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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Midshipman Merrill, by Henry Harrison Lewis
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this ebook.
-
-Title: Midshipman Merrill
-
-Author: Henry Harrison Lewis
-
-Release Date: November 01, 2020 [EBook #63590]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Demian Katz, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online Distributed
-             Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy of
-             the Digital Library@Villanova University
-             (http://digital.library.villanova.edu/))
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIDSHIPMAN MERRILL ***
-
-Transcriber’s Notes:
-
-Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-MIDSHIPMAN MERRILL
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Illustration: “The passengers and crew gave the young hero a rousing
-cheer as he sped away.” (See page 45)]
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-
-
-Midshipman Merrill
-
-
-  BY
-  HENRY HARRISON LEWIS
-
-  AUTHOR OF
-  “Centre-Board Jim,” “Ensign Merrill,” etc.
-
-  [Illustration]
-
-  PHILADELPHIA
-  DAVID MCKAY, PUBLISHER
-  610 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Copyright, 1899, By STREET & SMITH
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-MIDSHIPMAN MERRILL.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I. THE WRECK OF THE TOY.
-
-
-“There comes that sea cub of Beacon Cliff, mates, so let us clip his
-claws.”
-
-“So say I, mates, for he’s too blue blooded to associate with us, if he
-is only a fisher lad.”
-
-“It’s the living in that old rookery, Cliff Castle, that has turned his
-head and made him so conceited.”
-
-“No, he’s been high-toned ever since he saved that schooner from being
-wrecked in Hopeless Haven; but I say let us take him down a peg or two,
-mates.”
-
-“I’m with you.”
-
-“So am I.”
-
-“Me, too;” and all of a group of five lads joined in with their leader
-to set upon a youth who was just running for the shore in a trim little
-surf-skiff with a leg-of-mutton sail.
-
-The scene was at a small seaport upon the rugged, though beautiful
-coast of Maine, and the lads, a wild lot of reckless spirits,
-half-sailors, half-landsmen, stood in front of an old-fashioned tavern
-fronting the water, and from whence they had sighted the surf-skiff
-running swiftly in toward the wharf, and had recognized its occupant, a
-lad of sixteen.
-
-He was neatly dressed in duck pants and a sailor shirt with wide
-collar, in each corner of which was embroidered an anchor in blue silk.
-
-A blue tarpaulin sat jauntily upon his head, giving him something of a
-rakish look, and a sash encircled his slender waist.
-
-But in spite of his rather picturesque attire, he had a face of rare
-manliness for one so young, a face that was bronzed by exposure, strong
-in character and stamped with resolution and daring beyond his years.
-
-He ran his little skiff in cleverly alongside the wharf, lowered sail,
-and carefully taking up a toy ship, stepped ashore and started toward
-the tavern.
-
-The toy was a miniature ship, fully rigged and under sail, an exquisite
-specimen of workmanship, for from keel to truck there was nothing
-missing, and every rope and sail, even to a tiny flag, the Stars and
-Stripes, was in place.
-
-He had nearly reached the group of youths, who had threatened to lower
-his pride a peg or two, when a seaman met him and called out:
-
-“Ho, lad, who built that craft you have there?”
-
-“I did, sir,” was the modest reply.
-
-“Well, if you did you are a born sailor, that is all, for I never saw
-a cleaner built craft, or a better rigged one. Are you a deep water
-sailor, my lad?”
-
-“I have been to sea, sir; but I am only a coaster now.”
-
-“And what are you going to do with that pretty toy?”
-
-“I am going to ask landlord Rich of the tavern to buy it of me, sir.”
-
-“Why do you sell it?”
-
-The lad’s face flushed, and after a moment he said:
-
-“Well, sir, my mother is ill, and I wish to have the doctor go and see
-her, and sell the ship to get the money to pay him and buy medicines
-with.”
-
-“Well, lad, in spite of your fancy rig, your heart lies in the right
-place, I see; but what do you want for the craft?”
-
-“It ought to be worth fifteen dollars, sir.”
-
-“It is worth more, and I wish I had the money to buy it; but if the
-landlord don’t buy it, I’ll see what I can do.”
-
-“I thank you, sir,” and the lad was going on, when the group of youths,
-who had heard all that had passed, laughed rudely, while one said: “Let
-me see your boat, sea cub?”
-
-The lad’s face flushed, but he knew that the speaker was the son of a
-rich shipping merchant of the town, and was a spendthrift, who might
-pay him a fancy price for his toy, if he wished to do so, and he,
-therefore, handed the ship to him without reply.
-
-It was the same youth who had suggested to the others to tease the lad,
-and looking critically at the ship, he said:
-
-“It looks fairly well to a landsman, but whoever saw such a rig on a
-ship?”
-
-“And the hull has no shape to it,” said another.
-
-“Just look at the rake of the masts.”
-
-“And the cut of her bow.”
-
-“Whoever saw such a stern on anything but a mudscow.”
-
-“If you do not wish to purchase the boat, Scott Clemmons, give it back
-to me,” said Mark Merrill, suppressing his anger.
-
-“I’ll buy her, if she can stand a cyclone, sea cub,” said Scott
-Clemmons insolently.
-
-“Let’s see if she can, Scott,” another said.
-
-“All right, Birney, hold out your arm.”
-
-The youth addressed held his arms out firmly on a level, and whirling
-suddenly around, with the boat grasped in both hands, he brought it
-with full force close to the deck against the outstretched arms of Ben
-Birney.
-
-The result was the wreck of the toy ship, for the masts were broken,
-the decks swept clean.
-
-But quickly as the act had been done, the movements of the young sailor
-were quicker, for once, twice, his blows fell full in the faces of the
-two destroyers, and they dropped their length upon the pavement.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II. THE ARREST.
-
-
-The three youths of the group who had not taken a hand in the
-destruction of the toy ship had seemed at first to regret their
-inability to also fret the young sailor; but the moment that the two
-ringleaders, Scott Clemmons and Ben Birney, had measured their length
-upon the ground, falling with a force that seemed to knock the breath
-out of them for a moment, the trio appeared delighted that they had no
-hand in the breaking of the little miniature ship, and stepped quickly
-backward out of reach of the dangerous arm of Mark Merrill.
-
-But Scott Clemmons was not one to submit tamely to a blow, and with his
-face bruised by a severe contact with the fist of the sailor lad, he
-arose to his feet, and whipping out his knife rushed upon his foe with
-a bitter oath, and the threat:
-
-“I’ll have your life for that blow, sea cub!”
-
-Mark Merrill had boldly stood his ground, but seeing his danger he
-quickly stooped, seized the hull of his broken boat, and with a
-lightning-like movement brought it down upon the head of his assailant
-with a force that appeared to kill him, so motionless he lay where he
-fell.
-
-“Come, mates, he has killed Scott Clemmons, so seize him!” shouted Ben
-Birney, and he sprung toward the lad, followed by the other three who
-were made bold by their numbers.
-
-The sailor lad stood at bay now, his face pale, but stern and
-determined, his eyes ablaze, while in his hands he grasped the hull of
-his now badly-wrecked ship, making it serve as a weapon of defense.
-
-But ere Ben Birney had reached within arm’s length a form suddenly
-sprung forward, and a ringing voice cried:
-
-“Back, you young cutthroats, for I’ll take a hand in this unequal game.”
-
-The four youths shrank back as though they had run against a stone
-wall, for the sailor who had addressed Mark Merrill upon landing now
-confronted them, and more, he held a revolver in his hand, the muzzle
-covering the group, his finger upon the trigger.
-
-A crowd had now gathered, and among them the village constable, to whom
-Ben Birney cried:
-
-“Officer Roe, that fisher boy has killed Scott Clemmons--we saw him do
-it.”
-
-“It isn’t so, officer, for the fellow is not dead, only stunned; and,
-besides, he attacked this brave lad with a knife, after the young
-scamps had smashed his boat to pieces. Arrest them, I say,” said the
-sailor.
-
-Constable Roe was a politician, and owed his place to the influence of
-the fathers of Scott Clemmons and Ben Birney, so, of course, he saw the
-situation through the spectacles of self-interest.
-
-The sailor was a stranger in town, and Mark Merrill was but a poor
-fisher lad, so he said:
-
-“He meant to kill young Master Scott, if he didn’t do it, so I’ll
-arrest him, and I’ll take you in, too, as I saw you level a loaded
-pistol at these young men.”
-
-The sailor laughed, and answered:
-
-“You old fool, the weapon was just bought uptown, and there’s no load
-in it; but trot me off to the lockup if you wish, only let this poor
-lad go, as he has come for a doctor to see his sick mother.”
-
-“No, I’ll lock you both up, I guess, if the judge has left his
-court--oh! Master Scott, you have come round, I see,” and the constable
-turned to Scott Clemmons, who just then arose to his feet, but with his
-face bleeding, and a dazed look in his eyes.
-
-“He tried to murder me, Roe,” he said deliberately.
-
-“The young scamp lies like a marine, for he tried to do the murdering;
-but take us to the judge, officer, who, I guess, has got more sense
-than you have,” and the sailor laughed.
-
-The angry constable grasped an arm of the sailor and the lad, and with
-a crowd at their heels led them away toward the court, in the rear of
-which was the jail.
-
-The judge had just finished his last case for the day, but took his
-seat, willing to hear the case, for he heard several remark that it was
-nothing but persecution.
-
-The constable made his report, and the sailor told his story just as he
-had witnessed it, Mark Merrill remaining silent and calm until called
-upon to testify.
-
-Then he told his version of the affair in an unmoved, dignified manner
-that impressed all, adding:
-
-“If I am to be punished, your honor, I beg of you to accept my pledge
-to return, after I have sent a physician to my mother.”
-
-Paying no attention to this remark the judge asked:
-
-“Are there any witnesses in court who are willing to testify in favor
-of these two prisoners?”
-
-“I am, Judge Miller, if you will accept me as a witness, for I saw and
-heard all.”
-
-All started as a clear, sweet voice came from the rear of the crowd,
-and there appeared a young girl of fourteen, her beautiful face
-crimsoned from the glances turned upon her, but her manner firm and
-half-defiant.
-
-“Ah! Miss Virgene, it is you, is it? Yes, indeed, I’ll accept your
-testimony with pleasure,” was the pleasant response of the judge, and
-the crowd fell aside to allow the pretty maiden to go to the front.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III. THE GIRL WITNESS.
-
-
-Virgene Rich was the beauty of the little seaport town of B----,
-notwithstanding that she had only been a couple of years across the
-threshold of her “teens.”
-
-She was the daughter of landlord Rich, of the “Anchorage Tavern,” and
-every one in B---- loved her, especially the lads.
-
-Her most persistent admirer was Scott Clemmons, though he could not
-boast of having been more favored by her than others.
-
-Now, as he saw her advance as a witness, his face paled and flushed by
-turns, for what would she, a girl, have to say of a quarrel among men,
-he wondered.
-
-“Well, Miss Virgene, do you voluntarily appear in this case?” asked the
-judge, with a kindly smile.
-
-“I do, Judge Miller, because I deem it my duty to do so, for if not
-I would not make myself appear so forward,” was the low yet distinct
-response.
-
-“Kiss the Book then, Miss Virgene, and let me hear what you have to
-say.”
-
-The girl obeyed, and then said in a voice that not one failed to hear:
-
-“I was seated in my room, sir, over the tavern parlor when I saw a
-surf-skiff running for shore, and noticed it particularly on account of
-its being so well handled.
-
-“Right beneath stood five young men, whom I see here now. Scott
-Clemmons recognized the occupant of the skiff, that youth there, whose
-name I believe is Mark Merrill.
-
-“A plan was at once formed, as they expressed it, to ‘clip the sea
-cub’s claws,’ and as Master Merrill landed they went toward him.
-
-“He had a toy ship in his hand, and I heard him tell a sailor, this
-gentleman here, who met him, that he intended to sell it to my father,
-as he had to get money to send the doctor to his mother, who was very
-ill.
-
-“Then these five young gentlemen,” and Virgene’s sarcastic reference to
-them made the five youths wince, “met Master Mark Merrill, and at once
-began to sneer at his boat, and Scott Clemmons took it from him, asking
-if it could stand a cyclone.
-
-“Then Scott Clemmons bade Ben Birney hold out his arms, which he did,
-and turning quickly with the boat at a level, he crushed it into a
-wreck.”
-
-A murmur ran through the crowd at this, and the accused did not like
-the look upon the face of the judge as he said:
-
-“Well, Miss Virgene, what else?”
-
-“Why, Master Merrill at once knocked both Scott Clemmons and Ben Birney
-down, as he ought to have done, Judge Miller,” was the spirited reply
-of the young girl.
-
-“I agree with you, Miss Virgene--ahem! ahem!” and the judge cut off his
-own decided unjudicial expression of his private opinion with a loud
-cough.
-
-Resuming her testimony, Virgene Rich said:
-
-“Scott Clemmons rose quickly, sir, and drawing a knife, rushed upon
-Master Merrill with a threat to kill him, when he was struck a blow
-with the hull of the wrecked boat that stunned him.”
-
-“The prisoner, Mark Merrill, struck the blow?”
-
-“Yes, Judge Miller, in self-defense; and the others then, led by Ben
-Birney, were about to spring upon him, when this gentleman frightened
-them off with what seems was an unloaded weapon,” and Virgene’s musical
-laughter was contagious, for many joined in until the judge, checking
-the broad grin upon his own face, commanded sternly:
-
-“Silence in court!”
-
-The judge was a terror to evil-doers, and was obeyed with alacrity,
-while Virgene went on to tell the story of the constable’s arrest of
-the wrong parties.
-
-“Constable Roe, you should not allow self-interest to lead you into
-error, sir, for the real culprits before me are Scott Clemmons, Ben
-Birney, _et al._
-
-“Miss Virgene, I thank you for your clear testimony of the facts, and
-discharge the accused, while I order the arrest of these young men, and
-shall bind them over to keep the peace, while you, Clemmons, must at
-once pay this youth for his boat, or I shall send you to jail.”
-
-Then, turning to Mark Merrill, Judge Miller asked:
-
-“Are you the lad who saved a schooner from being wrecked in Hopeless
-Haven some months ago?”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“I am glad to know you, my lad, for you took desperate chances for your
-own life to save others from death. Ah, Mr. Clemmons, you are here, I
-suppose, to pay your son’s just debt to this brave youth, and to offer
-bail for your boy, who can congratulate himself upon his escaping so
-lightly,” and Judge Miller turned to a fine-looking old gentleman who
-had entered court, hearing his son had been arrested.
-
-“I am here, your honor, to do what is right,” was the cold response of
-merchant Clemmons.
-
-“He ought to have fifty dollars for the boat, for it was worth it,”
-said the sailor bluntly.
-
-“No, my price was only fifteen dollars, and I would not take that from
-him were it not for my mother’s being ill,” said Mark Merrill.
-
-The amount was paid by merchant Clemmons, and Mark Merrill hastened
-from the court room, accompanied by his newly-made friend, Jack Judson,
-sailor.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV. THE DWELLERS IN “SPOOK HALL.”
-
-
-The youth, accompanied by Jack Judson, the sailor, walked hastily up
-the main street of the little town, until he came to a fine residence,
-before which hung a sign bearing the legend:
-
-  “DR. STONE’S OFFICE.”
-
-The physician had just returned home, and coming by the court room had
-heard the story of the affray, and from one who had sided with the
-sailor lad in the affair.
-
-He heard Mark’s story of his mother’s illness, and at once said he
-would drive down that evening, and received his fee in advance, which
-he made exceedingly modest.
-
-With a happy heart the lad then went to a store and made a few
-purchases, after which he said:
-
-“Now, sir, I must take time to go and thank that pretty young girl for
-her kindness.”
-
-“Well, I just think so, lad, for she’s one among a thousand,” answered
-Jack Judson, and the two went to “The Anchorage” and asked to see Miss
-Virgene Rich.
-
-But that young lady saw them coming, suspected their errand, and ran
-off to the garret and hid, so they were told that she must have gone
-out.
-
-“That’s too bad, lad; but you’ll find her in port some time; but, see
-here, it’s blowing a gale, and you cannot start home now.”
-
-“Oh, yes, sir; for it would worry my mother more for me not to go.”
-
-“Go by land?”
-
-“It’s a walk of fifteen miles, and only a sail of twelve, while the
-wind is fair for me.”
-
-“If my craft was not going out in the morning I’d go with you, for you
-are going to have it rough, lad.”
-
-“I don’t mind that, sir, for my craft is a surf-skiff, and I know how
-to handle her.”
-
-“I saw that as you came in, my boy; but if you must go I won’t detain
-you, so good-by, and don’t you forget that Jack Judson is your friend.”
-
-“I’ll remember you, sir, you may be sure,” was the reply, and five
-minutes after the surf-skiff cast off and started upon her really
-perilous voyage.
-
-The sailor watched her departure, as many others did, and shook his
-head ominously, while Virgene Rich, having returned to her room, stood
-in the window, and her innocent young face wore an anxious look as
-she saw the little craft driving swiftly into the heavy seas on her
-dangerous run.
-
-In half an hour the surf-skiff was out of sight to the watchers, and
-soon after rounded a point of land where it felt the full force of the
-winds and waves.
-
-But Mark Merrill showed his claim to the title he had won as the boy
-pilot of the coast, and though the shadows of night fell upon the
-waters, seemed to instinctively know his way over the tempestuous sea.
-
-At length a light gleamed from a cliff far ahead, and the young sailor
-said aloud:
-
-“Bless my dear, good mother! she has set the lamp in the south window,
-sick as she is, to guide me home, and it shows me that I was a trifle
-off my course.”
-
-On sped the little craft, held firmly to her work until she ran in
-under the shelter of a lofty overhanging cliff.
-
-The sail was quickly lowered, the painter made fast, and springing
-ashore, his arms full of the purchases he had made, Mark Merrill
-hastened to climb a steep path leading to the cliff above.
-
-Here stood a large stone mansion, dark and gloomy, except in one end,
-where there was a light, the one which had flashed over the waters as a
-beacon to guide the brave boy to a haven of safety.
-
-Entering the wing the lad passed into a large room where a woman lay
-upon a large old-fashioned bed.
-
-Her face was a sad one, and her eyes were sunk with suffering, but she
-smiled as she beheld her son, who advanced and, bending over, kissed
-her forehead.
-
-“The doctor will be down to-night, mother, for he knows the way well,
-having attended the Vanloo family when they lived here.”
-
-“Heaven bless you, my noble boy; but what a rough night it is, and my
-anxiety for you has made me feel better, for I forgot myself.”
-
-“Oh! you’ll soon come round all right, mother,” was the hopeful reply.
-
-“But Mark, how can you pay the doctor, for my illness has kept you from
-making any money of late.”
-
-“I sold my little model, mother, for I was tired of it, you know.”
-
-“No, I don’t know anything of the kind, Mark, for you prized it most
-highly, and it took you a long time to make it.”
-
-“Why, mother, it was no use, and I got a good price for it, so paid the
-doctor and bought some things we needed, and old Peggy will be back
-to-morrow, so that I can take a cruise and make some money.”
-
-“I hope so, my son, and Peggy never overstays her time; but I hear
-wheels without.”
-
-“It is the doctor,” joyously said the lad.
-
-It was the doctor, and he found the patient suffering from a general
-breaking down.
-
-He prescribed what he deemed best, left the medicines, and as the youth
-followed him to his carriage, said:
-
-“Your mother has some sorrow to bear, my young friend, and she must
-have perfect rest, the best of care, and good food.”
-
-“My old nurse, sir, Peggy, will return to-morrow, for she has been
-absent for a few weeks on a yearly visit to her son, and my mother has
-overworked herself, I fear.”
-
-“Well, I will see her again, and I understand your situation
-exactly--nay, do not get angry, for I will have my way, and all your
-mother needs she shall have, and when you make money you can repay me,
-for I shall keep an account of expenditures.
-
-“But your mother has some heartache, and you must brighten her life all
-you can.
-
-“I visited the Vanloo’s when they dwelt here--where is the heir to this
-property?”
-
-“I do not know, sir; but the agent gave us permission to occupy one
-wing of it to care for the place.”
-
-“He might well do so, for money would buy no one else to live here
-after the tragedies this old mansion has seen.
-
-“You and your mother are brave, indeed, to dwell here; but good-night,”
-and the good physician entered his carriage and drove rapidly away
-from the old mansion, which had become known as “Spook Hall,” for the
-superstitious country folk and the coast dwellers vowed that the place
-was haunted--and certainly it was by cruel memories of red deeds done
-there one stormy night years before.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V. A BOLD RESOLVE.
-
-
-It was several weeks after the attack on Mark Merrill, on his visit to
-the town of B---- after the doctor, and Mrs. Merrill had regained her
-health, old Peggy had returned to her duties, and the young sailor lad
-was thus able to resume his fishing and carrying the mail each week to
-and from several little hamlets on the coast.
-
-By the sale of his fish and the mail carrying, both most dangerous work
-in rough weather, the lad made a fair living for his mother, old Peggy,
-and himself, the only three dwellers in the once grand old mansion
-of Cliff Castle, then the wonder and admiration of the country folk,
-but for years left deserted and crumbling to decay, its hundreds of
-surrounding acres allowed to grow up with weeds and undergrowth.
-
-The furniture all had been left after the fateful tragedy beneath its
-roof, which had gained for it the name of Spook Hall, and the place had
-been shunned as a pestilence, until the moving into one wing of the
-Merrills, who had set at defiance the weird stories of the old mansion.
-
-There was an unsolved mystery hanging over the Merrills, for no one
-seemed to know who they were, or from whence they had come.
-
-The lad had visited B---- as one of a schooner’s crew, and not long
-after had come with his mother and Peggy, and sought a home in a cabin
-on the shore.
-
-After a run to Boston, where he had seen the agent of Cliff Castle, he
-had permission to move into the mansion, and for over a year they had
-dwelt there, and that was all that was known of them.
-
-At the risk of his life the brave boy had gone out in a storm one night
-and acted as pilot to a schooner that was in a dangerous anchorage, and
-this had won him fame along the coast, and the name of the boy pilot.
-
-Again, he had sailed out in his surf-skiff to a vessel adrift, and
-found it utterly deserted, so had gotten up sail, as well as he could,
-and run the craft to a safe anchorage.
-
-He had given notice of the fact, but no one had come to claim the
-pretty craft, which was a small schooner yacht, and Mark had begun to
-regard her as his own property.
-
-One afternoon he was standing upon the cliff watching the coming up of
-what threatened to be a terrible storm.
-
-The whole heavens to seaward were one mass of inky clouds, which were
-rising higher and higher, and ominous rumblings of thunder and vivid
-flashes of lightning grew louder and brighter as the tempest came
-sweeping on.
-
-From his position on the cliff he could look down into two basins, or
-bays.
-
-In one lay the little schooner at anchor, and all ship-shape to meet
-the coming tempest, and there, too, was his surf-skiff with a couple of
-boats drawn up on the beach.
-
-The entrance to this bay was winding and dangerous in the extreme, but
-these very dangers of running in and out made it more sheltered and
-secure as a harbor.
-
-The bay upon the other side of the cliff was larger and by no means
-well sheltered from a wild sea, though to an ordinary observer it
-appeared to be a safe anchorage for a vessel.
-
-The lad stood upon a rock overhanging the sea, and commanding a grand
-view, seemingly unconscious that a false step would hurl him into the
-waters eighty feet below.
-
-Suddenly he started, for around a point of land heavily wooded a vessel
-came in sight, driving along under reefed sails before the breeze which
-was the forerunner of the storm.
-
-“It is one of those beautiful yachts out of Boston; but there can be no
-pilot on board, or he would have run into Rover’s Roost.
-
-“Why does she not stand out to sea for good room?” said the lad
-anxiously.
-
-Then he watched the vessel attentively, a large schooner yacht of some
-two hundred tons burden, painted white, which was driving along like a
-huge thing of life seeking a place of refuge from the storm.
-
-“Great Cæsar’s ghost! she is running into Hopeless Haven in the very
-teeth of this storm. She will be wrecked!” and the boy’s voice now rang
-out in dire alarm for the safety of the beautiful vessel.
-
-He saw her run, to what her skipper evidently believed a safe
-anchorage; the anchors were let fall and the sails furled.
-
-Then Mark Merrill waited no longer, for from his lips came the words:
-
-“She is doomed unless I can save her! I have no time to get my boat and
-run around the point, for the storm would catch me halfway--yes, I must
-take the chances and swim out to her!”
-
-He paused for a few seconds, as though taking in the whole situation,
-and then quickly ran around the edge of the cliff to where there was a
-small arbor, in the top of which had been a beacon in the early days
-of the mansion.
-
-Quickly divesting himself of his jacket, shoes, stockings and hat, he
-began to descend the steep side of the cliff with the agility of a cat.
-
-He reached within twenty feet of the water’s edge, and turning, gazed
-first out at the yacht, half a mile distant, and then down into the
-surf, dashing with thunderous roar against the base of the cliff.
-
-“Now for it!” and as the words left his lips Mark Merrill made the
-fateful spring into the surging breakers on his daring swim out to the
-yacht in the face of the coming storm.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI. THE BOY PILOT.
