root your hardest for the Navy, just as Laura will go and root for the Army. By the way, have you heard whether Dick and Greg expect to play on the Army eleven?"

"When they were here this summer they said they hoped to play football with the Army. That's all I know, Dave, about the plans of Dick and Greg."

"I hope they do play,"cried Midshipman Darrin cheerily."Even with two such old gridiron war horses as Dick and Greg against us, I believe that the Navy team, this year, has some fellows who can take the Army scalp with neatness and despatch."

Dave rambled on, for some time now, with of the athletic doings at the

Naval Academy. It was not that he was so much interested in the

subject—at that particular moment—but it was certainly fine to have

Belle Meade for an interested listener.

"We ll, you're half way through your course,"put in Belle at last."You passed your last annual examinations in June."

"Yes."

"How did you stand in your exams?"

"I came through with honors,"Dave declared unblushingly.

"Honors?"repeated Belle delightedly."Oh, Dave, I didn't know you were one of the honor men of your class."

"Yes,"laughed Midshipman Dave, though there was a decidedly serious look in his fine face."Belle, I consider that any fellow who gets by the examiners has passed with honors. So we're all honor men that are now left in the class. Several of the poor fellows had to write home last June asking their parents for the price of a ticket homeward."

"But, now that you've got half way through, you're pretty sure to go the rest of the way safely,"Belle insisted.

"That's almost too much of a brag to make, Belle. The truth is, no fellow is safe until he has been commissioned as an ensign, and that's at least two years after he has graduated from the Naval Academy. Why even after examination, you know, a fellow has to go to sea for two years, as a midshipman, and then take another and final examination at sea. A whole lot of fellows who managed to get through the Academy find themselves going to pieces on that examination at sea."

"And then—"went on Belle.

"Why, if a fellow can't pass his exams, he's dropped from the service."

"After he has already graduated from Academy? That isn't fair,"cried

Belle Meade.

"No, it isn't quite fair,"assented Midshipman Dave, with a shrug of his shoulders."Yet what is one going to do about it? It's all in the game—to take or leave."

"Who ever made the Naval Academy and the service so hard as that?"the girl wanted to know.

"Congress, I guess,"laughed Dave,"but acting, very likely, on the advice of a lot of old admirals who are through themselves, and who expect the youngsters to know as much as the very admirals. Why, Belle, when I was a few years younger, and first began to dream about going to the Naval Academy I had a mental picture of a very jolly life, in which we sailed the seas and absorbed our knowledge. I had an idea that the midshipman's life was made up mainly of jolly larks ashore and afloat, with plenty of athletics to keep us from ever feeling dull. Of course, I knew we had to do some studying, but I didn't imagine the studies would be hard for a chap who had already gone through a good High School."

"Your High School studies did help, didn't they?"demanded Belle.

"They helped somewhat in the exams, to enter Annapolis, but they've never helped me with any of the studies that I've had to tackle as a midshipman."

"Oh, well, you'll get through,"the girl predicted with cheery confidence.

"I shall, if it's really in me,"Dave promised."But I'm not going to do any bragging, Belle, until I'm safely through and have been out of the woods for a long time."

"And you won't do any bragging then, either. It isn't in your line.

What's Dan Dalzell going to do while he's home on leave?"

"Sleep, he says."

"The lazy boy!"

"No, he's a tired boy, Belle. I think the past year has been even just a little harder on him than it has on me. However, of course Dan won't really sleep. He'll be out by this afternoon. Just now I imagine that he's talking like wildfire with his mother."

It was a wrong guess, however. Just then the telephone sounded in the next room, and Belle went to answer it.

"It's your shipmate, Dan,"she called laughingly."He wants to talk with you, Dave."

"I wonder how the fellow ever guessed that I was here,"smiled Darrin, as he hastily joined Belle at the'phone.

"Hello,"hailed Dalzell at the other end of the wire."Going to do anything in particular this afternoon, David, little giant?"

"Yes; I hope to make myself more or less agreeable to Miss Meade."

"A small crowd won't be any bar to that, eh?"Dan wanted to know.

"Not if the crowd and the occasion are agreeable to Miss Meade."

"We ll, you know Foss and Canty?"

"Two of our old High School boys? Yes."

"Foss has a new gasoline launch; he says it's a beauty, and he wants us to invite Miss Meade and Miss Bentley, to join them and a couple of the former High School girls for a couple of hours'cruise on the river. What say you?"

"What does Belle say, you mean. Wait a moment, and I'll ask her."

Darrin explained the invitation.

"Why, if it will be pleasant for you, Dave, I shall be delighted to go,"

Belle answered.

"It's all right,"Dave called back over the'phone."What's the hour for the start!"

"Two o'clock,"Dan answered.

"All right, then; will you ask Laura Bentley, or shall we, from here?"

"I've already asked Laura,"Dalzell replied."She accepted on condition that Belie did. Now I'll ring up Laura and tell her that it's all arranged."

"It'll be a pleasant trip for you, won't it!"inquired Belle, half-anxiously."Or do you get too much of boats in your working year?"

"I shall be glad to be anywhere that you are,"Dave replied gallantly."The form of entertainment doesn't matter to me as long as it appeals to you."

At two o'clock the young people met at the float of the Boat Club house on the river's bank.

On the way across town Dave had been noting the direction and force of the wind. He didn't altogether like it, but didn't say anything. At the float he found Tom Foss, Ab Canty, Ella Wright and Susie Danes awaiting the midshipmen and their fair companions.

"All ready and waiting for you amateur sailors,"called Foss laughingly.

"And here's the boat. Say, isn't she really a beauty?"

"Good lines,"nodded Dave Darrin."And she looks speedy. But you've changed your mind about going out this afternoon, haven't you, Foss?"

"Why?"demanded the young fellow, in very evident astonishment.

"Look at the water,"responded Dave, pointing to the white-caps, which were running rather high for an inland stream.