Excerpt
CHAPTER I WHY THE MIDSHIPMEN BALKED
"So Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton have been here?" demanded MidshipmanDave 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, andDick 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. There 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....