-
-
-The schooner yacht Midshipman was on a pleasure cruise of several weeks
-with a distinguished party on board.
-
-She was a large, roomy and stanch craft, as well as carrying the
-champion colors as a racer, won in showing a clean pair of heels to the
-fleet pleasure boats when a cup or purse was at stake.
-
-Her distinguished owner, a millionaire Bostonian, had invited a
-congenial party to become his guests for a cruise from Fortress Monroe
-along the coast to the St. Lawrence and back to Newport, and among the
-guests were several who had won fame in the history of their country in
-civil and military life.
-
-The Honorable Secretary of the United States Navy, gallant Commodore
-Lucien, and several others of lesser note, accompanied by half a dozen
-ladies, comprised the guests of General Peyton on the Midshipman.
-
-The cruise had been greatly enjoyed, and the prow of the yacht had been
-turned homeward, when suddenly came up from out of the very sea, it
-seemed, the black and ugly storm.
-
-The ladies implored the skipper to head for the shore, to seek refuge
-in some harbor, though he urged, as he knew little of the coast just
-there, the open sea was the safer.
-
-“We will find some harbor, captain, so run in, where you deem best,”
-General Peyton had said, for he did not like the looks of the heavens,
-and night not far off.
-
-Around a point swept the yacht, and a cry of joy came from many lips at
-what appeared to be a safe anchorage before them.
-
-Into the bay ran the Midshipman, and quickly her anchors were let go,
-her sails furled, and all made ship-shape to meet the rising tempest,
-which was growing appalling in its magnitude and blackness.
-
-“I don’t like this place, sir, and we had better fire a gun to bring a
-pilot off in case we have to stand out,” said the skipper to General
-Peyton.
-
-“Do so, if you deem best, captain; but see, yonder stands some one upon
-that cliff.”
-
-All eyes were turned upon the cliff, and they wondered to see the form
-of a man running at full speed along the edge of the towering rocks.
-
-He darted into an arbor, and in a short while reappeared, and then his
-actions caused still greater surprise, for he was seen to come boldly
-down the rocky face of the cliff toward the sea.
-
-All watched with deepest interest, momentarily forgetting the storm in
-their wonderment at the actions of the one on the cliff.
-
-Suddenly a cry broke from every lip, for the form was seen to suddenly
-spring into the foaming waters.
-
-The ladies turned their faces away in awe, the men watched the waters
-where the form had disappeared, for it seemed that the fate of the
-stranger was ominous of their own.
-
-Suddenly from the inky clouds, trailing over the sea to break upon the
-stone-bound coast, came a blinding sheet of livid flame, followed by a
-crash of thunder that vibrated through the yacht from stem to stern.
-
-In the lull that followed came a voice out upon the waters:
-
-“Ahoy! ahoy, the yacht!”
-
-It was faint, but distinct, and all heard it.
-
-“Ahoy! ahoy! the yacht, ahoy!” came the hail louder than before.
-
-Brave men looked at each other with something like awe in their faces,
-until General Peyton cried:
-
-“It is the man who sprang from the cliff!”
-
-“He is swimming out to us, brave fellow that he is.”
-
-Seizing his trumpet he shouted back:
-
-“Ay! ay! my man, I’ll send a boat for you!”
-
-“No! no! I am all right, but your vessel is not. Get up your anchors,
-and set sail!”
-
-There was no mistaking these cool words, and a voice cried:
-
-“I see him!”
-
-There, out upon the waters, swimming with powerful, rapid strokes
-toward the yacht could be seen, every moment as he rose on the crest of
-a wave, our bold young swimmer.
-
-A cheer broke from the crew forward, and was echoed by the guests aft.
-
-But again came from the daring young swimmer:
-
-“You have no time to lose; get sail on your yacht and your anchors up,
-for this bay is a death-trap!”
-
-The skipper was a man of quick action, and the warning from the swimmer
-but carried out his own ideas, and he sent his crew flying to their
-posts, while General Peyton stood by to throw a line to the one who was
-now but a few yards away.
-
-A minute more, and amid a ringing cheer the bold swimmer stood upon the
-deck, a handsome, fearless-faced youth, bareheaded, barefooted, and
-clad only in duck pants and sailor shirt.
-
-“Well, young man, who are you who so bravely boards my craft almost in
-mid-ocean?” cried General Peyton, as all gazed with admiration upon the
-lad.
-
-The response came bluntly:
-
-“I am not here, sir, to speak of myself, but to pilot your vessel to a
-safe harbor, for you are in Hopeless Haven, and yonder storm will wreck
-you here.”
-
-“Hopeless Haven is it, my lad? Then are you a hundred times welcome,
-and to one who has your nerve I gladly yield the craft,” said Captain
-Saunders hastily, and Mark Merrill stepped to the wheel just as the
-anchors left the bottom, and the reefed sails went to leeward with a
-jerk under a sudden squall.
-
-But the boy pilot was unmoved, and, declining a glass of liquor brought
-to him by the steward, at General Peyton’s order, bent his every energy
-upon his work, for now the rushing, furious storm was coming down in
-an avalanche of winds and waves, and a roaring and flaming like unto a
-mighty battle.
-
-As though wild with fear the yacht drove furiously on, heading to round
-the rocky reef off the cliff, her crew at their posts, the guests
-crouched in the companionway and cock-pit, and all eyes alternately
-turned upon the young pilot, calm and fearless, and the storm so near
-upon them.
-
-It seemed like a mad race for life, for the boy pilot had said:
-
-“Anchors will not hold on this bottom, and we must round that reef to
-reach safety.”
-
-At last the order came in the boy’s clear voice:
-
-“Slack off the sheets! steady now! hold hard all!”
-
-And with the orders the howling storm was upon them, and the gallant
-yacht went driving ahead with furious speed, with all about her now
-darkness and chaos.
-
-How he knew his way, all asked, none knew, but his orders came steadily
-to haul taunt, or slack off sheets, until suddenly the giant waves
-ceased to follow, the wind was broken by the lofty cliff, and the
-anchors were let go in the secure haven of Beacon Cliff.
-
-The first one to grasp the hand of the brave lad was the Secretary of
-the Navy, and his voice had a tremor in it as he said:
-
-“My young friend, your courage this day has won your right to
-serve your country in a position of honor, and I pledge for you an
-appointment-at-large from the President of the berth of a cadet
-midshipman.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII. THE CADET MIDSHIPMAN.
-
-
-The day of work was at hand at the United States Naval Academy,
-situated in that quaint, sleepy old town of Annapolis, whose greatest
-attractions are its antiquity and its sea school.
-
-The time had come when the “future admirals,” the “heroes in embryo”
-were to cease their flirting and “bone” with all their hearts and heads
-in latitudes, longitudes, parallelograms, tonnage, displacement, and
-all the other studies necessary to make the greenhorn a perfect sailor.
-
-The middies had returned from their summer cruise, the “academy” had
-awakened from its lazy slumber of weeks, and all were looking forward
-to the year before them with varied feelings of hopes and fears.
-
-Those who had already served one or more terms at the academy felt
-their superiority unquestioned to the unfortunate “Plebe,” who was
-standing upon the threshold in fear and trembling of what was before
-him.
-
-Standing on the sea-wall of the academy grounds one afternoon a
-month or more after the bold act of Mark Merrill in saving the yacht
-Midshipman from destruction in Hopeless Haven, on the coast of Maine,
-were a number of middies, unmindful of the beauties of the scene about
-them, the old training ship with its history of the past, waters of
-the Severn lashed into foam under a gale that was blowing up the
-Chesapeake, visible over a league away, tossing in angry billows,
-a vessel of war anchored off in midstream, and the ancient town of
-Annapolis to the right, with its fleet of oyster boats fretting
-their cables as they plunged and reeled on the incoming waves--I say
-unmindful of the scene about them, the group of young sailors had
-their eyes riveted upon a small schooner which had shot around Bay
-Ridge Point at a tremendous speed, jibed her sails to starboard most
-skillfully, though she reeled low under the shock, and came tearing up
-to the town in gallant style.
-
-“There’s a bold skipper at the helm of that craft,” said Cadet Captain
-Byrd Bascomb, of the first class, with the air of one whose superior
-knowledge no one could contradict.
-
-“He is too bold, for he carries too much sail for safety,” Midshipman
-Herbert Nazro responded, for he observed that the little schooner was
-carrying only a single-reefed mainsail.
-
-“She’s one of those deep-keeled yachts that can stand her canvas,”
-Cadet Lieutenant Frank Latrobe added.
-
-“Yes, and her foolhardy skipper will carry the sticks out of her yet
-before she reaches port,” put in Midshipman Winslow Dillingham.
-
-“I guess he knows his craft; if he does not, he’s a fool,” was the
-decided opinion of Midshipman Harbor Driggs.
-
-“Ha! what did I tell you?” cried Captain Byrd Bascomb, as a terrific
-squall struck the little vessel, causing her to lay over until her keel
-was visible.
-
-“Aha! well done that!”
-
-“Wasn’t it beautiful!”
-
-“That skipper knows himself and his ship, too!”
-
-Such were the admiring expressions that went up from the crowd of young
-sailors as the yacht was splendidly rescued from her danger and sent
-along, as before, in the same rushing style by her bold helmsman.
-
-“Ah! he is heading for an anchorage off here!” said Cadet Captain Byrd
-Bascomb, as the schooner’s sheets were eased off and her prow headed
-away before the wind.
-
-On she flew, at the same mad speed, reeling, staggering, rolling, until
-her boom ends dipped, but held on unswervingly straight toward the
-vessel-of-war anchored off the grounds in the Levern River.
-
-“By Neptune’s beard, men, but that is a youngster at the helm of that
-craft,” cried Byrd Bascomb, as he put his glass to his eye.
-
-It was not long before all could discover the truth of this, and that
-three men were all else to be seen upon the deck of the schooner, one
-of these forward, another at the foresheet halyards, the third at the
-main sheet.
-
-Like a rocket she sped under the stern of the vessel-of-war, and then
-there came an order from the helmsman, the sheets were hauled in and
-made fast, and luffing up sharp, the anchor was let fall, the sails
-came down on a run, and ten minutes after a boat left her side and
-pulled for the shore.
-
-The cadets lounged up to meet the single occupant of the little boat,
-which was a surf-skiff, and though tossed about upon the waves, was
-handled with a skill which caused the middies to set the rower down as
-a master of the oars.
-
-The oarsman sprang ashore, touched his hat politely, and asked nobody
-in particular:
-
-“May I ask where I will find the commandant of the Naval School?”
-
-Then the innate deviltry of the juvenile tar asserted itself, and a
-look of mischief flashed from eye to eye, a sort of telegraphy, which
-said:
-
-“Here’s fun for us.”
-
-They saw before them a bronze-faced youth of seventeen, perhaps, with a
-splendidly knit frame, clad in spotless duck trousers, a sailor shirt,
-beneath the wide collar of which a black silk scarf was knotted, and a
-tarpaulin cocked on the side of his head in a kind of devil-I-care way.
-
-“Have you the oysters the commandant ordered?” asked Midshipman
-Dillingham, with a look of intense innocence.
-
-The dark face of the young sailor flushed, but he responded with
-dignity:
-
-“My name is Mark Merrill, and I have orders to report here to be
-examined for the berth of midshipman in the United States Navy.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII. A RUMOR AFLOAT.
-
-
-There was quite a stir at the naval school, for a strange rumor was
-afloat.
-
-“Some one” had said that one of the officers had said that there was to
-be a new cadet at the academy, appointed under peculiar circumstances;
-that is, he had no political status environing him.
-
-He was to come bearing no congressman’s brand, and no partisan
-motive had prompted the President to appoint him as a “cadet
-midshipman-at-large.” The reason of his appointment was what had leaked
-out through this mysterious “some one.”
-
-The rumor afloat had it that the newcomer had done some meritorious act
-which deserved recognition from the government, and he had received his
-orders to report at the naval academy.
-
-What this gallant service was no one seemed to know, but, of course,
-all would discover as soon as the honored youth arrived at the academy,
-as he would be only too anxious to tell of his deeds of heroism.
-
-The rumor also had it that the youth was a specimen of the _genus homo_
-from the coast of Maine, and a fisher lad from the State which in the
-past has so justly won the title of “Nursery of the Navy.”
-
-Of course the blue bloods among the cadet midshipmen had their opinions
-as to what a fisher lad from the coast of Maine would be like.
-
-Hardly setting him down as being like the earlier Florida coasters,
-half-horse, half-alligator, they still supposed that he must be a
-long-pointed, two-headed, web-footed, uncouth specimen of a youth who,
-if he passed the surgeon for height, chest measure and perfect health,
-would do so through a hope that he could in time be built up into a
-man, while, when the examining committee ran afoul of him with what the
-old farmer called the Three R’s--“Reading, ’Riting and ’Rithmetic”--the
-youth from Maine would haul down his colors at the first fire.
-
-Human nature is said to be the same the world over, and certainly
-boy nature is. The only safety-valve a boy has for his extra flow of
-spirits is mischief, and young tars and soldier lads are certainly no
-exception to the rule, but, on the contrary, more given to pranks than
-other youths, on account of their severe training, for their fun must
-break forth when discipline unbends for hours of leisure.
-
-With this homily upon my young friends, gleaned from having been “one
-of the same,” I will state that there were great expectations among
-the boy tars at the naval academy as to the newcomers in their midst,
-especially regarding the lad from Maine.
-
-They longed to have him pass the doctors and the examining committee,
-for that would give them a chance, and several regretted that they did
-not know where to find him, that they might post him a little, “get the
-moss off his back,” as one mildly expressed it.
-
-There were other appointees to arrive, of course, but the interest of
-these ancient mariners who had already served one or more years at the
-academy centered in the youth who was to come under circumstances out
-of the usual routine, a simple appointment by the congressman of his
-district.
-
-The men of the third class were more particularly interested in the
-newcomers, as they had so lately been in the same predicament, while
-the older cadets of the second and first classes looked down with
-supreme contempt upon the “cubs,” only worthy of their attention if any
-fun could be gotten out of them.
-
-So a detail was made to keep an eye upon the entrance gate to the
-academy grounds, where a marine and his musket constantly paced, for
-the arrival of the cubs, especially the lad from Maine.
-
-The new appointees began to arrive on time, pale, nervous, and with
-forebodings of the future, some of them having read or heard that young
-gulls were plucked of their feathers by those who had risen to the
-height of sea eagles.
-
-There was legendary lore on tap that new boys who ran the gauntlet of
-the sawbones and examiners were then taken in hand for instruction by
-the cadets by a process called hazing.
-
-Now, the new men held somewhat of a hazy view of what hazing was
-exactly, as, though it was fun for the hazers, it might be death to the
-hazed, and they stood more in awe of their learned companions-to-be
-than they did of the commandant and his whole crew of professors.
-
-And they were right, as many a man can testify to-day.
-
-One by one the new men arrived at Annapolis, and turned their uneasy
-footsteps in the direction of the mecca of their hopes and fears.
-
-They passed by the grim sentinel at the gate, and he knew them at a
-glance, try as they might to disguise their identity as appointees.
-
-They went, according to orders, to report to the commandant, passed
-that ordeal, and faced another in the surgeon, who was all business,
-and as merciless as a guillotine.
-
-Then they had reason to regret that they had not studied harder at
-school and played less, that they had not realized that spelling,
-reading, and a few other things were necessary to education.
-
-Their handwriting was a scrawl which horrified them, and their pride
-took a tumble under the inquisition of an examination that shattered
-their vanity to atoms.
-
-Some of them were undoubtedly greenhorns, others were city boys, with
-an air of assurance which the first broadside of their judges laid low,
-and others were quiet, diffident fellows, with the look about them to
-go in and win.
-
-And while the cadets were watching and waiting for the coming of the
-lad appointed for meritorious services, they became interested in the
-splendid handling of a schooner rushing into port in a gale, and to
-their amazement the one at the helm landed and announced himself as:
-
-“Mark Merrill, the man from Maine.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX. GOING ASHORE.
-
-
-Leaving Mark Merrill facing the crowd of midshipmen who met him as he
-landed, I will ask my reader to return with me until I explain the fact
-of his arrival as helmsman of a schooner yacht, and his appointment to
-a cadetship in the naval school.
-
-It will be remembered that he had saved the yacht, by a strange
-coincidence bearing the name of Midshipman, and this every one on board
-realized.
-
-He had driven her through a dangerous channel, with reefs on every
-hand, in the darkness and storm, standing coolly at his post and
-issuing his orders in a voice that was firm and commanding, until he
-had brought her into a basin as quiet as a mill pond, and said:
-
-“Let go the anchor!”
-
-The storm still raged outside, the waves thundered against the rocky
-shore, and the winds howled among the pines that crowned the hilltops.
-
-But the yacht rocked gently upon the swell that was driven in through
-the narrow channel; there was plenty of water beneath her keel, and
-though lofty, vine-clad cliffs were above them upon all sides, the crew
-knew that their vessel was safe.
-
-Realizing this, all the guests had gone into the large and brilliantly
-lighted cabin, and thither General Peyton had followed with the young
-pilot.
-
-The youth had urged against it, saying that he was wet, barefooted,
-and hardly more than half-dressed, but General Peyton had said:
-
-“The Secretary of the Navy wishes to see you.”
-
-Standing in his wet clothing before that august group gathered there,
-Mark Merrill was modest of mien, yet not abashed.
-
-“You wished to see me, sir?” he said, bowing to the Secretary.
-
-“Yes, my lad, sit down.”
-
-“Ah, sir, I am not fit to be here, looking as I do; and I am anxious to
-return home, as my mother will be expecting me.”
-
-“You live near here, then?”
-
-“Yes, sir, upon the cliff.”
-
-“And you have a mother living?”
-
-“Yes, sir, she is all I have, except old Peggy, for my father was lost
-at sea.”
-
-“And what is your calling, my lad?”
-
-“I fish for the market boats, and then I carry the mail once each week
-along the coast.”
-
-“In a boat, of course?”
-
-“Yes, sir, in my surf-skiff.”
-
-“Do you get liberal pay for this work, may I ask?”
-
-“Not very, sir, for with the mail carrying and my fish-selling I
-average about fifty dollars a month.”
-
-“But your mother has other means of support?”
-
-“No, sir; we pay no rent, as we live in Cliff Castle free for keeping
-it, and I have a good garden, and there is plenty of game and fish for
-the shooting and catching.”
-
-“What do you do when it storms too hard to carry the mail?”
-
-“I always go, sir, for my skiff is a lifeboat, and stands any weather.”
-
-“How did you manage to come out to our aid?”
-
-“I was on the cliff, sir, watching the storm, and saw you round the
-point and run for an anchorage. I know that anchors will not hold on
-the bottom of Hopeless Haven, and the currents in the bay make the sea
-very wild, so I determined to go out and pilot you into Cliff Castle
-harbor.”
-
-“And swam out to us in the face of that storm?”
-
-“Well, sir, I had not time to go to the bay and run out in my skiff,
-so I slipped down the bluff and jumped in, for it was not a very long
-swim, sir.”
-
-“Well, I should call it a very remarkable swim, my lad, and I regard
-you as a phenomenal young sailor. We all owe you our lives, I feel
-assured, and I shall beg of the President a naval cadetship for you. We
-have raised a purse, which we ask you to accept, with our best wishes
-for your future success.”
-
-The dark face of Mark Merrill flushed as with shame, while he said,
-quickly:
-
-“Oh, sir, I cannot accept money from you, though I thank you all. I
-would not touch a dollar of money for what I did if I was starving, but
-I will appreciate your kind promise to make me a midshipman, and it
-seems too much to hope for, sir.”
-
-“I will not urge the acceptance of the purse, my brave boy, if you do
-not wish it, and I pledge you the appointment, and to-morrow morning we
-will call upon your mother, and tell her she must be content to give
-you up, as you will make a name she will be proud of.”
-
-“I thank you, sir, and good-night, for I must go, as mother is not
-well, and my long stay will worry her.”
-
-He bowed low, seeming not to see that all wished to shake hands with
-him, and left the cabin, General Peyton following, and calling out:
-
-“Captain, lower away a boat, and land our young pilot.”
-
-“Oh, sir, there’s no need of that, for I am all wet anyhow, and it’s a
-short swim ashore.” And before a hand could stay him the young pilot
-sprang upon the rail of the yacht and leaped head first into the dark
-waters of the little bay.
-
-The startled cry of General Peyton at the youth’s bold act brought
-Commodore Lucien, the Secretary, and others upon the deck in some alarm.
-
-“That fearless lad has leaped overboard and is swimming ashore, Mr.
-Secretary,” he explained.
-
-“Ahoy! ahoy! my lad!” shouted Commodore Lucien.
-
-“Ay, ay, sir!” came back in the clear voice of the young pilot.
-
-“Hail us when you reach shore, so we may know that you are all right!”
-called the commodore.
-
-“Ay, ay, sir.”
-
-“That boy is all right, Peyton, so there is no need of sending a boat
-after him,” the commodore said.
-
-“He’s half fish,” growled the captain of the yacht.
-
-Then all waited breathlessly, and soon came a faint hail:
-
-“Ahoy! the yacht!”
-
-“Ay, ay!” answered Commodore Lucien.
-
-“I’ve landed,” and the words were greeted with a cheer from all on the
-deck of the Midshipman.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X. UNFATHOMED.
-
-
-“My God! can my son have gone out in the face of this terrible storm?
-It is the worst I have known upon the coast for years,” and Mrs.
-Merrill pressed her face against the window-glass, striving in vain to
-pierce the blackness without.
-
-No longer confined to her bed by illness, it could now be seen that
-she was a handsome woman, hardly more than thirty-five, and with the
-indelible stamp of refinement upon her.
-
-Her face wore a sad look, and no flush warmed the marble-like
-complexion.
-
-Her eyes were large and dreamy, seeming to be looking backward into a
-past clouded with bitter memory rather than lighted with hope for the
-future.
-
-She was dressed in a close-fitting robe of mourning, and a miniature
-breastpin, and band of gold upon her wedding-finger were the only
-things that relieved the severe plainness of her appearance.
-
-Old Peggy, a woman who had lived here fifty years, but was strong and
-active, sat in a chair before a blazing pine knot, and in answer to the
-remark of Mrs. Merrill, chimed in, like Job’s comforter, with:
-
-“Well, it would be just like him; but never you fear for him, miss, for
-he’s not born to be drowned, that boy isn’t, and sometimes I almost
-fear he’s born to be hanged, he does escape the dangers of the sea so
-constant.”
-
-“Oh, Peggy, don’t speak so, for you fairly frighten me,” and the
-slender, graceful form thrilled at the thought.
-
-“Well, Miss Gladys, he’s not one to be hanged, either. He’s a boy who
-can take care of himself, come what may, for you remember what the
-doctor told you, how he went for rich Merchant Clemmons’ son and Ben
-Birney?”
-
-“Yes, Mark will not be imposed on, gentle as is his nature; but I only
-wish I knew where he was.”
-
-“So do I, miss, for the supper is getting cold waiting for him.”
-
-“Well, I’m hungry enough to eat it, if it’s cold as ice,” said a cheery
-voice from the next room, and in came Mark, dripping wet.
-
-“Oh, Mark, where have you been? I----”
-
-“Don’t touch me, mother, for I am as wet as a drowned rat, for I’ve
-been overboard.”
-
-“Ah! you were capsized?”
-
-“Not a bit of it, mother, I’ve been swimming.”
-
-“Where are your shoes and hat, Mark?”
-
-“I’ll tell you all about it, mother, as soon as I have slipped into
-some dry togs,” and the lad hastened away to his own room.
-
-But he was back again by the time Peggy had supper upon the table, and
-the three sat down to eat, for, though a servant, the old woman was a
-tried and trusted friend, one who had been Mark’s nurse in babyhood.
-
-His adventure had given the youth an appetite, and his mother knew
-there was no hope of hearing what he had to tell until he had eaten off
-the edge of his hunger, so she wisely heaped his plate with edibles,
-and enjoyed seeing them disappear.
-
-At last he said:
-
-“Mother, there’s a yacht in our bay.”
-
-“A yacht, Mark?”
-
-“Yes, and a beauty. She’s the largest pleasure craft I ever saw.”
-
-“But how did she get there, my son?”
-
-“I played pilot, mother, and ran her in, and just in time, too.”
-
-“Those on board were indeed fortunate in finding so good a pilot near
-at hand, Mark; but tell me of it, for this is an ugly night for such
-work.”
-
-Mark told his story in his modest way, taking no credit to himself, and
-then added:
-
-“Now they wanted to make a hero of me, mother, and pay me for my
-services, offering me a purse, and it was a well-filled one, too.”
-
-“Which you, of course, refused?” quickly said the mother.
-
-“Oh, of course he did, for he’d refuse money if he hadn’t two coppers
-to jingle together in his pocket,” growled Peggy.
-
-“I refused it, mother, but I am to get a reward.”
-
-“Ah, Mark, what have you done?”
-
-“Well, you see the yacht belonged to General Peyton, a millionaire
-merchant of Boston, and he had as guests on board some ladies, the
-Secretary of the Navy, and Commodore Lucien, of whom I have often read,
-you know.”
-
-“Distinguished company, indeed!” said Mrs. Merrill.
-
-“And rich enough to spare a few thousands and not miss ’em,” Peggy
-ventured, with an eye to the fact that the laborer was worthy of his
-hire.
-
-“I got, or will get, what to me, Peggy, is worth far more than
-thousands, for the Secretary promises me a cadetship in the navy,”
-and Mark’s eyes flashed with pride, while his mother kissed him, and
-murmured
-
-“My brave, noble boy! at last! at last the clouds have a silver lining.”
-
-The next evening, true to their promise, the guests of the yacht landed
-and strolled up to the mansion.
-
-They gazed about them with interest, and Commodore Lucien remembered
-having heard something of the tragic history of “Spook Hall,” and told
-it to those with him.
-
-Mark joined them, and this time each one grasped his hand.
-
-He was dressed in his best sailor suit, for he wore nothing else at any
-time, and looked very handsome.
-
-The grand parlor of the old mansion had been thrown open, and they were
-received there by Mrs. Merrill in a dignified manner.
-
-But there was that about her face which prevented obtrusive
-questioning, and after half an hour all arose to go, impressed with
-the idea that some mystery hung about the Merrills which they were not
-willing to attempt to fathom.
-
-The Secretary renewed his promise to Mark, and the lad volunteered his
-services to pilot the yacht out to sea, which he did, returning in his
-surf-skiff, which had been tossing astern.
-
-The skipper of the Midshipman dipped his colors to the lad as he sped
-away, while the crew gave him a send-off in three rousing cheers.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI. THE PROMISE KEPT.
-
-
-It seemed news too good to be true to Mrs. Merrill to feel that her son
-was going to have the advantages of a naval education.
-
-He had enjoyed several years of schooling before they had moved to
-their coast home, and all else he knew she had taught him.
-
-Fortunately for the lonely woman, who possessed a superior education,
-the library at Cliff Castle was well stocked with books, and from these
-had Mark been taught by her.
-
-There were maps, histories and all that he could wish, while the
-postmasters to whom he delivered mails were wont to give him each
-week papers which they had read and finished with, for though late in
-coming, it was all news to the lad, his mother, and old Peggy.
-
-In fact, for the latter’s benefit, Mark had to read even the
-advertisements in the papers.
-
-Some weeks after the departure of the yacht, Mark sailed up to B---- on
-business he had in view.
-
-He had an idea of selling the vessel he had picked up, abandoned at
-sea, and fitting himself out for the naval school with part, leaving
-the balance for his mother’s use.
-
-He decided to place the matter before good Judge Miller, as to his
-claim to the craft, and, perhaps, to consult Dr. Stone, who had seemed
-most friendly disposed to him.
-
-He was skimming swiftly along in his surf-skiff when he beheld a small
-sailboat coming toward him.
-
-There were two persons in it, and it did not take Mark long to
-recognize in one of them pretty Virgene Rich, and she held the tiller.
-
-The other was a half-witted youth who hung about the dock, making odd
-pennies as best he could, and whom Mark had once rescued from a crowd
-of boys who were persecuting him, thus winning the undying friendship
-of poor Silly Sam, as he was called.
-
-As a proof that they wished to speak to him, instead of standing away
-upon a tack when discovering his boat, Virgene brought her boat to and
-lay in the course of the surf-skiff.
-
-“Ahoy, Master Mark, and come alongside, for Miss Virgie wishes to speak
-to you,” called out Silly Sam.
-
-Mark obeyed promptly, doffing his tarpaulin respectfully with one
-hand, while with the other he jammed his tiller down and brought the
-surf-skiff alongside so easily that the blow would not have crushed an
-egg.
-
-“I am glad to see you, Miss Virgene, for I intended stopping at the
-tavern to thank you for your great kindness to me the other day when I
-got into trouble. Hello, Sam, how are you?”
-
-“I’m O. K., Master Mark, and I only wish I’d a been ’round ’tother day
-to punish them fellers for you,” answered Sam.
-
-“Master Mark seemed fully capable of taking care of himself, Sam,”
-answered Virgene with a smile, and then she continued:
-
-“Are you not expecting a letter of importance, Master Mark?”
-
-“No, miss, no one writes to me.”
-
-“Strange, for I have two for you--for, you know, father is postmaster
-at B----, and I help him with the mails, and these arrived some days
-ago, so I determined to take them to you, as Sam offered to sail me
-there.’
-
-“I’m sorry I started from home, miss, for my mother would like to thank
-you for your kindness to me; but I am obliged for the letters--ah! I
-know what they are now,” and the lad’s face flushed as he beheld a
-large official envelope bearing the stamp upon it:
-
-“Navy Department.”
-
-The other was a smaller letter, and had a flag in one corner.
-
-“I gave B---- as my address, Miss Virgene, and I’ll tell you a secret,
-if you and Sam will keep it.”
-
-“A girl never tells a secret,” said Virgene archly, while Sam responded:
-
-“Ef I telled what I know’d there would be a hundred fights up in town;
-but I keeps my mouth shet, I does.”
-
-“Well, I’ll tell you that this is an order for me to report for
-examination at the United States Naval Academy, to be examined for an
-appointment to a cadetship in the navy,” said Mark, with pardonable
-pride, as he handed over his orders to Virgene.
-
-There was a note enclosed, which read:
-
-  “MY YOUNG FRIEND: I hereby redeem my promise and forward the
-  necessary papers for your cadetship. I shall regard you as my
-  _protégé_, and watch your career with the greatest of interest, for I
-  have no doubt of your ability to go through.
-
-  “If you need aid--a loan, consider it, for you are self-confessedly
-  poor--do not hesitate to call upon me, as I shall be more than
-  pleased to respond. You can repay it at your leisure.
-
-  “Yours faithfully,
-  THE SECRETARY.”
-
-The other letter bore the flag of Commodore Lucien upon envelope and
-paper head, and was as follows:
-
-  “MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND: I saw the Secretary to-day, and he told me the
-  President was pleased to appoint you to a cadetship-at-large, and
-  that your papers would be forwarded immediately.
-
-  “I congratulate you with all my heart, and as there will be some
-  necessary expenses falling upon you, I send herewith my check for
-  one hundred dollars, which please consider a loan until convenient
-  for you to repay it. I also take the liberty of ordering your
-  kit, containing your outfit complete, for I have no idea of your
-  failing to pass, and the amount I expend you can also return at your
-  convenience. Present my compliments to your good mother, and regard
-  me ever as
-
-  “Your friend,
-  DAVID LUCIEN.”
-
-“Will you let me sail back in your boat, Miss Virgene, and tow my own?”
-asked Mark, when he had read the letters; and promptly came the answer:
-
-“Yes, indeed, and I’m glad to have you.”
-
-So the prow of the sailboat was pointed back for B----.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII. A PLOT THAT FAILED.
-
-
-Secrets often leak out of a country post office, just how no one
-knows, but still they do, and when Mark called upon Judge Miller after
-arriving in B----, and escorting Virgene home, that gentleman said:
-
-“Well, my young friend, I suppose I am to congratulate you upon
-receiving an appointment to the naval school, and I am glad of it.”
-
-Mark stood aghast, and the judge continued:
-
-“Mr. Clemmons told me his son Scott had received an appointment, and
-that a like official looking document had come through the mails for
-you, and he supposed it was also a cadet midshipman’s berth in our
-navy, though he wondered how you had obtained, without influence, what
-he had found no easy task to secure for his son.”
-
-“Yes, sir, I have orders to report for examination, but I wished to
-keep it secret, for I may fail, you know, sir.”
-
-“Not you; but I suppose you won yours from having saved a schooner from
-being wrecked some half a year ago, and which made quite a hero of you,
-I remember.”
-
-Mark saw that the judge was on the wrong track, so he did not correct
-him as to how he had gotten his appointment.
-
-“Well, Mark, you came to see me for some purpose, so out with it,” said
-the judge.
-
-Mark told of his seeing the little schooner adrift at sea, and going
-out in his boat had found her abandoned, so sailed her into port.
-
-He had taken from his meager savings enough to advertise her in Boston,
-Portland and New York, but no claimant had come, and so he wished to
-know if the vessel belonged to him.
-
-“You have a claim upon her, Mark, and can get salvage, should her owner
-turn up; but there is just such a craft needed, or will be within a
-couple of months, for running around the islands with parties, and
-my advice to you is to secure a skipper and a couple of men and let
-them run the trips for you, for it will bring in a snug income to your
-mother, while, should her owner appear, you have the vessel to give
-up to him upon the payment of salvage. Now, what do you think of my
-advice, Mark?”
-
-“I thank you for it, sir, and shall take it.”
-
-“And your skipper can report to me, if you wish, while you must tell
-your mother to come to me, if I can in any way serve her, for I suppose
-she will move up to B---- when you go?”
-
-“No, sir, my mother will remain at Cliff Castle.”
-
-“What, alone?”
-
-“No, sir, she has old Peggy.”
-
-“It is a dreary, weird place to dwell, Mark.”
-
-“She likes it, and she prefers to remain, for we have talked it over,”
-answered Mark.
-
-Soon after making a few purchases for home, he went on his way to his
-boat just as the sun was setting.
-
-As he passed the tavern, Virgene Rich called to him, and said:
-
-“Mark, I have just learned that Scott Clemmons has also an appointment
-to the naval academy. You must beware of him, Mark, for he is your
-bitter foe now, and mine, too, since I testified against him.”
-
-“He is not dangerous, Miss Virgene,” replied Mark indifferently.
-
-“You mistake; for all snakes are dangerous, as they strike from cover.
-I will see you before you go, will I not?”
-
-“Yes, miss, and I hope you will ride down to see my mother, as you
-promised.”
-
-“I certainly shall,” was the answer, as Mark walked on.
-
-At his boat stood Silly Sam, who said:
-
-“See here, Mister Mark, I hain’t no bullfrog to croak, but I seen a
-gang o’ fellers sail downstream an hour ago who hain’t no friends o’
-your’n.”
-
-“Thank you, Sam, but it’s catching before hanging, you know.” And with
-a light laugh Mark sprung into his skiff and sped away just as twilight
-fell.
-
-He had to beat down the inlet, and as he stood over toward a point of
-land in the darkness, running on the port tack with the wind blowing
-fresh, his little craft suddenly gave a lurch and the next instant went
-over, throwing him into the water.
-
-As he rose he heard the sound of oars, and in the darkness saw a large
-boat rowing toward him, while he heard voices say:
-
-“That rope settled him, as you said it would.”
-
-“Yes, and we laid it just right; but do you see his boat?”
-
-“Yes, there she lies upset, and she’ll drive out to sea with him on
-her, so that ends him.”
-
-“But he is not on the boat.”
-
-“Then he has drowned, for Silly Sam said he could not swim a stroke.”
-
-“Let us take up the net.”
-
-“Oh, no, leave it down, for his boat seems caught in it, and that will
-tell the whole story.”
-
-The boat, a large fishing yawl with sails down, was rowed up to the
-capsized skiff, and every eye was turned over the dark waters, while
-several hailed to see if a swimmer was near.
-
-The surf-skiff was caught in the net, which had been stretched to
-accomplish just what it had done, and, confident that their victim had
-perished, sail was set on the fishing yawl and it sailed away toward
-the town.
-
-Then from out of the shadows swam Mark Merrill, and going to his
-upturned boat he removed the slender mast, righted the skiff, clambered
-in, and with his hat threw the water out.
-
-Then the mast was stepped once more, the wet sail spread, and the
-surf-skiff held on her way homeward, while Mark mused aloud:
-
-“I know two of the three who were in that boat; but I’ll not tell on
-them--oh, no! I’ll just keep my secret for future reference.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII. STUMBLING BLOCKS.
-
-
-From a hint given him by Commodore Lucien, Mark had devoted himself to
-certain studies, so that there should be no chance of his failure to
-enter the academy through ignorance.
-
-His mother had helped him greatly, and in her mind there was no doubt
-of his passing the examinations, both physical and mental, severe
-though they might be.
-
-As he had told Judge Miller, his mother had decided to remain at Castle
-Cliff with old Peggy.
-
-They had talked it all over, and as, for some reason, Mrs. Merrill
-wished to shun the world, to live the life almost of a recluse, they
-had all agreed that it was best for her to remain where she was, and
-Peggy was equally as content with the arrangement.
-
-When Mark returned from his visit to B----, which, but for his being
-a splendid swimmer, would have been fatal to him, he did not tell his
-mother of the plot he knew had been concocted to put an end to his life.
-
-He simply told her that he had run upon a fishing net where he had
-never expected to find one, and going very rapidly, with a fresh breeze
-blowing, the surf-skiff had capsized, throwing him and his purchases
-out. His papers were all wet, but Peggy quickly dried them.
-
-“But about this check, Mark, which Commodore Lucien so kindly sent
-you?” asked his mother.
-
-“I answered the letter at once, mother, returning the check, and
-accepting the outfit, for which I shall pay him at some future day.”
-
-“That was right, my son.”
-
-“Mother, I went to see Judge Miller about the schooner, and he made a
-suggestion which I think it would be well to follow. You know Jasper
-Crane has no smack now, and is in hard luck, while he and his two sons
-are the best seamen on the coast, so we can put them on the schooner,
-as a crew, the old gentleman being skipper. As it will also cost
-considerable for me to reach the Naval School, I can make a cargo of
-the raft that came ashore and run it to Norfolk, thence going up the
-Chesapeake to the Naval Academy, while Captain Jasper Crane brings the
-schooner back and follows the advice of Judge Miller about putting her
-on as a packet among the islands.
-
-“He is very kind, my son, and I believe the plan is a good one, as well
-as yours to run the lumber to Norfolk, only you must give yourself
-ample time, so we will begin preparations to-morrow.”
-
-This was done, for Mark sailed down the coast to the home of Captain
-Jasper Crane, who dwelt near where the Merrills had first lived when
-coming to the coast, and the old sailor and his sons were delighted
-with a prospect of getting work to their liking.
-
-Two weeks after the Venture, for such was the name of the derelict
-schooner, set sail for Norfolk, Captain Crane declaring that he would
-serve as first mate while Mark was on board.
-
-The run south was made in good time, and the lumber brought sufficient
-to pay the crew liberally and return to Mrs. Merrill several hundred
-dollars, while Mark took sufficient for his own needs, and enough to
-pay his debt to Commodore Lucien.
-
-The rush of the Venture up the Severn River in a gale, with Mark at the
-helm, whose masterly work won the admiration of the middies, and we
-will now follow the young sailor into the new world he had entered.
-
-Mark had politely given his name to the cadets, and asked the question
-as to how he would find the commandant, expecting a civil response.
-
-But here was a novelty for the fun-loving cadets.
-
-Against all custom a new man had arrived in his own craft by sea.
-
-He had given them ocular demonstration that he was not a greenhorn on
-the deck of a vessel, whatever he might be in other things.
-
-He came dressed as gorgeously as Ralph Rackstraw of H. M. S. Pinafore,
-and he had not been abashed in the presence of their marine highnesses.
-
-This was all wrong, very wrong, in their eyes.
-
-What right had a new man to know the stem from the stern, the
-forecastle from the quarter-deck of a vessel, when entering the academy?
-
-He came there to find out, to be taught, and he must start on even
-terms with all other verdant youths.
-
-He attacked the academy from the sea, boarded, as it were, the sacred
-grounds over their marine stone bulwarks, giving the sentry at the
-gate the go-by, ignoring the existence of the officer of the day, and,
-confronting them with a natty tarpaulin set upon the side of his head,
-with spotless duck trousers, a sailor shirt with embroidered collar,
-and a sash about his slender waist, had coolly said that his name was
-Mark Merrill, and he wished to be directed to the quarters of the
-commandant.
-
-This was too much for Winslow Dillingham, who took it upon himself to
-play the part of “Smart Aleck,” and he looked the stranger over with a
-cool, insolent stare, and said, in a drawling way:
-
-“Beg pardon, but you said your name was Jack Hayseed, I believe?”
-
-“I said that my name was Mark Merrill, and asked to be directed to the
-quarters of the commandant,” and Mark kept his temper admirably.
-
-“Well, Mr. Pork Barrell, for such, I believe you said your name was, I
-will answer for the commandant that he wants no fish to-day.”
-
-“Ah! then you are the commandant’s cook, so should know; but as I never
-argue with servants, I’ll seek your master.”
-
-And Mark Merrill started on his way, when with a bound Winslow
-Dillingham confronted him, his face livid with rage.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV. FACING THE MUSIC.
-
-
-The quick retort made by Mark Merrill to Winslow Dillingham’s insulting
-words brought a general laugh, for the cadets were quick to appreciate
-wit and sarcasm, even if directed at one of their number.
-
-Cadet Dillingham had offered the insult gratuitously, and he had gotten
-a reply that offended him deeply.
-
-The laugh of his comrades angered him the more, and stung by the
-words of the stranger and their enjoying them, he lost all control of
-himself, and sprang before Mark Merrill in a threatening attitude.
-
-Mark had not advanced a step since landing.
-
-He stood upon the wall where he had stopped upon ascending from his
-boat, and he simply paused to ask a polite question, and received an
-insulting response.
-
-The first insult he had accepted in silence, but the second one he had
-been stung to reply to.
-
-He saw at once that he would have to fight his way--that whatever the
-“future admirals” might be considered by outsiders, they were merciless
-to a stranger who came into their midst.
-
-Quickly over the crowd he had run his eyes, and he discerned with
-intuition that his retort had put him in favor with some of those who
-were lovers of fair play.
-
-He had turned the laugh upon Midshipman Dillingham, and he was
-satisfied and content to drop all ill-feeling.
-
-But not so with the irate cadet.
-
-His own attempt at smartness had gotten him worsted thus far, and he
-must turn the laugh to protect himself from his own comrades.
-
-He knew well the position he held, that many stood in awe of him on
-account of his brute strength and admitted courage.
-
-Now he was angry, and he intended to resent physically what he felt he
-could not do in a war of words.
-
-So he squared himself before Mark Merrill, and hissed forth, while his
-eyes blazed with anger:
-
-“Retract your insulting words, sir, or I shall chastise you right here!”
-
-“Do you mean it, mate?” Mark asked, in an innocent way.
-
-The crowd smiled audibly at this, and Winslow Dillingham grew whiter
-with fury, while he savagely said:
-
-“Yes, I do mean it. Ask my pardon, or take the consequences, sir!”
-
-“What are the consequences?”
-
-“A thrashing.”
-
-“Well, I don’t wish to be whipped, so if you retract your insult to me,
-I’ll ask pardon for what I said.”
-
-“I retract nothing.”
-
-“And you will insist upon thrashing me?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“What with?”
-
-This was too much for Cadet Dillingham, and he aimed a savage blow at
-Mark’s face.
-
-It was cleverly caught, and quicker than a flash Mark Merrill had
-seized the cadet in his arms and hurled him into the water with the
-words:
-
-“You are too hot to argue with, so cool off!”
-
-With a splash Cadet Dillingham went beneath the surface, when the cry
-arose:
-
-“He cannot swim a stroke,” and the laughter on every lip was checked.
-
-“Is that so that he cannot swim? Then I’ll haul him out as I threw him
-in.” And with a bound Mark Merrill went over the sea-wall and seized
-the drowning youth in his strong arms, while he struck out for a
-landing, with the words:
-
-“All right, mate, the ducking has cooled off the temper of both of us.”
-
-Winslow Dillingham made no reply then; but as he was hauled out by
-Herbert Nazro, a dark-faced, handsome fellow of the first class, he
-said, as he turned to Mark Merrill:
-
-“I humbly ask your pardon, my friend, and will escort you to the
-commandant and report my own rude behavior and its just punishment.”
-
-“I thought there was manhood in you, mate, but there is no need of
-reporting anything. I have a dry suit aboard my craft, and will soon
-rig up and return ashore, when maybe some of these gentlemen will show
-me my course.”
-
-“We’ll march you there in force, sir, for somehow you’ve caught on in
-great shape with us baby tars,” said a cadet, stepping forward and
-offering his hand, while he added:
-
-“My name is Herbert Nazro, a first-class man.”
-
-“And here’s my hand, sir, as a friend,” said Cadet Captain Byrd Bascomb.
-
-“Don’t overlook my extended grip,” cried Cadet Sergeant Neil Carrol.
-
-And so it went on until Cadet Lieutenant Frank Latrobe seemed to be
-suddenly inspired with a thought for he asked, eagerly:
-
-“I say, my friend, are you not the youth who was appointed by the
-President?”
-
-“I was appointed at large, sir, yes.”
-
-“And it was for services rendered, was it not?”
-
-“It was from the kindness of the Secretary of the Navy and Commodore
-Lucien, rather.”
-
-“You are the man we have been told of. Go aboard your flagship, put on
-your dry togs, and we’ll march you to the commandant at a quick step.”
-
-The cadets showed that this advice chimed in with their humor, and
-springing into his boat, Mark sent it flying back toward the schooner,
-while the dripping Dillingham was surrounded by a squad of friends,
-to hide his condition, and marched off to his room to also get on dry
-clothes.
-
-“Keep him there, Nazro, until I can get ready, for I wish to be in
-the procession,” said Winslow Dillingham, as he dove into his room to
-change his clothes, glad to escape the argus-eyed officers about the
-buildings and grounds.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV. BOARDING THE VENTURE.
-
-
-To Mark Merrill his salt-water bath with his clothes on was nothing to
-speak of. He had lived so much in his skiff, been overboard so often
-that he thought nothing of it, though he did regret losing his temper
-with Winslow Dillingham, who had shown himself such a good fellow after
-all.
-
-Of course he did not suppose that he would have drowned, for there were
-too many manly fellows upon the wall who could swim to allow that.
-
-But, having placed his life in jeopardy himself, he was the one to
-prevent any fatality therefrom.
-
-The idea that the youth could not swim had never entered his mind, for
-swimming like a fish himself and never remembering when he could not do
-so, he supposed it was the most ordinary accomplishment, and, as he had
-said, he merely wished to cool the temper of the one who had set upon
-him as a butt to be made fun of.
-
-“What’s the trouble ashore, my lad?” asked Captain Jasper Crane, who
-was about to launch the schooner’s yawl to come to the shore when he
-saw Mark returning.
-
-“Oh! nothing to speak of, sir, only I had to stop some funny business
-one of the boys played on me, and finding he could not swim I leaped in
-after him.”
-
-“Just like you, Master Mark, just like you,” said Captain Crane,
-following the youth into the cabin.
-
-“And I tells yer, lad, you’ll find more hard knocks to put up with
-among them brass-buttoned gentry ashore than you’d get as a foremast
-hand on a merchant craft.
-
-“My advice to yer would have been to stick to your little craft here
-and make money; but then you is high-minded and I knows it’s in yer to
-make a name for yerself, if yer sets about it, only the course are a
-rough one to sail. Maybe me and one o’ the boys better go ashore with
-yer next time, for we is some handy with our flukes when we is run
-afoul of.”
-
-Mark laughed heartily, for it came into his mind how he had seen the
-skipper and his sons run afoul of, as he expressed it, one day in
-Portland, by a gang of roughs, and had a fair demonstration of how
-“handy they were with their flukes.”
-
-To see him go ashore under an escort amused him greatly, as he pictured
-the cadet-midshipman being knocked about by the trio of salts from the
-Kennebec.
-
-But he thanked the captain for his offer, and went on with his toilet.
-Meanwhile the skipper was called upon deck.
-
-A boat had come alongside with a middy in command, sent from the
-man-of-war, to have the skipper of the strange schooner give an account
-of his seeking an anchorage where he had.
-
-Having heard of the trouble Mark had met with ashore, Captain Crane
-gazed upon the spry young middy with no friendly eye.
-
-“Are you the sailing-master of this craft?” asked the midshipman
-pompously.
-
-“I am the mate, very much at your service, young officer.”
-
-“Where is the master?”
-
-“The capting is down in his cabing; but if you wish to see him I’ll
-send yer keerd, and maybe he’ll see yer, maybe he won’t.”
-
-The face of the youth flushed at this, and he asked sternly:
-
-“Is this a yacht on a pleasure cruise, my man?”
-
-“Now, see here, my boy, I hain’t your man. I’m my old woman’s man, and
-nobody else has a claim on me, for I am o’ age.”
-
-“Answer my question, sir.”
-
-“Yes, it are a yacht on a cruise, but leetle pleasure I’m thinking it
-will bring her capting by coming into this port.”
-
-“I wish the name of your vessel, her owner, and why she is here.”
-
-“I suppose ef I don’t tell yer, you’ll tarn yer big guns on the craft;
-but as I said, I am only the mate, and the captain will be on deck in a
-minute, for he is down below changing his clothes, having just thrown a
-young admiral in the drink, and then had to jump in and pull him out to
-keep him from drowning, so you better be uncommonly polite to him, as
-the water are handy and real wet, too.”
-
-The midshipman felt that he was being made fun of.
-
-He saw the smiles on the lee side of the faces of his boat’s crew, and
-he knew that they saw that he was getting worsted.
-
-His orders were simply to board the schooner and ascertain her name and
-business in the anchorage she had chosen.
-
-That was all.
-
-Much breath had been consumed thus far in conversation, and he had
-discovered nothing.
-
-He was getting angry, and yet it came to him that disciplining himself
-was one of the first things taught at the Naval School.
-
-If he could not command himself, he certainly could not expect to
-command men.
-
-He saw that he had struck a rough old hulk, one that could be towed,
-but not rowed, and he decided to change his manner of attack by
-demanding to see the owner or captain of the vessel.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI. UNDER CONVOY.
-
-
-Just then out of the cabin came Mark Merrill, dressed as before, in a
-very natty sailor costume.
-
-He had heard all that had passed, and suppressing a smile, politely
-saluted the midshipman, for he certainly wished no more trouble upon
-his _début_ as one of Uncle Sam’s middies.
-
-“There’s the capting now, Officer Buttons,” growled Skipper Jasper
-Crane to the midshipman, pointing toward Mark Merrill, as he stepped on
-deck.
-
-“That!” exclaimed the middy, as he beheld a lad not as old as himself,
-rigged up in a dandy style.
-
-“Yes, that, and he’s more of a sailor to-day than half your men-o’-war
-trained jim-cranks,” and turning to Mark, the old skipper continued:
-
-“Capting Merrill, this is a young gent from the big gun craft yonder
-who sprung his catechism on me until I got weary, so I tarns him over
-to you.”
-
-“How can I serve you, sir?” asked Mark, with extreme politeness.
-
-“Do you own this schooner, sir?” asked the middy, somewhat amazed at
-finding so youthful a skipper.
-
-“I may say that I do, sir.”
-
-“You are her captain?”
-
-“At present, yes, sir, Mark Merrill, at your service; but I expect to
-relinquish my vessel to good Captain Crane here within an hour or so.”
-
-“May I ask why you sought an anchorage here in the Naval Academy
-harborage?”
-
-“I am a stranger, sir, in this port, but came under orders to report
-as a cadet midshipman, so ran my vessel here to anchor. I trust I have
-broken no law, sir?”
-
-The polite manner of Mark, his pleasant smile, quite disarmed the young
-officer, while he was surprised at his words that told he had come
-under orders as an appointee to the academy.
-
-“No, sir, you have broken no set law, only it is uncommon for other
-than government vessels to run in here. But I shall report who you are
-and the reason of your coming.”
-
-“Permit me also to say, sir, that my schooner will put to sea to-night,
-so that she will remain here but a couple of hours at the farthest.”
-
-The midshipman bowed, then did the manly thing, for he extended his
-hand and said:
-
-“Allow me to welcome you to the academy, Mr. Merrill, and hope that you
-will pass the ordeal of entrance with flying colors. My name is Ernest
-Rich.”
-
-The name recalled the sweet face of Virgene Rich to Mark, and he
-grasped the extended hand with real warmth, while he said:
-
-“I thank you for your kind wishes, Mr. Rich.”
-
-Then he escorted the midshipman to his boat, told him he was just going
-ashore to report, and soon after the gig of the vessel of war pulled
-away he went over the side into his surf-skiff.
-
-“Don’t yer think we’d better go ashore with yer, Master Mark?” asked
-Captain Crane dubiously.
-
-“No, indeed, thank you.”
-
-“These young fellers all seems practicing to scare ordinary folks; but,
-Lord love ’em, they is a clever lot o’ young sea cubs arter all, and
-in war times they can outfight a shark.”
-
-Leaving good skipper Crane moralizing upon cadet midshipmen in general,
-Mark let fall his oars and sent his skiff shoreward.
-
-It was an off-duty time at the academy, and the cadets were there whom
-he had left, with more who had been summoned to swell the procession.
-It had leaked out just who Mark Merrill was, for Commodore Lucien had
-been on a visit to the commandant, and had told of the pluck of the boy
-pilot of Hopeless Haven.
-
-Then, too, the Secretary of the Navy had written a personal letter to
-the commandant, so of course it went the rounds that the “new man from
-Maine was a hero.”
-
-Having made the discovery, Cadet Captain Byrd Bascomb and his clique
-meant to give the sailor lad a welcome, especially as they had found in
-him one who was a square good fellow.
-
-When Mark landed he was somewhat nonplussed at the intention of the
-cadets to honor him.
-
-They welcomed him with a hurrah, and Winslow Dillingham was on hand, as
-he expressed it:
-
-“As dry as a ship on the ways.”
-
-He offered his hand cordially, and said:
-
-“We are quits now, aren’t we?”
-
-“Do not speak of it,” was the ready reply, and as he could not help
-himself Mark’s arm was locked in that of Cadet Captain Byrd Bascomb,
-who gave the command as he took the head of the column:
-
-“Column forward! march!”
-
-Up to the commandant’s quarters they marched, a line was formed, and
-the “great mogul,” as the lads facetiously called their chief, supposed
-when he saw them that they had some grievance to complain of.
-
-When the commandant appeared the cadets saluted, and waited for him to
-speak, Mark meanwhile, his face flushed with embarrassment, standing
-by the side of Byrd Bascomb and inwardly regretting that he had ever
-decided to come to the Naval Academy.
-
-“Don’t skedaddle at the first sight of the enemy,” whispered Cadet
-Captain Byrd Bascomb, realizing how Mark Merrill felt at such an
-introduction to the commandant of the academy.
-
-Under this advice Mark braced up, while the commandant asked in his
-pleasant way:
-
-“Well, Cadet Captain Bascomb, may I ask why I am honored with this
-visit?”
-
-This appealed to the young cadet officer, who prided himself upon his
-speech-making, and was always glad to get a chance to display his
-oratory, saluted, and responded:
-
-“We are here, most respected commander, to present to you one who
-boarded the academy grounds by way of the harbor and over the sea wall.
-
-“He asked the way to your quarters, and discovering in him the young
-hero who won his appointment to the service, which is more than any of
-us were guilty of, we came as a convoy to conduct him to your presence,
-and I beg to introduce Mr. Mark Merrill.”
-
-[Illustration: “‘We come as a convoy to conduct him to your presence,
-and I beg to introduce him as Mr. Mark Merrill.’” (See page 69.)]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII. JACK JUDSON’S MEMORY.
-
-
-When the little schooner Venture was seen driving up the bay and
-into the Severn River, the cadet midshipmen ashore were not the only
-interested watchers of her progress.
-
-She had swept around the bluff, where now stands the popular resort
-known as Bay Ridge, in a manner that at once attracted every sailor’s
-eye who saw her.
-
-The little fleet of stanch craft that found a safe harbor in Annapolis,
-were anchored snugly in a sheltered nook, all ship-shape to ride out
-the gale.
-
-Each vessel had its crew on board in case there should be dragging of
-anchors, and they were compelled to get up sail, which all devoutly
-hoped would not be the case.
-
-Then ashore there was an interested crowd on the oyster docks gazing
-with admiration upon the beautiful craft driven along like the very
-wind, carrying an amount of canvas which appeared foolhardy in the
-extreme.
-
-Over at the fort, on the opposite side of the river, were groups of
-soldiers also observing the schooner’s rush up the harbor, and officers
-were braving the fierce wind to have a look at her.
-
-The reviewing ship, and training ship for the middies, also had their
-quota of observers, while upon the stately vessel of war anchored in
-the stream the large crew were riveting their gaze upon the Venture,
-while the tars were commenting upon the manner in which she was being
-handled in a manner most complimentary to the helmsman, though with
-a belief that they would see him come to grief before he reached an
-anchorage.
-
-Upon the quarter-deck of the vessel-of-war her officers were chatting
-over the flying craft, and various criticisms were made as to the skill
-and recklessness of the helmsman.
-
-They, of course, had their own ideas as to what was good seamanship,
-and expressed them accordingly.
-
-But it is forward, among the men, the bone and sinew, the human
-machinery of the navy, that I will ask my reader to accompany me.
-
-Among a group of over a score of sailors leaning over the port bulwarks
-forward was one who was gazing with more than usual interest upon the
-schooner.
-
-“Mates, I have seen that craft before,” he said decidedly, making a
-glass of his two hands to look through.
-
-“When, coxswain, and whar?” asked an old salt, with gray hair and a
-complexion like the hide of an elephant.
-
-“It was when I was on leave some months ago and took a run in my
-brother’s schooner that trades on the coast of Maine.
-
-“I saw that craft, I am dead certain, come into the port of B----, and
-she came then in a living gale, and had only two men and a boy on board
-of her.
-
-“The boy was at the helm, and ran her up to the dock in great shape.
-
-“I was told that he carried the mail between some of the ports on the
-coast, and generally went in a surf-skiff in any kind of weather, but
-sometimes came up to the town with a load of fish, which he had that
-day.
-
-“Several days after he came up to town in his surf-skiff and I made
-his acquaintance, and if that’s his craft then he’s the one as has the
-tiller.
-
-“I’ll get my glass and take an observation,” and Coxswain Jack Judson
-went below, but immediately returned with a very handsome glass, which
-had been presented to him by his brother of the trading schooner.
-
-He took a steady look, and said decidedly:
-
-“Mates, that’s the craft, for a month’s pay it is, and it’s the boy at
-the helm for another!”
-
-“Waal, what is he doin’ in these waters, coxswain?” asked a seaman.
-
-“I don’t know, but did you ever see a craft better handled?” All
-admitted that they never had, while an old sailor growled forth:
-
-“He’s trying to show off, and he’ll carry his sticks out of the craft
-yet before he can drop anchor. These young sailors is allus fools.”
-
-“No, he won’t hurt her, and he isn’t any fool, either, for he knows the
-craft and what she’ll do when he puts her to it.
-
-“I don’t think he’s trying to show off, for that isn’t like him, only
-he’s running under what sail he had up when the gale struck him.
-
-“You see now there are four men aboard, counting the boy as a man.
-
-“Every rope is where it belongs, the crew are at their posts and they
-are not at all uneasy, from their looks, while there is a gray-head
-among ’em.
-
-“They all seem to be enjoying the run, looking at the scenery and
-unmindful that they have got everybody watching them.
-
-“Mates, I’ll tell you a story of that lad, for I know him now without
-looking through my glass.
-
-“His name is Mark Merrill, and I saw him stand to fight a gang of
-five young roughs who set upon him,” and Jack Judson told the story of
-how Scott Clemmons and Ben Birney had smashed the toy ship which Mark
-Merrill had taken up to sell in B----, to get money to pay the doctor
-for going to see his mother.
-
-As he was talking the schooner swept by in splendid style, winning a
-murmur of admiration from all on board the vessel of war, and when she
-came to an anchorage Jack Judson said with enthusiasm:
-
-“He’s let go his mudhooks, and didn’t carry a stick or inch of canvas
-away, either.
-
-“Yes, he’s my lad, and I’m going to ask leave to go and see him, too.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII. STRANGELY MET.
-
-
-When Mark Merrill was presented to the commandant of the Naval Academy
-he felt deeply embarrassed at the publicity which had been given to his
-arrival.
-
-He had sailed up to the academy from Norfolk to save money on the
-railroads, and then he saw that Shipper Crane and his sons had a
-lurking desire to see where he was going to anchor for the next few
-years, while cramming his head with all the cargo of learning necessary
-to make a skilled naval officer.
-
-And Mark had been anxious to have the skipper tell his mother when he
-returned that he had left him at his destination, and what he thought
-of his future home.
-
-He certainly had not intended to attract attention by his arrival, but
-greatness had been forced upon him by a combination of circumstances
-which he could not avoid.
-
-Although when the commandant had entered the navy, back in the
-“Forties,” there had been no naval school, except aboard ship, he had
-been a middy, and was well aware that they had not changed much since
-those days.
-
-He understood that Cadet Captain Bascomb and his mates had in some
-way gotten wind of the coming of Mark Merrill, and had at once seized
-upon him as a hero, the fact of his saving the yacht Midshipman having
-leaked out.
-
-There were a number of officers at headquarters, and they, as well
-as the commandant, looked on with interest at the introduction of the
-newly appointed lad.
-
-Mark, though his face was flushed with embarrassment, had doffed his
-tarpaulin and stepped forward toward the commandant, and said:
-
-“I am ordered to report to you, sir, but did not know that I was
-breaking any rule in coming as I did by water.”
-
-“I am glad to meet you, Mr. Merrill, and to welcome you to the Naval
-Academy, while I do not know of any law against a cadet coming by
-water.” And the commandant smiled, while, turning to the cadets, he
-continued:
-
-“You may leave Mr. Merrill in my charge now, Captain Bascomb, and I am
-glad that you gave him the welcome you did, as, from all accounts, he
-is deserving of it.”
-
-The cadets saluted, and were marched off by their captain, while the
-commandant, in a kindly way, invited Mark into his quarters.
-
-To his surprise Mark beheld in the room, standing by the window where
-he had seen all, no less a personage than Scott Clemmons.
-
-The latter had just arrived, and reported to the commandant.
-
-He was most fashionably attired, wore a spotless white silk tie around
-his standing collar, and held in his hand a high hat, presenting a
-perfect specimen of the youthful genus dude.
-
-His face was pale, and his eyes had an angry look as he turned them
-furtively upon Mark.
-
-“Here is also a young gentleman from your State; in fact, I believe you
-are neighbors, as you both hail from B----. Mr. Merrill, Mr. Clemmons,”
-said the commandant, introducing them.
-
-Scott Clemmons, in a nervous way, half-stepped forward with extended
-hand, but Mark simply bowed, ignoring the hand, a fact which the keen
-eyes of the commandant took in, and rather set down against Mark, who
-said:
-
-“Yes, sir, I have met Mr. Clemmons before.”
-
-There was something in the tone and manner in which it was said that
-convinced the commandant that their meeting had not been a pleasant
-one, and Scott Clemmons remarked in a supercilious way:
-
-“Yes, commandant, but this young man does not move in my circle at
-home, being only a fisher lad.”
-
-The commandant almost gave a start, and his kindly face changed so
-suddenly to a look of sternness that even Scott Clemmons saw that he
-had made a mistake.
-
-Had he not seen it, he was instantly made cognizant of the fact, for
-the commandant turned directly toward him, and said in a distinct way:
-
-“Mr. Clemmons, I believe your father is a man of great wealth and
-comes of an aristocratic family, but you must distinctly learn at once
-that here, in this Naval School, neither politics, riches, nor family
-connections hold the slightest influence.
-
-“There are no cliques; all who come here come as young gentlemen, and
-though many are from the lowest walks of life they must be gentlemen
-here.
-
-“Mr. Merrill may have been a fisher lad, but I have it from the best
-of authority that he made an honest living and supported his mother,
-and he was appointed here for having nobly risked his life to save the
-lives of others.”
-
-“I never heard of that, sir, and wondered how he got appointed,”
-blustered out the confused Clemmons.
-
-“You never heard how he saved the yacht Midshipman from being wrecked,
-with the Secretary of the Navy and other distinguished gentlemen on
-board?” asked the commandant, with some surprise.
-
-“No, sir, it was not known in our town.”
-
-“Then, sir,” was the very decided answer, “Mr. Mark Merrill is as
-modest as he is brave, not to have told of his daring deed,” and he
-glanced at Mark, who replied with a quiet dig at Scott Clemmons:
-
-“I move in no social circle, sir, so had no one to tell it to.”
-
-The commandant turned his head away to hide a satisfied smile, while
-Scott Clemmons felt that he had made a sad mistake in his slur at Mark
-for being only a fisher lad.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX. A THREAT.
-
-
-Scott Clemmons was a remarkably politic young man for one of his years.
-
-He had seen the gathering of the cadets, and recognized Mark Merrill in
-their midst, and it had made him envious and hateful.
-
-One whom he hated was coming under flying colors, it seemed.
-
-Wondering how Mark had gotten his appointment, and angry because he had
-done so, he saw that he was made a hero of from the start, or else why
-this popular demonstration in his favor.
-
-“Of course he will never pass the examinations, for he is too ignorant
-for that,” he said to himself.
-
-Then had the commandant re-entered with Mark Merrill, and the vain
-youth had sneered at the sailor-boy appearance of the lad, and thought
-what a far greater impression he would make in his fine clothes and
-polished manner.
-
-It was in a pitying way he had referred to Mark’s being a fisher lad,
-and he meant to condescend to shake hands with him when introduced, but
-got the cut in this from the one he intended to patronize.
-
-Seeing that he had made a mistake, from the commandant’s severe
-reproof, the cunning youth meant to atone from policy, to give his
-actions an air of manliness, so he quickly said:
-
-“I really intended no slight, commandant, but something occurred once
-of an unpleasant nature between Merrill and myself, in which I am free
-to admit I was at fault, so I frankly offer my hand now in friendship,
-if he will accept it.”
-
-The commandant seemed pleased at this, and glanced at Mark.
-
-He was a splendid reader of human nature, could from his great
-experience tell the inner workings of the heart, which the face was
-striving to hide, and he saw that Mark Merrill had some bitter cause
-of quarrel against Scott Clemmons, deeper by far than the latter cared
-to admit or had implied. But the good nature of the young sailor
-triumphed, and he said:
-
-“I will accept Mr. Clemmons’ hand in friendship, sir, if he means it in
-good faith.”
-
-There was a world of meaning in the words: “If he means it in good
-faith.”
-
-The eyes of Mark Merrill looked unflinchingly upon the face of Scott
-Clemmons, but he did not meet the gaze, and his face flushed painfully.
-
-This that keen observer, the commandant, saw, and he read who had been
-the transgressor in the past.
-
-“Now, Mr. Merrill, as Mr. Clemmons had just reported when you were
-convoyed into port, as Cadet Bascomb expressed it, I will hear what he
-was about to say to me and then give my attention to you.”
-
-Mark bowed, while the commandant read a letter from Merchant Clemmons,
-whom he had once met, and he took the liberty of inclosing a liberal
-check for the use of his son--the same as he might have done had he
-been sending him to boarding-school.
-
-“I shall return this check to your father, Clemmons, and explain the
-situation of a cadet here, after I have heard whether you pass the
-examinations or not, which are before you,” and the commandant seemed
-not over-pleased with Merchant Clemmons’ letter.
-
-Then he turned to Mark, and continued:
-
-“Mr. Merrill, I am glad to welcome one to the academy who comes as you
-do, and I only hope that you, as well as Mr. Clemmons here, may not
-find the physical and mental examination too great a stumbling-block
-for you to surmount.
-
-“Commodore Lucien has spoken of you to me, and of what a devoted son
-you have been to your mother, and it is just such boys that make the
-greatest men.
-
-“The surgeon and examining committee are now ready for you, and my
-orderly will conduct you to their quarters.
-
-“I wish you success, young gentlemen,” and the commandant bowed the two
-youthful seekers after fame out, placing them under the guidance of an
-orderly.
-
-Surgeon Du Bose received the appointees pleasantly, there being one
-other youth in his quarters just drawing on his coat after having
-learned the sad tidings that his chest expansion was below the average,
-and his general physical condition not such as to warrant his being
-accepted as a cadet.
-
-The poor fellow cast an envious look at the fine forms of Mark Merrill
-and Scott Clemmons, and the latter gave him a pitying look of almost
-contempt, as though to wonder how he had dared anticipate being
-accepted. Then the usual formula was gone through with, Scott Clemmons
-being first examined, and his confident smile showed that he knew that
-he, at least, had “passed.”
-
-Then came Mark’s turn, and as he stripped for the ordeal the surgeon
-gave a low whistle, a decided expression of admiration of the lad’s
-physique.
-
-His name, age, height, weight, chest measure and expansion were all
-taken, his muscular developments noted, and the questions asked
-regarding having had any broken bones and other injuries of a harmful
-character. His bones were as straight as arrows, his eyesight was put
-to a crucial test and marked as “phenomenal,” and his health put down
-as perfect.
-
-His pendulum of life, the heart, swung with the regularity of
-clockwork, and not a flaw was found in his teeth, which were white,
-even and firm.
-
-A frown passed over the brow of Scott Clemmons as he noted the fact
-that Mark Merrill had stood the test better than he had, proud as he
-was of his fine form and handsome face.
-
-“It is seldom, if ever, I meet a youth of your perfection of physique,
-Mr. Merrill,” said Surgeon Du Bose, in a complimentary way, and Scott
-Clemmons turned his head away to hide his plainly visible chagrin at
-the praise bestowed upon the young sailor.
-
-Assured that they had passed the physical ordeal the two youths went to
-face the examining committee, who were to decide as to what they did or
-did not know.
-
-“Here he will fail,” muttered Scott Clemmons, with malign hope that
-such would be the case.
-
-Quickly they were put to the test, and when the hours of alternate hope
-and despair were over each knew that the other had passed, and Scott
-Clemmons fairly ground his teeth with rage, as he heard Lieutenant
-Briggs, one of the examiners, say in reference to Mark Merrill’s very
-fine penmanship:
-
-“I saw you run your schooner in, Mr. Merrill, and you handle a pen as
-well as you do the tiller. I congratulate you that no barrier is now
-between you and your cadetship.”
-
-“Curse him!” muttered Scott Clemmons. “He passed better than I did; but
-he shall yet be dismissed in disgrace--I swear it!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX. THE MIDSHIPMAN.
-
-
-Having passed both his physical examination and the one to discover
-how far he had progressed in “book learning,” Mark Merrill felt happy
-at the thought that there was no other barrier between him and his
-cadetship.
-
-He had been asked by one of the committee where he had attended school,
-for he was well up in all questions asked, wrote an excellent hand, and
-answered with a knowledge evidently not acquired for the occasion.
-
-His reply had been a simple one, and truthful:
-
-“My mother taught me all I know of books, sir, for I never went to
-school.”
-
-Reporting to the quartermaster of the post, Mark found there the kit
-which Commodore Lucien had gotten for him, and he discovered that it
-left no needs to be filled.
-
-His room was a pleasant one, and by a rare stroke of good fortune he
-was given a first-rate fellow to be his companion to share it. He had
-dreaded that, as Scott Clemmons was also from Maine and known to be an
-acquaintance, the two might be roomed together.
-
-In such a case he hoped Clemmons would object, but if he did not then
-he certainly should, for he could not bring himself to like the youth
-who had shown such an ugly humor toward him in the past.
-
-The moment that he could get away Mark started to go aboard his little
-schooner and bid farewell to Captain Crane and his two sons, and also
-bring ashore the few things he had brought with him from home.
-
-As an act of duty he had sought Scott Clemmons and said:
-
-“Mr. Clemmons, my little schooner returns home under Captain Jasper
-Crane, whom you must know, and I will be glad to give him a letter for
-your people, if you wish.”
-
-Scott Clemmons was in his room, getting his things to rights, and at
-the remark of Mark Merrill he laughed rudely.
-
-He was no longer under the piercing eye of the commandant, and need not
-act for effect, as he had done when at headquarters.
-
-He had stood the ordeal put upon him, but little less acceptably than
-had Mark Merrill.
-
-He was a well-formed fellow, bright in his lessons and all that, but
-did not take into consideration that, with all his advantages, he had
-not done as well as the “fisher lad” he had sneered at.
-
-“Send a letter by a sailing ship, Merrill? Not I, and you must live
-away back in the Dark Ages to think of such a thing in these days of
-telegraphs and railroads; but I forget that you know nothing of the
-world, living as secluded as you have. No, thank you, I have already
-telegraphed my father that I went through with flying colors, and I
-congratulate you upon having passed, even if it was by the skin of your
-teeth, for, of course, they would not refuse you, Merrill. Wait until
-the first year’s examination, which you cannot hope to get through.”
-
-Mark Merrill’s eyes flashed, but he controlled his temper, and
-responded:
-
-“I shall try hard to pass, Mr. Clemmons, for I came here to fight hard
-to win my way against all odds that I know are before me. Pardon me for
-disturbing you. I did not know but that you might wish to see Captain
-Crane and his boys, and send some word by them.”
-
-“No, I do not associate with them at home, you know, and the telegraph
-and mails will answer my wants.”
-
-Mark turned away, for he felt that he could not much longer listen to
-Scott Clemmons’ insulting words and patronizing manner.
-
-“So he offered his friendship simply to blind the commandant, did he?
-I wondered how he could be guilty of such an act of manliness as he
-professed; but it was for a purpose, not meant. Well, I know what to
-expect from him now, and will govern myself accordingly; but I have not
-forgotten a voice I heard one night before I left home, when a net was
-set to drown me. I think I shall send Silly Sam a letter by Captain
-Crane, for the poor fellow is to be trusted, and is keen enough in mind
-when he has an object in view.”
-
-So Mark went on board his schooner to write his letters and give the
-joyful news to his mother that she could address his letters to:
-
-  “CADET MIDSHIPMAN MARK MERRILL,
-  U. S. NAVAL ACADEMY
-  ANNAPOLIS, M. D.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI. SHAKING HANDS WITH THE PAST.
-
-
-“Well, Master Mark, I congratulate you with all my heart,” said Captain
-Jasper Crane, when the youth told him that he had stood the first test,
-and crossed the rubicon of his hopes and fears.
-
-The two sons of the skipper also offered their congratulations in their
-honest way, and the skipper added:
-
-“Well, it means we must sail back alone, and that we’ll not see you for
-many a long day, Master Mark?”
-
-“Not until my graduation leave, Captain Crane, unless business may call
-you to this port or Baltimore some time, when you must surely give me a
-call.”
-
-“You won’t be too proud to wish to see an old coast skipper, then,
-after you get your brass buttons on?” said the skipper slyly.
-
-“If I thought becoming an officer of the navy would change my nature
-so as to make me forget old friends, captain, I’d go back with you now
-and stick to the life I have been always leading at home. No, my nature
-won’t change, I assure you; but I hope the schooner will earn a fair
-livelihood for you and mother, for I hope to have her run on here with
-old Peggy some day to see me, as I know she will wish to do.”
-
-“I know she will, and I’ll make the schooner pay every dollar she can;
-but there was a sailor here to see you, Master Mark, and yonder comes a
-boat, and I guess he’s coming back, for he said he would, as he wished
-to see you.”
-
-Mark turned to the gangway as the boat ran alongside, and called out
-heartily:
-
-“Jack Judson, my sailor friend of B----, how are you?”
-
-The sailor grasped the extended hand, and said, warmly:
-
-“Well, Master Mark Merrill, and glad to see you again. I recognized
-you at the helm of the schooner as she ran in, and I never saw a craft
-better handled. Going to stay in port long, young mate?”
-
-“I hope to remain some years, Mr. Judson, for I am launched now as a
-cadet midshipman,” was the smiling reply.
-
-Jack drew himself up quickly and saluted, while he said:
-
-“Pardon me, sir, but I did not know that, or I would no have made so
-bold; but I am a coxswain on the cruiser yonder, and thought I’d come
-over to remind you that I had not forgotten you and your plucky fight
-in B----.”
-
-“And I am glad to see you, Coxswain Jack, and I have not forgotten your
-great kindness that day in B----, either. But let me tell you that
-Scott Clemmons is also a cadet.”
-
-“Then look out for him, for he’s your foe,” blurted out Jack Judson.
-
-“I do not believe he is over friendly,” responded Mark, while Jack said:
-
-“I must be off, sir, for there’s a difference between us now; but I
-wish you success, Master Mark, and if you don’t win, I’ll be mistaken
-in my calculations.”
-
-The coxswain saluted, when Mark again put out his hand and said:
-
-“Good-by, coxswain, I guess we’ll often meet now.”
-
-The boat pulled away, the coxswain very thoughtful now, for he
-remembered how he had once neglected his advantages and thrown away the
-chance of an appointment to the navy.
-
-“I’d have been a lieutenant now, if I had gone in; but I didn’t have
-the grit to study, and to-day I am only a coxswain. But that youth has
-it in him to work his way upward, and he will; but he must keep his eye
-on Scott Clemmons, or he’ll foul him if he can.”
-
-After the coxswain’s departure Mark went into the cabin, wrote his
-letters, one to his mother and another to Silly Sam, and he asked
-Captain Crane to hand the letter to the youth in person.
-
-“I do not know if he can read or not, Captain Crane, but if he cannot,
-you please read it to him, and he’ll understand it. The letter to my
-mother I know you will deliver first, as you will run straight for
-Cliff Castle harbor?”
-
-“Yes, Master Mark, and if you get time some day drop me a line to let
-me know how you are getting along,” said the honest skipper.
-
-“You shall hear from me, captain, and I’ll expect you to see my mother
-as often as you can, for you know her home is not a cheerful one, and
-she has only old Peggy.”
-
-“Yes, and more pluck than any man I know of, to dwell in that old Spook
-Hall.”
-
-Then Mark bade good-by to the captain and his boys, sprang into the
-boat he had rowed out, and rested on his oars while the crew got up
-anchor and hoisted sail.
-
-He waved his hat as they went down the Severn, Captain Crane dipping
-his colors to the farewell of the youth.
-
-For a long while the young sailor watched the retreating vessel, then
-rowed ashore, and returned the boat to where he had gotten it.
-
-He sighed as he cast another lingering glance after the little Venture,
-returning to the weird old home and scenes he had loved so well, and
-murmured to himself:
-
-“There goes the last link to bind me with my life of the past few
-years. Now my career is to be so different! The struggle begins--my
-hard fight for fame. But I will win. I cannot afford not to do so, for
-Scott Clemmons shall never rejoice over my failure.”
-
-“Ah, Merrill, all broken up, I see, at parting with your fisher
-friends--strange that you did not stick to the low life that suited you
-so well.”
-
-It was Scott Clemmons, and Mark felt as though he would like to have
-struck him to the earth.
-
-But instead he said, calmly:
-
-“I have shaken hands with the past life, Clemmons, and when I leave
-this academy you will be behind me!”
-
-“Never! mark my words, never!” and Scott Clemmons uttered an oath at
-Mark’s threat to leave him behind in the race for honors.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII. DISCIPLINING A “CAPTAIN.”
-
-
-Mark Merrill entered upon his duties like one who had gone in to win.
-
-His modest nature recoiled at having been discovered as a hero, for he
-had hoped to gain success without there being one thing in his favor.
-
-He had as a room mate a youth from South Carolina by the name of Bemis
-Perry, a quiet, unassuming youth, about Mark’s age, and who made a
-pleasant companion.
-
-“You knew Clemmons before you came here?” said Bemis Perry, the day
-after the two had become mates.
-
-“Yes, I had met him.”
-
-“They say his father is awfully rich, and the king bee of his part of
-the country.”
-
-“Yes, Mr. Clemmons is said to be a very rich and influential man.”
-
-“And Scott is his only heir, I hear.”
-
-“He has a sister, I have heard, who is younger than he is.”
-
-“What has Clemmons got against you?”
-
-“I really do not know,” and Mark did not, for he did not recall having
-ever done aught to cause Scott Clemmons to dislike him.
-
-“Well, I’ll tell you that he is not your friend, Merrill.”
-
-“So I am aware, but it is a matter of utter indifference to me.”
-
-Entering upon his duties, Mark was naturally put in the same “awkward
-squad” as Scott Clemmons.
-
-The latter had been to a military school for a couple of terms, and was
-thus priding himself upon his being well up in drill.
-
-He had, in fact, mentioned that he had been captain of his company at
-the military school which he had attended, and in various ways he had
-thrown out the hint that his father was enormously rich, and a man of
-great influence with the government authorities.
-
-He had also taken occasion to say that Mark Merrill was the son of a
-poor widow who, from the charity of the agent in charge of a fine old
-house, was allowed to live in one wing of it, while her son had been a
-mail-carrier and fisher lad.
-
-Now Herbert Nazro was the cadet midshipman who had the drilling of the
-new men, and he had with rare judgment taken in the characters of those
-under his command.
-
-He realized that they were all green, some exceedingly modest and
-willing to admit their know-nothingness, while others were determined
-to “cheek it through.”
-
-Mark reported for duty, and when the cadet officer said: “Well, sir,
-what do you know?” he answered, with extreme candor:
-
-“Nothing whatever, sir.”
-
-“Then you can be taught easily,” was the frank reply.
-
-“And you, sir?” he turned to Scott Clemmons.
-
-“I do not understand you,” and Scott Clemmons meant to overawe the
-cadet officer.
-
-He made a mistake, and he soon realized it.
-
-“Why were you not paying attention, so that you should know?” was the
-stern question.
-
-“You were not addressing me, sir.”
-
-“I am now, and I ask you, what do you know?”
-
-“About drilling?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“I am pretty well drilled, though perhaps a trifle rusty from lack of
-practice.”
-
-“I’ll get the rust off of you, never fear.”
-
-“I was captain of my company.”
-
-“In the army?”
-
-“No.”
-
-“When you address your superior always use the expression ‘sir.’”
-
-Scott Clemmons flushed at the rebuke, and Cadet Officer Nazro asked:
-
-“Where were you a captain?”
-
-“At the military school which I attended.”
-
-“What did I tell you about addressing your superior? Be careful not to
-err again. Then you have been to a military school?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“Yes what?”
-
-“Yes, sir. Am I compelled to speak thus to you?”
-
-“Go ask the commandant.”
-
-“No, sir.”
-
-“If you were a captain, you should have known as much. I see I shall
-have a hard time with you, for it is no easy task to teach an old dog
-new tricks. Fall in line, sir, and take the position of a soldier.”
-
-Mark Merrill really felt sorry for Clemmons, and the little advice
-given the youth he decided to take to heart.
-
-He had seen several military companies parading, and that was all, but
-he meant to do his best.
-
-He fell in line, and when shown the “position of a soldier” by the
-splendid young drill-master, he determined to keep his mind upon the
-duty before him.
-
-In spite of his having been a “captain,” Scott Clemmons was found more
-fault with than all the others of the awkward squad.
-
-“You are wrong, sir,” shouted Cadet Nazro. “Just see how you stand.
-Your drill master must have been a veteran of 1812. Now these men
-can learn, for they know nothing; but you know it all, and like most
-know-alls, you give no demonstration of your knowledge. See Merrill
-there, how well he stands, and I have not had to correct him a second
-time, nor Perry either. Look to it, _Captain_ Clemmons, that I don’t
-have to correct you again.”
-
-There were others of the greenhorns who got rebuffs, also, but for some
-reason Officer Herbert Nazro seemed to have picked upon Scott Clemmons
-for his especial target of ill-natured flings.
-
-“He has only himself to blame for it,” said Bemis Perry to Mark, when
-the squad was dismissed, after the hardest work the new men had ever
-known.
-
-“Yes, he should have kept quiet about having been captain of his
-company,” Mark returned.
-
-“As I did; for I was three years at the military school in Charleston,
-but to-day convinced me that the drill there is nothing in comparison
-to this naval school. We shall see stars here, Merrill.”
-
-“I have become convinced of that,” was Mark’s laughing response.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII. A SECRET FOE.
-
-
-Of course Scott Clemmons became a mortal enemy of Herbert Nazro after
-his first drill in the awkward squad, under the command of that most
-efficient young officer.
-
-He dared not come out in open rebellion, as he well knew what that
-would mean to him; but he treasured up for Nazro a bitter feeling and a
-hope of revenge in the future when the chance should come in his way.
-
-To be rebuked before Mark Merrill cut him deeper than if it had been
-before the entire corps, for he had tried to impress Mark with his
-importance.
-
-He had watched Mark’s face for some sign of rejoicing, but even his
-ill-nature had failed to detect there any expression of triumph.
-
-Fisher lad though Mark Merrill had been, the spoiled and petted child
-of fortune, Scott Clemmons, was intensely jealous of him.
-
-He feared the reserve power of the youth who had gotten an appointment
-to the naval school by his own acts, when, with all his father’s
-influence, he had found it no easy task to accomplish it.
-
-Then, too, Mark had entered with a kind of hurrah, and more, he had
-passed the surgeon and examining committee under flying colors, while
-his first drill had been marked by no grave error upon his part.
-
-There were lads at the academy to toady to the riches and influence of
-Scott Clemmons, and so that youth at once found a following among them.
-
-To his willing “satellites” Scott Clemmons, from a knowledge of his own
-nature, judged Mark, believing that the young sailor would inform his
-friends of the affair of the toy ship and what followed. He had told
-his version of the affair, and soon through the corps went the story of
-enmity between the two “men from Maine,” as they were called.
-
-Had Scott Clemmons been less arrogant, Herbert Nazro would not have
-been so severe upon him as he was.
-
-But all new cadets must expect hard times the first year they enter
-into Uncle Sam’s service as baby tars.
-
-In his studies Mark went to work with the determination to win, and a
-feeling began to creep over the class in which he was that he meant to
-be a dangerous man in the race for honors.
-
-Scott Clemmons understood this more keenly than any one else, and he
-began to feel his inferiority in spite of his vanity, so he decided
-that the only way to beat Mark Merrill was to get him out of the
-academy.
-
-He sized up the others of the class, and felt that, with a struggle, he
-could lead for honors, but Mark Merrill was dangerous, and intended to
-see to it that his threat to leave him behind was carried out.
-
-Demerits against a cadet would upset all standing for good lessons,
-perfect drill and attention to duties, and that these ugly little
-demerit marks could be readily gotten from the slightest causes Scott
-Clemmons soon discovered. He accordingly induced his roommate to enter
-into a plot against the unsuspecting young sailor.
-
-When rigged out in his uniform Mark Merrill was certainly a very
-handsome and striking-looking lad.
-
-The corps tailor had complimented him by saying he had never measured a
-finer formed lad for his clothes, and seldom one his equal.
-
-Fortunately for the new men, there had recently been several dismissals
-from the academy of “hazers,” so that no great indignities were heaped
-upon Mark and the others.
-
-Still they came in for their share of petty jokes played upon them, all
-of which Mark submitted to as really a part of the discipline of the
-institution.
-
-He was universally good-natured, dignified, yet courteous to all, and
-on duty and in study hours nothing could move him from what he deemed
-right.
-
-He was a favorite with the officers, popular with his comrades, and yet
-for all that there seemed to be some mysterious undercurrent working
-against him.
-
-Once his cap was missing, and he was absent at roll call, so a demerit
-went against him; but he did not report that his cap had been cleverly
-taken from his room by some one.
-
-Another time he could not find his shoes for parade, and again a
-demerit went down against his name.
-
-A third time his handsome uniform was disfigured by enormous ink
-stains, and he knew that he was no more responsible for that than he
-had been for his missing hat and shoes.
-
-His books, too, became disfigured in some mysterious way, and one
-morning he was reported as having been caught out of his room at night
-when he had been fast asleep in bed.
-
-So Mark Merrill, without a word in his own defense, had been put on the
-list for a reprimand and punishment.
-
-These constant demerits were counting up sadly against Mark, until he
-knew that by the end of his first year they would be so formidable as
-to mean dismissal. Yet what could he do to save himself?
-
-He was innocent of wrong-doing, and though he suspected his persecutor,
-he had no proof of it that he was right in his suspicions, while, if he
-was, he had too manly a nature to go and report him.
-
-So he determined to suffer in silence, and trust to some good fortune
-to make all things even in the end.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV. A SECRET FRIEND.
-
-
-The petty persecutions of Mark Merrill became so persistent, so
-annoying, and so frequent that those who knew how matters were going
-became confident that, as they all counted against the young sailor and
-not against unknown persecutors, he would not be able to stay his year
-out at the academy.
-
-It had leaked out that Mark Merrill had been a tough citizen at home,
-and was nothing more than a coast fisherman, until brought into a
-position above his station by an appointment to the naval school.
-
-In truth there were a number of rumors about the academy detrimental
-to our young hero, and though they reached his ears, often most
-unpleasantly from hearing them himself, oftener from having them told
-him by his devoted chum, Bemis Perry, he suffered in silence, making no
-denials.
-
-At length some who had been his friends grew cold in their greetings of
-him, and his popularity began to waver.
-
-“You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” said Scott Clemmons,
-one day, in speaking of Mark in a crowd, who had been referring to his
-many demerits.
-
-“No, and you can’t ward off the attack of a secret assassin,” remarked
-Bemis Perry quietly.
-
-All eyes turned upon the speaker, for he seldom attracted attention by
-any outspoken words, and Scott Clemmons, with angry face, asked:
-
-“Do you mean that for me, sir?”
-
-“I shot at random, Clemmons; and if you got in the way it is your
-lookout, not mine.”
-
-“I wish you to explain your ambiguous words,” said Clemmons hotly.
-
-“Permit me to do so,” was the response. “You were pleased to apply an
-insulting application to my roommate and friend, Mark Merrill, and as
-he has suffered much secret persecution from one who would stab him
-in the back, I say that one can no more protect oneself from a secret
-assassin than you can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Now, if the
-shoe fits you, put it on and wear it.”
-
-“As it does not, there is no cause of quarrel between us,” Scott
-Clemmons said, retreating through the exit open to him.
-
-“You are wise,” and with this Bemis Perry walked away, and as he did so
-he muttered to himself:
-
-“I will do it.”
-
-An hour after found him in the presence of the commandant, waiting to
-be heard by that august personage.
-
-“Well, Mr. Perry, what is it?” said the commandant, somewhat abruptly.
-
-“I have no complaint to make, commandant, for myself, but I have an
-explanation to offer in behalf of another.”
-
-“Well, Mr. Perry, I will hear you.”
-
-The commandant had taken a fancy to the quiet, reserved but brilliant
-youth who had become Mark Merrill’s roommate, and he now saw that he
-had something more than a favor to ask.
-
-“I wish to make a statement, sir, and hope that you will take what I
-have to say as though uttered under oath.”
-
-“So serious as that, is it, Mr. Perry?”
-
-“Yes, sir; but as I said, it is not of myself that I will speak.”
-
-“Who, then?”
-
-“Of my roommate, sir.”
-
-“Ah! Has Merrill gotten out with you, too?”
-
-“On the contrary, I wish to say that Merrill is the noblest fellow I
-ever met. I have watched him closely, when he little dreamed I was
-paying the slightest attention to his acts, or the actions of others,
-and I wish to say, commandant, that the day he missed roll call on
-account of not finding his cap, some one had taken it to cause him a
-demerit. The ink stains on his uniform were put there by others, and
-the night that he was reported as absent without leave from his room
-I lay awake, unable to sleep, and he never got out of his cot; but,
-whoever it was, gave the name of Merrill instead of his own, and this
-I’ll take oath to, sir. In a number of other cases, commandant, Merrill
-has been accused and silently submitted, when I know he was innocent,
-and thus the demerits roll up against him. Against these demerits,
-sir, he stands perfect in lessons, thorough in drill, and no complaint
-against the performance of any duty he is put upon, which, I think,
-sir, if you will pardon the expression of my opinion, go to prove that
-where he has a chance to get perfect marks he gets them, while others
-get the demerits against him as one dangerous to have as a rival for
-honors.”
-
-“Ah! I see your reasoning, Mr. Perry; but may I ask if Merrill knows of
-your coming to me?”
-
-“No, sir, he has not a suspicion of it, for I come on my own
-responsibility, knowing the facts.”
-
-“It does you credit, let me say, Perry, and your reasoning is so good
-that I shall look into the matter myself.”
-
-“Thank you, sir.”
-
-“But what does Merrill say of the demerits he receives?”
-
-“I have only heard him express himself once, sir, and then he said that
-it was not the plain sailing he had hoped to have here, for in spite of
-his every effort to win success he seemed to make a dead failure of it.”
-
-“I see; but do not speak of this visit to Merrill or any one else, and
-I’ll see what explanation can be arrived at of his many demerits.”
-
-“Simply, sir, that he has a secret foe,” was the almost blunt assertion
-of Bemis Perry.
-
-“Then he is fortunate in having also a secret friend in you, Mr.
-Perry,” was the commandant’s smiling response; and Bemis Perry saluted
-and retired, satisfied that he had acted as he should have done to save
-Mark Merrill from an underhand foe, who meant his dismissal from the
-academy.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXV. A CLOUDED RECORD.
-
-
-Weeks passed away and the strange fact presented itself that the
-cadet midshipman, who was devotedly studious, thorough in every duty
-devolving upon him, perfect in drill and courteous to all, yet kept his
-list of demerit marks steadily increasing against him, a circumstance
-that could only end in one way.
-
-Pranks were played, and time and again the guilty one was said to be
-Mark Merrill, for he was the one who seemed to be leading two lives, as
-it were, secretly a wild one, openly a perfect one.
-
-Half-smoked cigars were found by the officer of inspection in his room,
-and when he asserted he never smoked them, as proof against him was a
-box of perfectos nearly empty.
-
-Upon another occasion the inspector found a bottle that had contained
-whisky in Merrill’s room, and there was enough left in it to prove that
-it had contained the real old beverage of the Kentucky colonels.
-
-In many other ways had seeming proof been brought against Mark Merrill
-that he was not all that he professed to be, and many predicted that he
-would take his departure from the United States Naval Academy before
-very long.
-
-But one afternoon the corps were assembled, and, to the surprise of
-all, the demerits against the cadets were read out openly.
-
-Here and there a name was called which held no demerit mark against
-it, but when the adjutant came to the name of Mark Merrill he paused,
-and a moment of suspense followed.
-
-Then came the reading of the number which was known as the “Fatal
-Figures.”
-
-Beyond that number no cadet could go, and Mark Merrill’s face became
-deadly pale as he heard the calling out of the fatal figures. Other
-names followed, until the whole roll of the corps had been called, and
-no one else came within startling distance of the fatal figures.
-
-“Cadet Mark Merrill to the front!” came the adjutant’s command, for
-that officer already had his orders.
-
-Mark advanced promptly until halted.
-
-White-faced but cool, with every eye upon him, he stood awaiting what
-was to come as though he were to hear his death warrant read.
-
-To him it was worse, for he expected ignominious dismissal from the
-corps.
-
-“Cadet Merrill, the number of demerits against your name has reached
-the limit, the fatal figures which mean dismissal. The commandant
-desires to know what you have to say in your defense?”
-
-“Nothing, sir, for the demerits stand against me, and I submit to the
-laws of the academy in silence.”
-
-Every one heard the distinctly uttered reply of the young cadet.
-
-Then the commandant’s voice was heard:
-
-“Adjutant, you are to cancel every demerit that stands against the name
-of Cadet Midshipman Mark Merrill.”
-
-In spite of stern discipline a murmur ran down the line, for such a
-command could not be understood.
-
-But the explanation was not long delayed, for again the stern voice of
-the commandant was heard:
-
-“Cadet Merrill, I have reason to know that when you failed to appear
-at roll call, from having lost your cap, that it was taken from your
-room to bring about just such trouble for you. I have reason to know
-that ink stains were placed upon your uniform to get you into trouble,
-and that the night when you were reported absent from your room without
-leave, the one who answered the officer of the guard was not you, but
-used your name. The bottle found in your room, also the cigars, were
-put there by those who meant to get you into trouble. Against such
-acts, which are explained away, you stand perfect in your lessons,
-in drill and all duties devolving upon you. Hence I cancel these
-demerits with the warning to your secret enemies that, were they known,
-dismissal should at once follow the discovery, and if like underhand
-acts against you, or others, are perpetrated the guilty ones shall be
-hunted down and the severest penalty shall be visited upon them. Return
-to the ranks, Cadet Merrill, with your record clear.”
-
-There are no more manly youths in the world, taken as a whole, than our
-baby tars of Annapolis and boy soldiers of West Point, and none more
-ready to do justice to one of their number wronged, and so it was that
-the cadet midshipmen felt assured that the commandant was doing only
-justice to Mark Merrill and letting his persecutors down lightly.
-
-So they gave three rousing cheers for Mark’s “clear record,” and a
-groan for his secret foes.
-
-If there were several in the corps who joined in the cheers and groans
-it was to hide their own confusion worse confounded.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVI. THE TELLTALE COIN.
-
-
-Barney Breslin was not a popular youth in the Naval School.
-
-His nature was somewhat morose; it seemed to go against him to salute
-his superiors, and he had never won golden opinions for his studious
-habits and strict attention to duty.
-
-He had but one intimate in the corps of cadets, and that one was Scott
-Clemmons, his roommate.
-
-Many wondered how it was that Scott Clemmons had gotten in with Barney
-Breslin, for, where the one was an aristocrat, the other had just
-escaped being born in the Emerald Isle, for his parents had set foot
-upon the “land of the brave and the free” only a week when Barney made
-his _début_ in life.
-
-The father of the youth had played his cards so well in the metropolis
-that he had gotten to be a man of wealth and a politician of influence,
-and it had been the dream of the mother’s life to see her boy an
-admiral before she died.
-
-An only son, Barney had gone it a trifle rapid for a youngster, and was
-sent to the Naval School for training. As he passed his examinations he
-had the courage, when a full-fledged cadet, to write to his father of
-certain unpaid debts left behind in New York, and they were promptly
-settled by the parent, but with an admonition that not a dollar
-more should be received from the Breslin bank account until he had
-graduated, and if he failed to do this he had better ship before the
-mast, and not show up again under the parental roof tree.
-
-Now, Barney was fond of a game of chance, and when he could find a
-congenial spirit to play with, he often indulged in gambling, generally
-to his sorrow, for he soon had several I. O. U.’s for various amounts.
-
-It was supposed that Scott Clemmons helped Barney Breslin in his
-studies, for the former was bright and stood splendidly in his classes.
-
-In return it was hinted that Barney did many little favors for
-Clemmons, mostly of a menial nature, however.
-
-The inspector always found Clemmons’ wardrobe and half of the room neat
-as a pin, while Barney was often “spotted” for disorder.
-
-Cadets generally “size up” a man very correctly, and they decided
-that when examination day came and Barney’s displacement was taken,
-his tonnage in knowledge would fall short, even though aided by Scott
-Clemmons.
-
-In other words, Barney could never “bone” hard enough to step across
-the threshold into the third class.
-
-“He’ll bilge, certain,” was the general way of putting Barney’s
-prospects by his fellow cadets.
-
-It may, therefore, be inferred that Barney Breslin was as unpopular as
-his roommate, Scott Clemmons, was popular, for the latter was looked
-upon as a “good fellow all round,” though a trifle too haughty, perhaps.
-
-From the first Barney had not liked Mark Merrill, and he made no effort
-to disguise it.
-
-A tall, heavily formed fellow, he possessed great brute strength, and
-was brave from this very reason, feeling his power over weaker mortals,
-and inclined to be a bully from nature.
-
-One afternoon the cadets assembled in considerable force in the
-gymnasium, and many were giving exhibitions of their prowess as
-athletes, and no mean exhibition it was, either, for the training that
-they received made iron physiques of the youths.
-
-For some reason an unpleasant feeling rested upon many, which soon
-became general when it was known that Scott Clemmons had lost a
-valuable coin that morning.
-
-It was a rare coin, what is known as a fifty-dollar gold piece,
-octagonal in shape, and always quoted at a large premium on account of
-the scarcity of such issues of money.
-
-All who had seen Scott Clemmons with it knew that he called it his
-“luck coin,” and that he prized it most highly.
-
-He had changed his clothes that morning, leaving the coin in the pants
-he had taken off, and, going for it an hour after, he found it gone.
-
-Barney Breslin had expressed himself boldly about one whom he believed
-had taken the coin, as he had said that he met a cadet coming out of
-the room of Scott Clemmons and himself, and unless the gold piece was
-returned that night, he would make his accusation public.
-
-He would not give a hint as to whom he suspected, but said:
-
-“Wait until night, and then I shall accuse the one I deem the thief,”
-and he turned away to perform an act which he had won quite a
-reputation for, which was to walk around the pedestrian track of the
-gymnasium on his hands.
-
-“Can you do that, Merrill?” asked Scott Clemmons, who stood near him,
-and there was a sneer in his tone and manner.
-
-“I think so,” was the quiet response, and Mark Merrill threw himself
-upon his hands and began to go around the track, when suddenly, with a
-loud ring, the missing gold-piece rolled from his pocket amid almost a
-roar of amazement from his brother cadets.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVII. A DOUBLE ACCUSATION.
-
-
-Barney Breslin had just completed his walk on his hands around the
-track of the gymnasium, and the applause with which he had been
-greeted had ceased, when Scott Clemmons asked Mark Merrill if he could
-accomplish a like feat.
-
-When the gold coin fell from Mark’s pocket and the loud murmur of
-amazement was heard, Barney Breslin had sprang forward, and seizing the
-piece of gold cried:
-
-“It is your luck coin, Clemmons, as I live!”
-
-“It certainly is, but surely there must be some mistake, for Merrill
-could not be guilty of----”
-
-“I tell you now that he is the man I saw leaving our room,” said
-Breslin, interrupting Clemmons.
-
-And all this time, unheeding the dropping of the coin from his
-pocket, Mark Merrill had continued his hand-walk around the track,
-accomplishing the feat with an ease far greater than Barney Breslin had
-done.
-
-As he approached the group now, his face flushed from his peculiar
-exercise, every eye was upon him, and a death-like silence was upon all.
-
-“You must speak, Clemmons, for this cannot be allowed to go by,” said
-Breslin, breaking the silence.
-
-“Merrill, it seems that you accomplished Breslin’s feat, but you have
-also done something that he could not and would not do,” said Scott
-Clemmons.
-
-“What is that, may I ask, Mr. Clemmons?”
-
-“You dropped something from your pocket awhile since?”
-
-“Yes, I heard it drop, but as I had no claim to it I paid no attention
-to it.”
-
-“You know what it was?”
-
-“Ah! yes; an octagonal coin which Breslin stole from you and placed in
-my pocket, hoping to prove me the thief,” was the cool response.
-
-“Ha! you dare accuse me of being a thief?” and, like a mad bull, Barney
-Breslin rushed upon Mark Merrill.
-
-Some would have interfered had they had time, and all expected to see
-Barney Breslin seize and crush Mark Merrill in his iron grasp.
-
-But instead, they saw the huge bully fly backward with terrific force
-and measure his length upon the track of the gymnasium.
-
-He had been dealt a blow by Mark that half-stunned him, and amazed all,
-for the young sailor had never before shown what he could do with his
-fists, and his latent strength was never once suspected, unless it was
-by Scott Clemmons.
-
-With a howl of rage Barney Breslin arose and rushed again upon Mark,
-who cried out:
-
-“Back, Breslin, or you will regret it!”
-
-A cry of defiance was Breslin’s only answer, and as the cadet struck up
-Mark’s guard, he was enabled to seize him in his long, powerful arms.
-
-But only for a moment did he retain his hold, for he was raised bodily
-from his feet and dashed to the floor with a force that shook the
-building, and he lay limp and dazed from the fall.
-
-Though astonished at Mark’s grand exhibition of strength, and glad as
-many were to see Barney Breslin punished, the cadets could not let the
-charge about the gold coin go by, and several called out:
-
-“Prove that you know nothing about that coin, Merrill, or it will go
-hard with you.”
-
-Mark was not in the least disturbed, as he faced those who demanded an
-inquiry into the cruel charge against him, and said in his quiet way,
-as he stood over the fallen Breslin:
-
-“I have nothing to say for myself, but shall ask Mr. Dillingham to
-speak for me, after which Mr. Nazro can speak.”
-
-“Out with it, Dillingham, if you can say anything to clear Merrill of
-this very nasty charge,” said Cadet Captain Byrd Bascomb.
-
-“I will only say that since we came into the gymnasium here Merrill
-came up to me and said that he had seen Clemmons’ lost gold piece in
-Breslin’s hand, and that he appeared to be trying to slip it into his,
-Merrill’s pocket, and asked me to watch him. I did so, and I did see
-Breslin pass very near Merrill and appear to drop something into his
-pocket, but what it was I could not see.”
-
-This testimony from Winslow Dillingham created a sensation, which was
-added to when Herbert Nazro said:
-
-“And Merrill whispered to me:
-
-“‘Watch Breslin and see what he is up to, for he has haunted me ever
-since I came in.’
-
-“I did watch him, and I distinctly saw him slip something yellow into
-Merrill’s pocket, which now I will swear was the gold piece which
-Clemmons lost. Now, Clemmons, who is the one you accuse?” and Herbert
-Nazro turned upon Scott Clemmons, who responded:
-
-“I make no accusation, and yet I cannot doubt the evidence of yourself
-and Dillingham.”
-
-“And I ask you, Breslin, do you dare accuse me?”
-
-The words were uttered in a low tone, yet all heard them, and Mark
-Merrill faced Barney Breslin, who now stood before him, his face white
-and bruised from the blow he had received.
-
-“Speak, sir!”
-
-There was a very dangerous light in the eyes of Mark Merrill now, and
-there followed his command a chorus of voices, saying:
-
-“Yes, speak!”
-
-But Barney Breslin uttered no word, and his face grew livid as his eyes
-roved over to where Scott Clemmons stood.
-
-He met only a cold stare from the man who had been his friend, and
-placing his hand to his head in a dazed sort of way, he walked slowly
-out of the gymnasium.
-
-“He shall speak!” cried Mark, starting after him, but a dozen hands
-held him back, while Byrd Bascomb said:
-
-“No need of it, Merrill; for he is the thief.”
-
-“And worse, he well-nigh ruined you, Merrill,” added Herbert Nazro.
-
-“Forgive me, Merrill, but he accused you to me, and it was his plot
-to have you walk on your hands that the money might roll out of your
-pocket,” and Scott Clemmons held out his hand.
-
-But sharp and decisive came the response:
-
-“No, Clemmons, I will not take your hand, for you are no more my friend
-than Breslin has been--I pity him, but despise you,” and Mark walked
-away with Dillingham, Nazro and Byrd Bascomb.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVIII. THE STORY TOLD.
-
-
-Mark Merrill’s first act was to go at once to the officer of the day
-and report the occurrence at the gymnasium.
-
-Accompanied by Cadet Captain Byrd Bascomb, Herbert Nazro and Winslow
-Dillingham, who were there to vouch for the affair as stated, the
-officer of the day suggested that the young cadet go immediately to the
-commandant, and he would give no order of arrest against Barney Breslin
-until he heard from headquarters.
-
-It was decided then that Mark should go alone to the commandant and
-tell his story, while the three cadets whom he had as witnesses would
-hold themselves in readiness to be called upon for their version of the
-affair.
-
-“There will be plenty more of us, Merrill, never fear, to report the
-affair as it occurred,” said Byrd Bascomb.
-
-“Yes, all there knew that you were attacked by Breslin, which was
-reversing the old saying and adding injury to insult, to attempt to
-annihilate you after he had accused you of stealing; but, great Scott!
-what a knock-down you gave him,” said Nazro, while Dillingham responded:
-
-“Oh, yes, Merrill can do it, as I have cause to remember--he tumbled me
-into the drink,” and all three laughed at the remembrance.
-
-“It will go hard with Breslin even if he escapes arrest for stealing,
-for Clemmons gave him an awful ugly look when he saw that he was the
-thief--that it was his room mate who had robbed him,” said Dillingham.
-
-So Mark wended his way to headquarters, and the commandant granting him
-an interview, he made a clean breast of the whole occurrence.
-
-The commandant listened with an attention that revealed the deepest
-interest, for it was something so thoroughly out of the usual run for
-one who was to become an officer in the navy to be accused of theft.
-
-Mischief untold, hazing, and even insubordination, might be charged
-against the jolly young tars, but anything against their honor was a
-stigma too serious to be lightly thought of.
-
-At last the commandant spoke, and in a low, earnest tone:
-
-“You requested Cadets Nazro and Dillingham to watch Breslin’s
-movements?”
-
-“I did, sir, as his actions toward me were curious, and I caught him
-trying to slip something in my pocket. It was done so slyly that had I
-not been on the watch I would not have known it, but both Cadets Nazro
-and Dillingham saw him do it, and, of course, when I was challenged to
-do his feat I accepted and the coin rolled out.”
-
-“Did he challenge you?”
-
-“No, sir, Clemmons did.”
-
-“And who accused you?”
-
-“I continued my hand-walk around the track, sir, and Cadet Clemmons
-asked me to explain how it was I had his luck coin.”
-
-“And your answer?”
-
-“I told him that I had no claim to it, as Breslin had stolen it from
-him and slipped it into my pocket, a fact corroborated by Cadets
-Dillingham and Nazro.”
-
-“And he attacked you?”
-
-“Yes, sir, and I knocked him down.”
-
-“And then?”
-
-“He arose and rushed upon me again.”
-
-“No one interfered?”
-
-“Yes, sir; but his movements were very quick, and----”
-
-“Contrary to his usual manner,” dryly said the commandant.
-
-“As he rushed upon me a second time, sir, some one struck my hand
-upward, and he grasped me, so I had to throw him, and I did so with a
-force which I intended should prevent a continuance of the fracas.”
-
-“Then you acted only in self-defense?”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“How many cadets were in the gymnasium at the time?”
-
-“About one-third of the corps, I should say, sir.”
-
-“Name others who were there?”
-
-Mark did so, while the commandant jotted down the names, until he had
-fully a score on the list, men from the various classes, and some of
-them cadet officers, who had witnessed the affair.
-
-Then, after a few moments of silence, the commandant said:
-
-“Merrill, in what way have you ever offended Breslin?”
-
-“I was not aware that I had done so, sir.”
-
-“Yet he has never been friendly toward you?”
-
-“No, sir.”
-
-“You have done nothing to anger him?”
-
-“I have seldom spoken to him, sir.”
-
-“Did it ever strike you that he was one of your persecutors when the
-demerits rolled up against you in the earlier part of the year?”
-
-“I have no evidence that he was.”
-
-“And in what way have you wronged Clemmons?”
-
-“I prefer not to speak of what occurred prior to my coming to the
-academy, sir.”
-
-“You admit that there was trouble between you?”
-
-“Yes, sir, we had some trouble one day.”
-
-“I desire to hear your statement of it.”
-
-“It was of little moment, sir; but one day I went up from my home to
-B---- to sell a toy ship I had made, to get money needed for my mother,
-who was ill. Clemmons and a few of his mates, in a spirit of amusement,
-set upon me, and my ship was broken. This angered me, and I used my
-fists, and we were arrested.”
-
-“With what result?”
-
-“A seaman had taken my part, and he was also arrested by the constable;
-but the judge made the lads pay me for my toy ship, and released the
-sailor and myself.”
-
-“I am glad to see, Merrill, that you have told a very modest and
-uncompromising story of the affair, for I have here a letter from a
-witness, and he is not as lenient toward the lads who assailed you,”
-and in a quick glance at a letter which the commandant turned back over
-a file to find, Mark saw the name of “Jack Judson.”
-
-Then the commandant continued:
-
-“I have received several other letters from your old home, all of
-them compromising, but as they were anonymous I simply retain them
-for reference, as only a coward will refuse to put his name to an
-accusation against one he maligns. You can go to your quarters now, to
-await further orders.”
-
-Mark saluted and departed from headquarters, when the commandant
-summoned an orderly and gave him the list of the cadets whose names he
-had taken down, ordering their presence before him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIX. THE ALTERNATIVE.
-
-
-So high is the standard of honor among Uncle Sam’s cadets that one’s
-word is as good as his bond in all things, and a man who would go wrong
-and do a despicable thing is despised and ostracised by his comrades at
-once.
-
-Instances are very rare in naval and military life where an officer
-goes wrong, though now and then one does hear that a paymaster,
-quartermaster, or commissary has gotten his accounts in a tangle, or
-that some officer has been guilty of a “shady transaction” to get out
-of debt; but, as I have said, the instances are so rare that when they
-do occur they come as a shock upon the whole service, afloat and ashore.
-
-In the little world, then, at the Naval School, the going wrong of
-Barney Breslin was a blow to the cadets which all keenly felt.
-
-It was like a disgrace upon them all to have one not only be guilty of
-theft, but to try and place the dishonor of his act upon a fellow cadet.
-
-The young sailors gathered about in knots and discussed the affair.
-
-Not the shadow of a cloud rested upon Mark Merrill, but sympathy was
-felt for him that he should have been the victim of the thief.
-
-Breslin had sent out an explanation of his act after going to his room.
-
-He had often borrowed the lucky coin and carried it for days, and that
-day he had found it on the floor, where Clemmons must have dropped it,
-and so had put it in his pocket, intending later to return it.
-
-Not seeing Clemmons until they had met in the gymnasium, and then
-learning about his supposed loss, he had said nothing about having it,
-and in a spirit of fun had put it in Merrill’s pocket, intending to
-explain the joke, as he called it, after it had been discovered who had
-it.
-
-But Merrill had accused him, Breslin, of being the thief, and so in his
-anger he had resented it.
-
-Such was Barney Breslin’s explanation, as written by him, and read to
-the cadets by Scott Clemmons, who was inclined to accept it as the
-truth.
-
-But the cadets were not so lenient as was Scott Clemmons.
-
-They knew that Breslin had certainly allowed the belief that Mark
-Merrill was the thief, and he had offered no explanation then and there
-of his conduct.
-
-They received his lame explanation as that of a man who was drowning
-“catching at a straw.”
-
-They knew that Mark Merrill had reported himself as having struck a
-fellow cadet a blow, and that he had doubtless given his reason for so
-doing, which they adjudged a good one.
-
-What the commandant would think remained to be seen.
-
-The commandant’s orderly had been “seen in the land,” as they, the
-cadets, expressed it, and, as a result, certain uniformed gentlemen
-from the different classes were seen wending their way toward
-headquarters.
-
-Byrd Bascomb gave his version of the affair in the presence of several
-officers of the academy, but with no cadet present other than himself.
-
-The commandant’s secretary jotted down his testimony.
-
-Then followed Herbert Nazro’s statement, Dillingham’s, and so on until
-all had been heard, and no comment was made in the presence of the
-cadets, but the officers were left to discuss the case among themselves.
-
-In the meanwhile the door of Breslin’s room was closed against all
-admission, except the well-known knock of Scott Clemmons.
-
-That youth returned from making known his roommate’s “explanation” to
-find him seated at his study table, writing.
-
-Breslin was very pale and nervous, and Scott Clemmons wore a painfully
-anxious look, too.
-
-“Well?” said Breslin, as Clemmons entered.
-
-The latter threw himself into his chair and said:
-
-“It won’t go.”
-
-“You read it?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“What did they say?”
-
-“Nothing.”
-
-“That’s good.”
-
-“That’s bad, for their silence is worse than their chin music.”
-
-“Have you seen Merrill?”
-
-“He is in his room under orders.”
-
-“Well, what am I to do?”
-
-“Resign, I should say, and at once.”
-
-“I half thought of it, and, in fact, had written a letter to the
-commandant; but then----”
-
-“What?”
-
-“My father will not let me come home.”
-
-“Try your mother.”
-
-“It will do no good, for the old man runs the house.”
-
-“There is one thing certain.”
-
-“What is that?”
-
-“If you don’t resign, you’ll be dismissed.”
-
-“Oh, Lord!”
-
-“If you were not, the cadets would cut you dead, never speak to you
-except officially, for they have got a standard of honor here which
-only an angel could hope to attain to.”
-
-“You had better resign, then, too.”
-
-“Why?”
-
-“You are no angel.”
-
-“That’s rather good of you, Breslin; your trouble seems to have
-sharpened your wit.”
-
-“Well, if I resign you ought to do so too, or----”
-
-“Or what?”
-
-“I cannot go home.”
-
-“Try it.”
-
-“I will, but I know the old man.”
-
-“Well, if you do not, get work and redeem yourself in his opinion.”
-
-“I have no money, as you know, so if I go you must go, too, or----”
-
-“Or what, Breslin?”
-
-“Or support me,” and there was an ugly look came over the face of the
-disgraced cadet.
-
-“I do not understand,” faltered Scott Clemmons.
-
-“Then I will make it so clear that you can grasp it. I said that if
-I resign you must do the same, or you must support me until I get a
-good position, when I can take care of myself. Do you understand now,
-Clemmons?”
-
-It seemed that Scott Clemmons did, for his face turned deadly pale at
-the alternative given him by the cadet who now stood at bay.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXX. NOT ACCEPTED.
-
-
-Barney Breslin seemed to have turned at bay, for he was no longer the
-obsequious toady of Scott Clemmons that he had been.
-
-What he had said, the alternative he had offered, seemed to have deeply
-moved Clemmons, for he now appeared more anxious-faced than did Breslin.
-
-Thrice he essayed to speak, and each time the words failed him.
-
-He at last sat almost helpless before the other, wishing him to break
-the silence.
-
-Breslin paced up and down the room now with a calmer mien.
-
-The man had suddenly become the master.
-
-What hold he had upon Clemmons he gave no utterance to, but certainly
-he had a secret power to thus move the other as he did.
-
-“Yes, I shall resign. I shall take my resignation over now to the
-commandant, for, after all I am tired of study, and I hardly think I
-am cut out to be a naval officer. The standard of excellence and honor
-are a trifle too high for me to reach--you see I confess it, Clemmons.
-So I’ll take a vacation, and as I have only a few dollars, I’ll call
-on you for a loan, you know. If you have not a large amount about you,
-give me an order upon your father, for I must have money, Clemmons,
-yes, I must have money, or----”
-
-He paused as though hoping that Scott Clemmons would ask:
-
-“Or what?”
-
-But Clemmons remained silent, and with a determined look in his face,
-Breslin finished his sentence with the words:
-
-“Or--you go with me, Clemmons.”
-
-Half an hour after Barney Breslin left his room, and went to the
-commandant’s quarters.
-
-He met an orderly at the door, who said politely:
-
-“I was just going to seek you, sir, for the commandant wishes to see
-you.”
-
-The next moment Breslin crossed the threshold with a look upon his face
-that expressed plainly his thought: “He who enters here leaves Hope
-behind.”
-
-The commandant was there, and so were a number of officers, all wearing
-a serious look upon their faces.
-
-Breslin saluted promptly and awaited the commandant’s pleasure.
-
-“Mr. Breslin, I sent for you, as an occurrence in the gymnasium to-day
-demands a full inquiry,” said the commandant sternly.
-
-“I was on my way here, sir, when I met your orderly. I am here now,
-sir, to make the statement that I was wrong, that what I meant as a
-joke proved serious; so serious, in fact, sir, that I hereby tender you
-my resignation as a cadet midshipman.”
-
-All heard the words distinctly, and they were uttered without a tremor,
-though the face of the young man was very pale.
-
-“Mr. Breslin, you will please sit down at that table and write and sign
-your explanation of this unfortunate affair.”
-
-The youth obeyed, writing the same explanation he had sent through
-Scott Clemmons to the cadets.
-
-The commandant read it aloud, and then said:
-
-“This wholly exonerates Cadet Midshipman Mark Merrill, as you intended
-it should?”
-
-“From the charge of taking the luck coin. Yes, sir.”
-
-“From what else do you infer that he is not exonerated, sir?” sternly
-asked the commandant.
-
-“From the blow he gave me,” almost fiercely answered the youth, whose
-revengeful nature was now revealed in his face and words.
-
-The commandant smiled, while he said:
-
-“From all accounts, Mr. Breslin, you had better let well enough alone,
-and certainly your charge was a just provocation.”
-
-“I never forget nor forgive an injury, sir,” said the youth in a
-pompous manner.
-
-“Then my decision was a wise one, just arrived at, that you leave the
-Naval Academy at once.”
-
-“And this is an acceptance of my resignation, sir?”
-
-“On the contrary, Mr. Breslin, I decline to accept your resignation.”
-
-“I do not quite comprehend you, sir,” faltered the young man.
-
-“I decline your resignation, Mr. Breslin, to reserve to myself the
-right to dismiss you, as you richly deserved. Not only did you pilfer
-from the pockets of your room mate, but to hide your theft, your
-ignominious crime, you tried to fasten the guilt upon another, a fellow
-cadet. Your explanation is an awkward one, a lame one in the extreme,
-but it serves to exonerate Mr. Merrill, and to stamp you, under your
-own signature, as what you are. I shall at once send my decision to the
-Secretary of the Navy for his approval, and for the honor of this Naval
-Academy I trust that the affair will not be blazoned abroad over the
-land. For your own sake, you had best depart quietly from the academy,
-for the charge against you is a most serious one.”
-
-The stern, indignant manner of the commandant completely cowed the
-disgraced youth, and he departed from the presence of his judges with a
-crestfallen air.
-
-Returning to his room he found Scott Clemmons there anxiously pacing
-the floor.
-
-His look questioned Breslin, who dropped into a chair with the words:
-
-“He refused my resignation.”
-
-“What?”
-
-“He dismissed me.”
-
-“And--and----”
-
-“That is all,” said Breslin, with a reckless laugh, and Scott Clemmons
-gave a deep sigh of relief.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXI. A SWIMMING MATCH.
-
-
-Scott Clemmons was not the only one who gave a sigh of relief when it
-was known that Barney Breslin had to leave the academy.
-
-Perhaps, however, the sigh of relief of the other cadets was from a
-different motive than that which came from the bosom of Scott Clemmons.
-
-The decision of the commandant, forwarded by special carrier to
-Washington, was promptly approved by the Secretary of the Navy, and
-Barney Breslin, awaiting at the hotel in Annapolis, found himself no
-longer a cadet.
-
-Not even Scott Clemmons dared call openly upon him to wish him _bon
-voyage_ upon the stormy sea of life upon which he had embarked.
-
-He left the town under cover of the darkness, and the corps breathed
-more freely to know that the black sheep of their flock was gone.
-
-As though to atone for his unfortunate connection with the accusation
-against Mark Merrill, Scott Clemmons had sought out the wronged youth,
-and frankly said:
-
-“I say, Merrill, I’m deuced sorry for all that has happened, I am, ’pon
-honor. Breslin was such an awkward lad I felt sorry for him, but I had
-no idea that he was crooked, and he deserved even worse than you gave
-him. But say, old shipmate, let us bury the hatchet between us and be
-friends. We are rivals, I know, for first honors in our class, but
-that should not make us foes, and here’s my hand in real friendship.”
-
-This speech was delivered, for Clemmons was nothing, if not rhetorical,
-oratorical and dramatic, in the presence of a dozen fellow cadets.
-
-He would have considered it as seed sown in barren places, if he had
-made his little speech to Mark Merrill alone.
-
-The cadets present set it down as “very neat,” “deuced clever,” and
-“quite the correct thing, you know.”
-
-But Mark Merrill did not seem in the least impressed.
-
-He heard Clemmons with a patience and silence that was almost
-embarrassing.
-
-Then, without seeming to see the extended hand, he responded in his
-quiet way:
-
-“Clemmons, what Breslin did he has suffered for, and your seemingly
-frank offer of friendship under other circumstances I might appreciate;
-but I am no hypocrite, and I will not profess a friendship I do not
-feel. I shall treat you with respect, yes, and shall exact the same
-treatment from you, but friendship between us is not to be thought of,
-as in your heart, you know as well as I do, that it is not sincere.”
-
-Clemmons felt sorry that he had not gone to Merrill in private, for the
-rejection of his proffered friendship cut him to the quick.
-
-His face flushed, then paled, and he said in a tone of suppressed
-feeling:
-
-“So be it, sir, if you desire it,” and he wheeled on his heel and
-walked away.
-
-The cadets present felt that there was an undercurrent between the
-two, a feeling that they were not in touch with, and somehow they
-decided that Mark Merrill’s response left him master of the situation,
-notwithstanding the very manly _amende honorable_ of Scott Clemmons,
-as it had at first seemed to them.
-
-That Mark was jealous of Clemmons as a rival for honors they did not
-for a moment believe.
-
-He had some secret cause of bitterness against Clemmons, and he was of
-too manly a nature to play the hypocrite, they decided.
-
-Of course the story of the friendly offer by Scott Clemmons and its
-rejection by Mark Merrill became known to the whole corps, and finally
-reached the ear of the commandant.
-
-A cadet who happened to be present when the commandant heard the story,
-engaged in some work at a table near, told what he had overheard.
-
-The commandant had said:
-
-“Merrill was wise; yes, and right, too.”
-
-The manner in which Mark Merrill had shown himself both a “slugger”
-and a wrestler in knocking out and giving a fall to Barney Breslin,
-convinced the corps that there was a latent power in the youth that
-should not be allowed to lie dormant.
-
-He had shown himself a most clever gymnast, but always in a modest
-way, and when special attention was attracted to him, cadets came to
-understand that he was as thorough an athlete as he was a student.
-
-This became an undisputed fact when the young sailor quietly carried
-off the prizes from his class one day for feats of strength, and
-captured the gold badge as the “best-drilled man in his company.”
-
-When the warm days of spring came, a swimming match was arranged among
-a score of “champions,” and Mark entered the contest, while, to the
-surprise of all, Scott Clemmons went around among his fellows quietly
-taking wagers in favor of the sailor lad from Maine.
-
-The result proved his wisdom, or that he had heard the stories told of
-the “boy fish,” as the lad had been called at home, for as far as Mark
-was concerned, it was no race, as he swam nearly half the time under
-water, rounded the turning stake and came back home at an easy stroke,
-distancing all the others.
-
-Scott Clemmons smiled blandly, and said to his chum, Harbor Driggs:
-
-“I told you to go on Merrill.”
-
-“Yes, but Ferd Randall was in the race, and----”
-
-“He was not in the race with Merrill, as you now know. I tell you the
-fellow is a wonder in the water, and the surgeon said he must have a
-double pair of lungs.”
-
-“He certainly played with Ferd Randall.”
-
-“He did not show what he could do. Why, at home they called him the
-‘boy fish.’”
-
-“Say, Clemmons,” said Ferd Randall suddenly.
-
-“Well?”
-
-“I wonder if he’s going to do the same way in his class at examination?”
-
-“No, for I am in the class, you know,” was the conceited response.
-
-“That’s so, I hadn’t thought of that,” replied Randall, and Clemmons
-wondered if he was in earnest or sarcastic.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXII. THE “WATER WIZARD.”
-
-
-Following the swimming races came rowing and sailing matches and
-the fourth class pair of sculls, and four and eight barges, had the
-temerity to offer a challenge, open to all.
-
-They promptly found acceptances, in other classes, and it was found
-that Mark Merrill was one of a pair of scullers, and held a seat in the
-four and eight-oared barges, while he was also matched for an open to
-all in single sculls.
-
-“No need of betting against Merrill in single sculls, for he is a
-fisherman, you know, and rowed in the surf from boyhood,” said Scott
-Clemmons with a sneer.
-
-“You intend to bet on him, then, Clemmons?” asked Byrd Bascomb.
-
-“Of course I do, for I know what the fellow could do in a swimming
-match, and he is just as good with oars.”
-
-The day of the races for the championship came round and the
-eight-oared barge was ahead, but crowded by its nearest rival, when
-Mark’s oar snapped, and they were passed.
-
-But he seized the oar of one of the men who had weakened, and they came
-in second amid tremendous cheers.
-
-All had to admit, but for the breaking of Merrill’s oar, his boat would
-have led to the finish.
-
-In the double-scull race Bemis Perry, his roommate, was his partner,
-and, coached by Mark, the youth had become a strong and skillful
-oarsman.
-
-They dropped astern at the start, but pushed their three rivals hard
-apace, which began to tell in the end, and nearing the finish they
-slipped by, first one, then the other, and at last left the first-class
-men astern, winning by a strong and steady stroke.
-
-The following day the race came off for single sculls, and it was a
-foregone conclusion that Mark Merrill would win.
-
-When the word was given to go, Mark seemed not to hear it, but the
-others started off like arrows.
-
-Bemis Perry, Nazro, Dillingham, Clemmons, Ferd Randall, and half a
-dozen more were in the race, and they all started in a bunch, all
-except Mark.
-
-At last he started, crossing the line just in the nick of time to
-prevent being ruled out, and then seeming as though willing to give up
-as the others had such a long lead.
-
-“I’ll bet my hat he’s jockeying,” cried Bascomb, and as he spoke Mark’s
-oars went down with a mighty sweep, and his boat clove the waters like
-a knife.
-
-Randall was soon picked up, then came Neil Carroll, Harbor Driggs,
-Frank Latrobe, and the rear contingent were dropped astern.
-
-A second squadron was just ahead, and in it were Nazro, Dillingham,
-Swamsey, and Denton.
-
-They were at the turning-stake and Mark Merrill swept out beyond them,
-giving them ample room.
-
-But when they settled for the pull home it was seen that he had them
-astern, and he was rowing well, with long, tremendous strokes that did
-not seem to distress him. Ahead of him were three scullers, McNulty,
-the champion of the year before, with Bemis Perry and Scott Clemmons
-leading him by a length.
-
-Clemmons was gradually drawing ahead of Perry, but so slowly as to
-be almost imperceptible, and all had their eyes upon the tremendous
-strokes of the racer coming on astern.
-
-The excitement now grew intense ashore as Mark was seen to draw up even
-with McNulty.
-
-“He can never catch the leaders,” yelled Bascomb.
-
-“That boy is a wizard with the oars,” said a professor.
-
-Then all saw Mark deliberately rest his oars a second, raise his
-skull-cap to McNulty, and then shoot on toward the leaders.
-
-Such a yell as went up ashore made the buildings ring.
-
-Ahead Perry and Clemmons were struggling manfully, the latter bending
-every energy to defeat Merrill, whom he now had come to fear, for that
-raising of his cap to McNulty showed that he had confidence in his
-power to win.
-
-On they swept, Clemmons leading Perry half a length and Merrill three
-lengths behind the latter.
-
-The finish was yet a third of a mile away, and the pace was terrific,
-for all realized that Mark Merrill had taken tremendous chances for
-losing by his play at the start, for every one now knew that he had
-been purposely playing.
-
-Nearer came the goal, and Perry still held his place on Clemmons’
-quarter.
-
-But Mark had lessened the daylight between them until he was but a
-length astern.
-
-“He is dropping back!” yelled Bascomb.
-
-But no, he was only drawing off to one side to get good passing room,
-for he did not like to pass too near Scott Clemmons. He did lose half a
-length by this, but he had a clear reach ahead of him.
-
-Ashore the excitement was dreadful, the suspense painful.
-
-“Can mortal man do it?” was the question on every lip.
-
-The rear scullers had stopped rowing, and were watching the race.
-
-There were three prizes, and the three men ahead, Clemmons, Perry and
-Merrill, in the order named, could never be overhauled.
-
-The others were not in the race, even McNulty knew this.
-
-The fourth class was winning the day, no matter who held first at the
-finish of that superb trio.
-
-With a grand spurt Mark Merrill leveled himself with Perry, and a yell
-burst from every lip, as that same performance was repeated--Mark
-raised his cap to Perry.
-
-Only a couple of hundred yards away was the finish. Could he win it?
-
-Clemmons was pulling forty strokes to the minute, long, telling strokes
-they were, too, and the goal was near.
-
-Merrill was upon his quarter, then abreast, then his sharp prow shot
-ahead amid the wildest enthusiasm, while suddenly as though to show he
-knew his strength and speed far better than all others he got daylight
-between his rival so well that he sped like an arrow across his bows,
-and with a quick turn again fairly threw himself over the line, while
-the fact that Bemis Perry had suddenly forged a quarter of a length
-ahead of Clemmons and came in second, was hardly noticed in the
-pandemonium that followed the triumph of the “water wizard.”
-
-[Illustration: “Mark Merrill crossed the line a winner.” (See page
-132)]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXIII. “HONORS EASY.”
-
-
-The wild applause which greeted Mark Merrill as the boat race ended
-with his shooting across the finish a length in advance of Bemis Perry,
-who was a quarter of his boat ahead of Scott Clemmons, lasted for some
-time.
-
-At last the cadets got the victor upon their shoulders and carried him
-around in spite of his great desire to hide himself from the furore his
-wonderful endurance and phenomenal speed had created.
-
-“Every record broken!” cried one.
-
-“He is a marvel!”
-
-“Why, he played with Clemmons!”
-
-“He rows as he swims!”
-
-“The fourth class has bagged the prizes this time.”
-
-“Look out now that Merrill does not have honors easy in the classrooms.”
-
-Such were the expressions heard upon every side as the enthusiastic
-cadets roamed about, talking over the race.
-
-As for Bemis Perry, he accepted the congratulations in his quiet way,
-and remarked:
-
-“I knew that Merrill would win, for you know I have rowed often with
-him; but I feared he was playing too much after we got started.
-
-“He said to me that I would beat Clemmons, and I did, I am glad to say;
-but Merrill is a wonder.”
-
-“He is, indeed,” chimed in McNulty.
-
-“He said as he passed me:
-
-“‘Pardon me, McNulty, but I wish to catch up with the procession.’”
-
-“And he did,” said Bascomb.
-
-“The trouble was the procession did not keep up with the music Merrill
-played; the time was too rapid,” Herbert Nazro said.
-
-“How it cuts Clemmons.”
-
-“Yes, he feels his defeat more keenly than Merrill enjoys his
-victory--here comes Clemmons now.”
-
-And Clemmons walked up, his face flushed from exercise, and a look in
-his sunken eyes as of an overworked man.
-
-“Well, Clemmons, you got one of the prizes,” said Byrd Bascomb.
-
-“Give it to McNulty, for I take only first prize or none,” was the
-ill-tempered response.
-
-Bascomb’s face flushed, and he said:
-
-“You would have won if it had not been for one thing, Clemmons.”
-
-“What was that?” eagerly asked Scott Clemmons, catching at a straw of
-hope.
-
-“You did not row fast enough.”
-
-A laugh followed this, and Clemmons responded:
-
-“Merrill crossed my bow and kept me back.”
-
-“He did nothing of the kind.”
-
-“He did not cross my bow?”
-
-“Yes, he did that, and he gave you plenty of water, as every man here
-will testify. The act was against him, not you, for it retarded him;
-yet he recovered his speed and landed ahead of you. He crossed Perry’s
-bow also, and yet he makes no such claim as a foul.”
-
-“I’ll admit he is a wonderful oarsman, and I said so before the race;
-but still I hoped to beat him.”
-
-“You are also a superb oarsman, Clemmons, as is Perry, McNulty, and
-others, but Merrill is a wonder, for he came in the freshest man of the
-lot.”
-
-“He ought to row fast and long, for he is a fisherman,” growled
-Clemmons.
-
-“Was, my friend, not is; for he is now a cadet and a gentleman, as all
-are supposed to be, though now and then we catch a black sheep in the
-fold, like your roommate, Breslin,” and Byrd Bascomb walked away after
-delivering this shot, for all knew how sensitive Clemmons was about his
-former friend, Barney Breslin.
-
-Seeing that his ill-natured remarks about Mark’s splendid victory would
-meet only with rebuke, Scott Clemmons said:
-
-“Well, I must give in that he is physically my superior; but there are
-three things I will have a chance to get even with him on.”
-
-“What are they?” asked Herbert Nazro, in an interested manner.
-
-“Swordsmanship, pistol practice and the mental examinations.”
-
-“Well, we will see,” was the reply of Nazro, and as he walked away with
-Dillingham he said:
-
-“I would not be surprised if Clemmons did carry off the honors of his
-class at examination, and he has the name of being a dead shot and
-splendid hand with the sword.”
-
-The boat race was the talk of the cadets for some days, and then the
-shadows of the final struggle for mental supremacy occupied every mind.
-
-The time was near at hand when the classes were to face the dread
-ordeal of examination, and the cadets were busy “boning” at every
-chance they got.
-
-There was a certain reserve force in Mark Merrill which caused his
-rivals to fear him.
-
-He had never been boastful about his strength and powers as an athlete,
-yet when put to the test he easily took first place.
-
-He had told no tales of the superb power he possessed as a swimmer, and
-yet when matched in a race showed what he could do.
-
-It was the same in a boat race, for though he had a fine, strong
-stroke, he only drew upon his hidden powers when victory demanded it.
-
-In his class he stood well in his studies, always knew his lessons, no
-more; but would he not surprise all when it came to the tug of war?
-
-At last the time came round for this much mooted question to be
-answered, and when the honor man of the fourth class was called upon to
-come to the front, his name was Mark Merrill.
-
-“I told you so! it was honors easy for Merrill,” Byrd Bascomb had
-muttered to Nazro, who whispered:
-
-“Look at Clemmons.”
-
-Opposite the name of Scott Clemmons stood “Number Two;” but the look
-upon his face was such as a man might wear who had dropped from hope to
-despair.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXIV. A LETTER FROM HOME.
-
-
-Mark Merrill had passed his first year in his fight for fame, and he
-had won against every obstacle placed in his path.
-
-The humble fisher lad, “entered at large for gallant services
-rendered,” but coming from the rock-bound coast of Maine, the nursery
-of hero sailors, as is, in fact, the whole coast of New England, had
-cast his anchor to windward and thus kept himself off the breakers.
-
-It had held firm, and he had been landed as the master mind of his
-class.
-
-Thanks to a splendid physique he had passed the surgeon, and his
-gratitude went out whole-souled to his noble mother, because her
-teachings had enabled him to know sufficient of books to enter upon his
-career as a cadet.
-
-Thanks to his splendid training as a sailor, a fisher lad, and
-mail-carrier in the roughest weather, he had the constitution, training
-and endurance to face every hardship, and thus had won victory in
-sports as well as in the study hall.
-
-He possessed a soul too proud to fail after what the Honorable
-Secretary of the Navy had done for him, and the encouragement given him
-by Commodore Lucien.
-
-To that officer he had written, returning the money he had paid for
-his “outfit,” and received a kind, encouraging letter in return.
-
-Though confident that the commandant, and other officers of the
-academy, were his firm friends, he had been most cautious never to
-abuse that friendship.
-
-He had fought his way unaided, and he believed that he had won the
-respect and friendship of his comrades, or most of them, against every
-slur cast upon him, every innuendo, every prophecy of failure.
-
-Warmly came the congratulations of the cadets upon his success, and
-going to his room with a happy heart, he found there Bemis Perry, who
-said warmly as he entered:
-
-“Old man, you knocked Clemmons clean over the ropes, and the Lord bless
-you for it. I just heard him say that next year would tell a different
-story, so you know what is before you. He is a bad man on even terms.”
-
-“Yes, he’s a dangerous rival, I admit; but being forewarned is
-forearmed. Perry and I thank you for the hint. Clemmons did splendidly,
-and I congratulate you upon your standing number three--make it number
-two next time, for I intend to be number one.”
-
-“Well, Merrill, that is the first boast I ever heard from your lips;
-but I’ll keep it dark and book it for future reference.”
-
-“Do so,” said Mark with a laugh.
-
-“Ah! I nearly forgot to tell you that I receipted for three express
-packages for you and put them in your wardrobe.”
-
-“Three express packages for me?” asked Mark, with surprise.
-
-“Yes, you will find them here,” and Bemis Perry opened the wardrobe.
-
-One was a box, a foot square, and marked:
-
-  “VALUABLE.
-
-  “CADET MIDSHIPMAN MARK MERRILL.”
-
-The second was a small package also, bearing a value mark, while the
-third was a money envelope addressed in a graceful feminine hand which
-caused Mark to exclaim:
-
-“This is from my dear, good mother.”
-
-He broke the seal, and within found a letter and one hundred dollars.
-
-The letter he hastily read. It was as follows:
-
-  “CLIFF CASTLE, Thursday.
-
-  “MY OWN DEAR SON: I have had you in my mind ever since your last
-  letter informing me of your triumphs in the sports allowed at the
-  academy, and your determination to win the first honors of your
-  class, though, as you state, young Clemmons, of B----, may be a
-  dangerous rival.
-
-  “I fear that you will study too hard and make yourself ill, for well
-  I know your determined nature to stop at no obstacle. My anxiety is
-  such that I wish you to telegraph me of your health the moment you
-  receive this, for I express my letter from B----, and have arranged
-  to have your message sent to me as soon as it arrives. I shall be in
-  suspense until I hear from you. I send herewith one hundred dollars,
-  knowing that you will have use for money, now that your first year is
-  about ending, and I can readily spare it, as your venture with your
-  schooner has turned out most substantially, as I hinted in a former
-  letter.
-
-  “Captain Crane is as honest as the day is long, and has paid me from
-  the earnings of the schooner during the past year twelve hundred
-  dollars as my share, and as the expenses of Peggy and myself are so
-  modest, one-third the sum supplies our wants. Then, too, I have not
-  had to touch the amount in bank, which you sent to me from the cruise
-  to Norfolk, so, you see you can afford to use the money I send you.
-  I have subscribed for a New York daily and anxiously read in it
-  all naval news, so you see you are ever in my mind, my dear son. I
-  suppose you will go upon a cruise for the summer, and I hope it will
-  greatly benefit you after your year of hard study, also giving you a
-  chance to see something of the world.
-
-  “Next year I shall try and pay you a visit. My health is excellent
-  and Peggy is positively getting fat. Captain Crane and his boys
-  always ask about you. I had no idea how many warm friends you had
-  in B---- until I came here to-day. I am writing this letter at the
-  hotel, and Miss Virgene, who is a lovely girl, asks me to send her
-  best wishes and regards.”
-
-There was a little more about home affairs and then Mark sprang to his
-feet.
-
-“Perry, I must go and telegraph to my mother, as she fears I am ill, so
-open those other two packages for me, please.”
-
-Then Mark hastened out of the room, obtained leave, and sent the
-following dispatch:
-
-  “Letter received with money. Many thanks for your kindness. Am in
-  perfect health. Stood Number One in my class. Regards to Peggy. With
-  love.
-
-  “MARK.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXV. THE MIDSHIPMAN’S REVERIE.
-
-
-Having telegraphed his mother as requested, Mark Merrill made his way
-back to the academy.
-
-If he had sought for an opportunity to show his popularity it could not
-have come to him any better, for at the telegraph office the operator
-who read his message said, pleasantly:
-
-“Permit me to congratulate you, Mr. Merrill, upon your success.”
-
-The sergeant, at the entrance to the academy grounds also had a polite
-and pleasant congratulation for him, as did several of the officer’s
-wives whom he met, while a group of cadets, as he went by, gave him a
-salute and a hurrah.
-
-Returning to his room he was greeted with a shout of delight from Bemis
-Perry.
-
-“Old man, you are a lucky dog! Behold!”
-
-Upon the table before him lay a handsome watch and chain.
-
-Upon one side of the watch was engraved a yacht scudding along in a
-storm, and at her helm a bareheaded, barefooted boy.
-
-The engraving was certainly most artistically done, while beneath were
-the words:
-
-  “A BOY PILOT OUR ONLY HOPE.”
-
-Upon the other side of the watch was engraved the following:
-
-  “PRESENTED TO
-  CADET MIDSHIPMAN MARK MERRILL,
-  as a souvenir of his heroism in risking his own life to
-  save others from death.”
-
-Below was the date of the saving of the yacht Midshipman, and the name
-of the Secretary of the Navy.
-
-“There’s something for your grandchildren to be proud of, Merrill,”
-cried Bemis Perry.
-
-“Yes, I am proud of it myself; but it is more than I deserve, Perry,
-as I did not risk my life, you know, for I could have swam back to
-the shore if I found I could not have reached the yacht, and I got my
-reward in my appointment here; but here is a card,” and Mark read aloud:
-
-“Since your entrance to the Naval Academy my eye has been upon you, my
-young friend, and I congratulate you upon your success, and beg your
-acceptance of the accompanying as a token of my appreciation of the
-debt of gratitude I owe you.”
-
-“Most neatly expressed, Merrill; but now look here,” and Perry took
-from the box a superb, gold-mounted sea-glass.
-
-“How beautiful!” exclaimed Mark, as he had just put his watch and chain
-in place.
-
-“The commodore has got his eye on you, too, Merrill,” said Perry, with
-a laugh, as he pointed to what was engraved on the glasses:
-
-  “PRESENTED AS A TRIBUTE TO TRUE COURAGE
-  TO
-  CADET MIDSHIPMAN MARK MERRILL,
-  FROM
-  DAVID LUCIEN, COMMODORE U. S. NAVY.”
-
-Mark Merrill was deeply moved by these expressions of gratitude and
-good will from such men as were the donors of the magnificent gifts to
-him.
-
-He walked to the window of his room, glass in hand, and stood gazing
-listlessly out upon the scene before him.
-
-It was no dream, as he had often feared, for before him was the ocular
-demonstration of the fact that he was a naval cadet in the service of
-his country.
-
-His thoughts went back to little more than a year, when in his little
-surf-skiff he was carrying the mail through sunshine and storm along
-the rugged coast.
-
-Just then Scott Clemmons passed before him, and he recalled the change
-since that meeting at B----, when his toy ship had been broken.
-
-Then Clemmons, the son of a rich man, coming of a family of
-aristocrats, had seemed to tower far above him.
-
-But to-day how different, for Clemmons was his vanquished rival.
-
-Then he was, as his rival had so often said, a poor fisher lad, unknown
-to all except the few who admired his pluck as a young sailor.
-
-Now he stood here a victor, honored by his commanders and comrades, the
-recipient of costly gifts from the head of the navy, and one high in
-rank.
-
-Then, little over a year before he was poor, his mother with scarcely
-the money to buy medicine, and now she had sent him money and had
-plenty remaining--what seemed a small fortune to her and to him, for
-he was economical, though not mean, and not a dollar of his pay had he
-squandered.
-
-The past was behind him, the future opened brightly before him.
-
-Three more years[1] and he would win his fight for fame, if all went
-well.
-
-He had vowed to win, and that vow must be kept, come what might,
-against all odds.
-
-“Only death shall conquer me!” broke sternly from his lips, as the
-midshipman finished his reverie and turned again toward his roommate,
-whose very presence he had forgotten.
-
-FOOTNOTE:
-
-[1] Before the making of the term six years at the Naval Academy. The
-AUTHOR.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXVI. THE FIRST CRUISE.
-
-
-At last the active days of preparation had passed, the stormy scenes of
-hope and despair for the graduates and those striving to stand at the
-head of their classes had gone, and a calm had fallen upon the Naval
-School.
-
-A restful lull was upon all.
-
-The graduates, those who had become full-fledged officers, had gone off
-on their short leave to their homes, to receive the congratulations of
-kindred and friends, to enjoy a rest before returning to report for
-stern duty afloat.
-
-They had stepped from light-hearted boyhood with all its joys, across
-the threshold of manhood with all its cares and ambitions.
-
-The first class and the third were busy preparing for the annual
-cruise, the remainder of the cadets were to stay behind and while the
-time away as best they could between duty and the freedom allowed them.
-
-Not as toy sailors were the cadets to go to sea, but in the capacity of
-ordinary seamen.
-
-Theirs was to be the duty of sailors before the mast, and they were to
-be drilled and disciplined in all their duties as such.
-
-If they were to command men they must learn the duties of those they
-were to order aloft, and, learning to obey to perfection, they could
-the better learn to thoroughly command.
-
-Of course, having stepped up a grade and entered upon a higher plane of
-study and work, Mark Merrill was to go on the sea cruise.
-
-Then, too, Scott Clemmons, Bemis Perry, and the others of his grade
-were to go with him, along with the men who had stepped into the places
-of those who had emerged from the embryo state of the cadet into the
-reality of the officer.
-
-An old vessel of war of full rig, without steam, and sail only as a
-propelling power, a ship with a record away back two generations, was
-the craft that was to become the sea school of the young sailors.
-
-They sailed in joyous spirits, all anxious to rove the deep blue sea.
-
-  “With a wet sheet,
-   And a flowing sea,
-   And a wind that follows fast.”
-
-Mark Merrill was now like one in his true element.
-
-He had been literally born upon the ocean, and from his earliest
-remembrance had known how to row and sail a boat, to swim and face the
-ocean in sunshine and tempest.
-
-All his companions could see that Mark’s learning aboard ship had
-come from stern experience rather than teaching, and here, too,
-Scott Clemmons felt his inferiority, and it but added another cup of
-bitterness to the draught he was forced daily to swallow, for still did
-the “poor fisher lad” prove his right to be his master.
-
-The voyage had been mapped out for the cadet cruiser, and after a run
-down the beautiful Chesapeake she rounded the capes, and began to roll
-upon the blue waters of the Atlantic.
-
-Her first port was to be New York, and thither all letters had been
-ordered to meet her, while many of the relatives and friends of the
-young sea-rovers were there assembled to meet them and wish them a _bon
-voyage_ upon their cruise across the seas.
-
-Hardly had the anchor been let fall in the North River when a boat with
-one oarsman came off bearing a visitor.
-
-“Merrill, take an observation of that fellow and see if it is not
-Barney Breslin,” said Bemis Perry, pointing to the occupant of the boat.
-
-“It certainly is; but can he be coming aboard here?” asked Mark in
-surprise.
-
-“He is; but if there’s a man aboard who speaks to him he ought to be
-given the cut direct.”
-
-Mark said nothing, and soon after the boat was hailed by the officer of
-the deck.
-
-“I have letters for Cadet Scott Clemmons, and it is important for him
-to receive them at once,” was the answer to the hail.
-
-“Ay, ay, come alongside,” was the response of the officer of the deck,
-as the boat ran up to the gangway.
-
-The next moment Barney Breslin stepped on board, and was in the
-presence of those who had been his companions at the Naval School, face
-to face with those who had known him as a thief.
-
-His face was flushed, but it seemed rather from the effects of drink
-than from shame, for his whole appearance indicated that he led a
-dissipated life.
-
-His dress was of the shabby genteel, and those who knew something of
-his antecedents felt convinced that his father had not taken him back
-into the bosom of the family, or else, as the son of a rich man, why
-was he looking so very seedy?
-
-Scott Clemmons was below aiding the commander in some work at the time
-he was sent for, and he was excused to go on deck and meet his visitor.
-
-Who that visitor was he had not the remotest idea, and it flashed
-through his mind that it might be his paternal ancestor.
-
-Bemis Perry was not one to let him off without a shot, so said:
-
-“Clemmons, your old friend Barney Breslin has called upon you, and from
-his looks I guess he wants a loan.”
-
-The face of Scott Clemmons flushed scarlet, and the blood, as quickly
-retreating, left it as white as a corpse.
-
-There stood Breslin, calmly gazing about the vessel, with no show of
-emotion at the awkward predicament he had placed himself in.
-
-He had spoken to two cadets near him, calling them by name, and
-addressing them in the free and easy manner of an old friendship.
-
-One of them was Bemis Perry, and he looked him squarely in the face as
-he said:
-
-“By what right, sir, do you dare to address a gentleman?”
-
-With this he walked away and met Clemmons as he came on deck.
-
-Decatur Knowles, the other cadet to whom Breslin had spoken, simply cut
-him dead in silence, and walked away.
-
-Just then, as Breslin, not in the least abashed, for he gave a low,
-defiant laugh, turned and glanced over the ship, Scott Clemmons came on
-deck and started toward him, but all saw with no joy at beholding him.
-
-Breslin said as he saw him:
-
-“Ah, Clemmons, old boy, how are you?”
-
-He held out his hand, but without taking it, Clemmons responded in a
-low voice, quivering with anger, but which several overheard:
-
-“Why have you dared come here and ask for me?”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXVII. THE DEMAND.
-
-
-In answer to the hail of the officer of the deck Barney Breslin had
-asserted that he had important letters for Scott Clemmons, and so had
-come on board.
-
-His speaking to Bemis Perry and his rebuff, his cut by Decatur Knowles,
-and the fact that a score of middies took it into their heads to pass
-near him and make no acknowledgment of his existence, did not appear to
-distress him in the least.
-
-“He has the gall of a book agent,” muttered a cadet, in reference to
-him.
-
-“The cheek of a Chinese idol,” another remarked.
-
-“I pity him that he has fallen so low,” Mark Merrill commented, for it
-did distress him to see one who had once had the same opportunity they
-all had of making a name for himself throw it away as he had done.
-
-“Your heart is softer than your fist, Merrill,” Dillingham returned
-with a smile.
-
-“Hard as you can hit, Merrill, I do not believe you could bruise that
-fellow’s cheek,” said Nazro.
-
-Though not wishing to appear to watch his meeting with Clemmons, all
-eyes turned surreptitiously upon the two, and several who were nearest
-heard the very decidedly uttered words of the cadet midshipman as to
-why the disgraced youth had dared visit him aboard ship.
-
-But Breslin did not seem in the least disconcerted, nor did he make
-an effort to hand over the “important letters,” which he had said he
-brought with him.
-
-He simply dropped his outstretched hand, which Clemmons failed to take,
-and while his eyes flashed with anger, replied:
-
-“Ah! you, too, do not care to recognize me, Clemmons; but I guess that
-you will have to do so, for I came to see you and am not to be snubbed.”
-
-“I was told I had a visitor, but had I known that it was you, Breslin,
-I would not have seen you.”
-
-“Indeed! but suppose I had insisted?”
-
-“Come, say why you have come here, where not a man will recognize you.”
-
-“True; but what do I care for the recognition of my foes so long as my
-dear friend Clemmons recognizes me.”
-
-“Will you tell me why you are here, for I am busy in the captain’s
-cabin?”
-
-“If you cannot find time to see me here, appoint an hour ashore, for it
-is important.”
-
-“It will be impossible for me to see you, Breslin.”
-
-“See here, Clemmons, I wish to see you upon a matter of importance, I
-tell you.”
-
-“I cannot tell when I will come ashore.”
-
-“Then I will appoint to-night at eight o’clock, at the Astor House.”
-
-“I cannot be there.”
-
-“Very well, I shall take a trip to Maine to-morrow, if you do not come.”
-
-“What do I care where you go?”
-
-“I believe you live in Maine.”
-
-“I am a sailor, sir, my home being aboard ship.”
-
-“Ah! grandiloquently said, my sea cub, my baby tar, who is not yet out
-of Uncle Sam’s nursery for middies. You do not live in Maine now?”
-
-“No, sir.”
-
-“Your father does.”
-
-“Well?”
-
-“I shall go there to see him.”
-
-Scott Clemmons started, and asked quickly:
-
-“And why?”
-
-“Because I can get no satisfaction from you.”
-
-“What do you wish from my father?”
-
-“What I desire is from his son. I am poor, very poor, and in distress,
-as I wrote you, and which letter, with several others, you did not
-favor with a response. But I know you got the last, for I sent it to
-your town in Maine to be registered, and I got the return card with
-your name on it as having received it. You thought it was a money
-package from home, and found it was a letter from your old chum whom
-you have treated so badly. I told you that my parents had refused to
-receive me at first, but relented, and I was given a chance; but I lost
-heavily in gambling one night, so got money to pay the debt by using
-my father’s name, which is the same as my own, you know, only I forgot
-to mention on the check that I was my paternal’s junior, you know, and
-this little discrepancy got me fired out of the home circle. Luck is
-against me now, I’m down at the heels, and must have money, so I came
-to my rich friend and bygone chum, Scott Clemmons. I’ll be at the Astor
-House at eight o’clock, and if you are not there I’ll be there again
-at the same hour in the morning. Then if I miss you I’ll start for
-Maine, and have a talk with Clemmons, senior--ta-ta, Scotty--tra la-la,
-dear boy,” and Barney Breslin made a mock salute and turned toward the
-gangway.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXVIII. KEEPING AN APPOINTMENT.
-
-
-Scott Clemmons did not even walk to the gangway with his visitor.
-
-He saw him depart, and then walked aft to where a group of cadets stood.
-
-He knew he would have to face the music, so he decided to meet the
-onslaught at once.
-
-“I say, Clemmons, who was your seedy friend?” asked one.
-
-“What a loud suit he wears.”
-
-“Yes, he is as striped as a zebra.”
-
-“But the stripes run up and down.”
-
-“True, and it makes a heap of difference to a man which way he wears
-his stripes.”
-
-“If I recognized the gentleman aright his home should be an institution
-where the stripes should run round him,” said Perry.
-
-“You are right, Perry; for, as you all know, doubtless, the fellow was
-my old chum, Barney Breslin,” remarked Clemmons.
-
-“Why did he not give you the letters he had for you?”
-
-“What letters?”
-
-“He answered the hail of the officer of the deck with the remark that
-he had most important letters for you.”
-
-“Indeed! he said nothing to me about them. In truth, that was a mere
-excuse to get aboard, for he came to borrow money.”
-
-“Ah! he had cheek to come here, and to get any money was worse.”
-
-“You don’t owe him any money, do you, Clemmons?” innocently said one of
-the cadets.
-
-“Owe him? I only wish I had what he owes me; but he came and asked me
-for a loan, and I guess he has gone to the bad utterly, for his father
-has cast him off, he told me.”
-
-“I didn’t see you lend him any.”
-
-“No, and I told him never to cross my path again,” and with this
-Clemmons returned to his work in the captain’s cabin.
-
-Later a number of midshipmen were given leave ashore, and Scott
-Clemmons was among them. So, too, were Mark Merrill and Bemis Perry.
-
-The latter two went off for a sight-seeing expedition alone, and a
-group of cadets also started on a “voyage of discovery” together.
-
-But Scott Clemmons separated from all the others, saying that he had
-friends to visit, and punctually at eight o’clock he entered the Astor
-House, the place of his appointment with Barney Breslin.
-
-New York is a large city, but yet people who are friends will run upon
-each other there in a most unaccountable manner. Two cadets were seated
-in the gentlemen’s parlor and saw Clemmons when he came along the hall.
-
-A moment after they saw him joined by Barney Breslin, and the two,
-after some parley, entered the dining room together.
-
-“Well, that looks friendly, Merrill.”
-
-“It certainly does, Perry,” was the answer.
-
-The appointment had been as faithfully kept by Barney Breslin as by
-Scott Clemmons.
-
-“Well, I have come,” said the latter.
-
-“You are wise,” was the reply.
-
-“What is it, now that I am here?”
-
-“I am hungry, and cannot talk upon an empty stomach. Come, let us have
-some dinner, and over it we can come to some understanding.”
-
-Clemmons frowned, but replied:
-
-“Do I understand that this is an invitation for me to dine with you?”
-
-“On the contrary, I am to dine with you, for I have not a dollar to my
-name.”
-
-“Well, as this is to be our last meeting, Breslin, I will honor you.”
-
-They entered the dining room together, and a good dinner with wine was
-ordered.
-
-“Now, what do you wish to say, Breslin?” asked Scott Clemmons, an hour
-after the dinner had been dispatched, Breslin eating with a degree
-of relish that showed he was, indeed, hungry, while Clemmons ate
-sparingly, seeming nervous and ill at ease.
-
-“I wish to go West and grow up with the country, or go to South America
-and get a berth there, and I need just one thousand dollars to go
-with,” said Breslin, rendered bolder by the wine he had drank.
-
-“Won’t your father give it to you?”
-
-“Not a dollar.”
-
-“Then I cannot see how you’ll get there.”
-
-“I can.”
-
-“How?”
-
-“You will give it to me,” was the almost threatening response.
-
-“You were never more mistaken in your life.”
-
-“Am I?”
-
-“You are.”
-
-“Then there is no need of further talk, for I can work my way to B----,
-and hold an interview with your father, who I believe will think it a
-small sum to stand between his son and----”
-
-“He will not give you a cent.”
-
-“Then I shall work my way back to Baltimore, tramp it, or beat the
-railroad, to Annapolis and see the commandant of the Naval Academy, and
-when I have had my interview with him somebody will find that they have
-made a mistake--that is all,” and Breslin arose to go.
-
-“Hold, Breslin, and be reasonable. Now I know you can make charges
-which you could not sustain; but I wish to avoid a suspicion, and I’ll
-give you all the money I have, but I cannot raise a thousand dollars.”
-
-“How much have you?”
-
-“Well, both of my parents have been liberal, as I was going upon a
-foreign cruise, and I have some six hundred dollars.”
-
-“I’ll take it, so hand it over.”
-
-“You are to give me a written pledge never to cross my path again.”
-
-“Of course.”
-
-Pen, ink and paper were sent for, the written pledge was given, the
-money handed over, and paying the shot for the dinner, the two left
-the hotel to come face to face upon Mark Merrill and Bemis Perry, who
-were just about to enter and have dinner together, having taken another
-stroll after seeing Clemmons and his companion enter the dining room,
-as they did not wish to be seen by them.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXIX. THE TELL TALE PAPER.
-
-
-With six hundred dollars in his pocket, and made so easily, and a
-bottle of wine beneath his vest, Barney Breslin was feeling in a mood
-to be reckless.
-
-He stopped short upon seeing Mark Merrill, stepping directly in front
-of him, and in a very determined way.
-
-As for Scott Clemmons his face flushed with shame at being seen with
-Breslin, after what he had said aboard ship, and he would have passed
-on.
-
-So also would Merrill and Perry, but Breslin was not thus inclined.
-
-He had been in so many scrapes since the one that disgraced him from
-the Naval Academy that he had forgotten his affair with Mark, more than
-to recall that he had some cause of hatred against him.
-
-“I say, Merrill, do you intend to cut me, or do you fail to recognize
-me?” he asked, in an insolent manner.
-
-“I recognize you, yes, Breslin, and I desire to cut you utterly,” was
-the cool response.
-
-“Then take that.”
-
-A vicious blow was aimed, but it was cleverly turned, while the fist of
-Mark Merrill caught Breslin squarely between the eyes, and sent him to
-the floor.
-
-[Illustration: “Mark cleverly avoided Breslin’s attack, and with a
-well-directed blow sent him to the floor.” (See page 156)]
-
-A crowd sprang toward the spot, and when Breslin arose he shouted:
-
-“Arrest that fellow for assault!”
-
-Mark Merrill was not to be seen. He had been quickly drawn aside by
-Bemis Perry.
-
-A policeman, hearing that “a cadet had knocked the gentleman down,” at
-once seized Scott Clemmons against his earnest protests.
-
-But from this predicament Breslin released him, by coming to his rescue
-with the words:
-
-“You are wrong, officer, that is not the man. But I will show you the
-man.”
-
-“No, I’d not arrest any one on your charge, Breslin, for I know you
-now, and you doubtless insulted the one who knocked you down,” and,
-turning to Clemmons, he continued:
-
-“You, sir, doubtless do not know this man, so I warn you against him as
-a barroom loafer and dead beat generally, who fleeces all strangers he
-can pick up.”
-
-With this the officer walked off, while Scott Clemmons felt as though
-he would like to sink into the floor to hide himself, especially as he
-caught sight of a cadet uniform vanishing from the crowd.
-
-So he skulked away, as under the words of the officer Breslin had
-quickly vanished.
-
-In the meantime Mark and Perry had gone into the dining room, and by a
-strange coincidence took a seat at the same table where Clemmons and
-Breslin had had dinner together.
-
-“I beg pardon, sir, but are you from the cruising ship now in port?”
-asked the waiter.
-
-“We are, and we wish the best dinner you can give two fresh young
-salts,” said Perry.
-
-“I’ll give you a good dinner, sir; but the two gentlemen who were here
-awhile since, one of them wearing a uniform like yours, left this
-paper. I just picked it up as you came in.”
-
-Perry took the paper and said, after glancing at it:
-
-“I will deliver it to the gentleman whose name is here, for he is on
-our ship. Now, my man, we are hungry, so do your best,” and a liberal
-fee was slipped into the hand of the waiter.
-
-“Oh, thank you, sir; but what wines will you drink?”
-
-“We will not take wine, my man.”
-
-The waiter disappeared with a look of surprise upon his face that any
-one in uniform ate dinner and drank no wine.
-
-“See here, Merrill, I am going to do perhaps a mean thing, but I am
-curious to know a few things, and I shall question that waiter.”
-
-“What do you wish to know, Perry?”
-
-“What he can tell me about Clemmons and Breslin, for he took an
-inkstand, paper and pen off this table as we came up, and here is the
-paper which the waiter picked up--see!”
-
-He held the piece of paper up, and Mark said:
-
-“If it is Clemmons’, give it to him.”
-
-“It does belong to Clemmons.”
-
-“Then neither of us have a right to read it.”
-
-“Pardon me, but I read it at a glance, and as it is but a few lines I
-will read it to you, as I am sure it concerns you.”
-
-“Concerns me?”
-
-Without reply Bemis Perry read aloud:
-
-“In consideration of the sum of six hundred dollars, received from
-Scott Clemmons, I hereby pledge myself to never cross his path again,
-and to make no further demand upon him for money.”
-
-“Well, what do you think of that, Merrill?”
-
-“It would seem that Breslin holds some claim upon Clemmons; but it is
-none of our affair.”
-
-“I think it is.”
-
-“How do you mean?”
-
-“I believe that the wrong man was dismissed from the academy, that
-Breslin was simply the tool of Scott Clemmons,” was the startling reply
-of the young South Carolinian.
-
-Mark fairly started at this, and yet made no response, while Perry
-continued:
-
-“Now I shall return this paper to Clemmons, and I shall question this
-waiter to please myself, and then I shall keep my eye upon that young
-man from Maine, see if I do not, and if he means mischief toward you I
-will play the same game.”
-
-Mark still remained silent.
-
-Whatever he might think of Scott Clemmons’ conduct toward him he did
-not wish others to suspect him of treachery, and he was really sorry
-that the paper had been found.
-
-But he knew that Bemis Perry was circumspect, and would not act without
-discretion.
-
-When the waiter returned Perry gave him another fee, praised the
-dinner, and questioned him closely about the two others who had dined
-at the table before them.
-
-Mark listened in silence to all that was said, and as they walked away
-Bemis Perry remarked:
-
-“I am right, Merrill. Breslin was simply the tool of Scott Clemmons.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XL. THREE REPORTS.
-
-
-Captain De Long, the commander of the cruising ship Constellation,
-was seated in his cabin smoking his cigar before retiring, when Cadet
-Midshipman Mark Merrill requested an interview, which was at once
-granted by the genial commander.
-
-“Well, Mr. Merrill, did you enjoy your run ashore?”
-
-“Yes, sir, with the exception of an unfortunate meeting with Barney
-Breslin, which I desire to report to you.”
-
-“Ah! have you had trouble with him?”
-
-“Yes, sir, I regret to say, too, that it was in a public place. Another
-cadet and myself went to the Astor House for dinner, and met Breslin
-and a friend coming out. The former stepped in front of me, and asked
-if I recognized him and meant to cut his acquaintance. I responded
-that I certainly did, when he aimed a blow at me, which I parried, and
-at the same time knocked him down. My cadet friend drew me out of the
-quickly gathering crowd, and we had our dinner, sir; but I deemed it
-best to report the affair to you.”
-
-“You did right, Mr. Merrill, but who was your comrade?”
-
-“Must I make known his name, sir?”
-
-“He was not involved in the affair?”
-
-“No, sir.”
-
-“Then tell me his name.”
-
-“It was Mr. Perry.”
-
-“That will do, Mr. Merrill,” and Mark saluted and retired from the
-cabin.
-
-The captain still continued his cigar, until a second interruption came
-in a request from another cadet to see him.
-
-It was Scott Clemmons, his face flushed from the wine he had been
-drinking.
-
-“Well, Mr. Clemmons, you have just come off from shore leave, I
-believe?”
-
-“Yes, sir, and I desire to report to you, sir, an occurrence ashore
-which may not reach your ears otherwise, but which, for the good of the
-ship’s name, I deem it my duty to make known.”
-
-“I am ready to hear you, Mr. Clemmons,” said the captain blandly.
-
-“I went to dine at the Astor House, sir, and met there Barney Breslin,
-who begged me for a loan, for he has gone utterly to the bad, I fear.
-As I was talking to him two cadet midshipmen came in and one of them
-jostled up against Breslin, who had been drinking, and a disgraceful
-knock-down followed, in which I was seized by a policeman as the one
-who made the assault. Of course Breslin cleared me of the charge, and I
-make this report, sir, in case, should it reach your ear, that you may
-understand my position in the affair.”
-
-“Who were these cadets, Mr. Clemmons?”
-
-“Do you command me to answer, sir?”
-
-“I do.”
-
-“Cadet Midshipmen Perry and Merrill, sir.”
-
-“Which one of the two struck the blow?”
-
-“Cadet Midshipman Mark Merrill, sir.”
-
-“That will do, Mr. Clemmons.”
-
-The next morning Bemis Perry was ordered to report in the captain’s
-cabin.
-
-He did so, and Captain De Long said:
-
-“You were ashore yesterday, Mr. Perry?”
-
-“Until six bells, yes, sir.”
-
-“Who was your companion?”
-
-“Mr. Merrill, sir.”
-
-“You dined ashore?”
-
-“Yes, sir, with Mr. Merrill at the Astor House.”
-
-“Did you see any cadets there?”
-
-“Mr. Clemmons, sir.”
-
-“Who was he with?”
-
-“Some friend, sir; not a cadet, however.”
-
-“Did you know him?”
-
-“Yes, sir,” said Perry hesitatingly, for he, like Mark Merrill, did not
-care to say aught against Clemmons.
-
-“It was the youth who was dismissed from the academy, was it not?”
-
-“Yes, sir; Breslin.”
-
-“What did Merrill pick a quarrel with him for?”
-
-“Merrill pick a quarrel with Breslin, sir?” asked Perry, in amazement.
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“It was the opposite way, sir, for Merrill sought to avoid him; but
-Breslin stepped directly in his path, and demanded to know if he knew
-him and meant to cut his acquaintance. Mr. Merrill responded in the
-affirmative, and Breslin struck at him, but missed, and went down with
-a suddenness and force that made his teeth rattle. I drew Mr. Merrill
-quickly away, and that ended it, sir.”
-
-Captain De Long was silent for fully a minute.
-
-He seemed to be arguing in his own mind the pros and cons of the case.
-
-At last he said:
-
-“That is all I wished to know, Mr. Perry.”
-
-The young sailor bowed, and was disappearing up the companionway when
-Captain De Long called out:
-
-“Send Mr. Clemmons to me, Mr. Perry.”
-
-“Ay, ay, sir,” and with another salute Bemis Perry departed from the
-cabin.
-
-He at once went in search of Scott Clemmons, and found him pacing to
-and fro amidships, looking a little the worse for his dissipation
-ashore the day before.
-
-“Mr. Clemmons, Captain De Long wishes to see you.”
-
-Scott Clemmons started.
-
-“The captain wishes to see me?”
-
-“So he informed me, sir, a minute ago.”
-
-“I say, Perry, do I look as though I had been going it rather deep?”
-
-“You look a trifle bilged, Clemmons.”
-
-“You do not know what he wants with me?”
-
-“No.”
-
-“Has he gotten hold of that row of Merrill’s ashore, I wonder?”
-
-“What row of Merrill’s ashore?”
-
-“When he ran afoul of that beat Breslin.”
-
-“Ah, your friend Breslin, whom he knocked down, as he should have done;
-but then Breslin was well tanked up after his dinner with you, and lost
-his reckoning so far as to run across Merrill’s course, and foundered
-under the blow; but when you have seen Captain De Long, Mr. Clemmons, I
-desire a word with you,” and Bemis Perry went on his way, while Scott
-Clemmons sought the cabin of Captain De Long.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLI. A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE.
-
-
-It was with considerable nervousness that Scott Clemmons went into the
-cabin of his captain.
-
-It may have been from the effects of his too liberal “treats” of
-himself the night before, and, perhaps, from a knowledge of the fact
-that he had yawed wide of his course in telling his story about the
-affair ashore in which Mark Merrill had been mixed up.
-
-He, however, without a chance to “splice the main-brace” to steady
-his nerves, braced up as best he could, and reported himself to his
-commander.
-
-“Mr. Clemmons, may I ask you if you actually saw the occurrence ashore
-last evening in which Cadet Midshipman Merrill and Breslin had a
-set-to?”
-
-“Yes, sir, I was, as I said, talking to Breslin at the time, for he was
-importuning me to give him some money.”
-
-“Then I beg to say, Mr. Clemmons, that for sixty days you are allowed
-no leaves ashore, in ports we may visit, as your condition at the time
-of the affair was such that you could not see straight, or viewed it
-with purposely biased eyes.”
-
-“But Captain De Long, may I ask, sir, if this censure of me is from
-having heard the report of others?”
-
-“It is, sir; I have the facts from witnesses of the affair. I have no
-more to say, Mr. Clemmons.”
-
-Scott Clemmons felt crushed at the rebuke, but mustered up courage to
-say:
-
-“I beg, Captain De Long, that you will remember that Merrill is not
-friendly toward me, sir, and his statement----”
-
-“Silence, sir! Mr. Merrill reported his act at once to me, and did not
-even mention your name as having been the friend of Breslin at the
-time, while you, on the contrary, never friendly toward Mr. Merrill,
-saw his actions only in a prejudiced way. I have no more to say, Mr.
-Clemmons.”
-
-Scott Clemmons dared say no more, so departed from the cabin with the
-knowledge that he had made a mistake in reporting an affair in which he
-had no concern.
-
-Then, too, he recalled a disagreeable meeting before him, as Bemis
-Perry had said that he desired to see him.
-
-That young sailor was awaiting his coming, aware, seemingly, that the
-captain would not detain him long.
-
-“You desired to see me, Perry?” he said, his face flushed and angry.
-
-“Yes, as I told you,” was the quiet response.
-
-“May I ask if you reported to Captain De Long that I was present
-yesterday in that disgraceful scene at the Astor House?”
-
-“See here, Clemmons,” and the words of the cadet were spoken very
-quickly: “I am not a tattler, nor am I an informer. Captain De Long
-sent for me, and asked for my version of the affair.”
-
-“Who first told him?”
-
-“Merrill, like the man he is, reported his action ashore, but never
-referred to you, and Captain De Long asked who was Breslin’s companion,
-and I told him that you were, for, as a fellow cadet, you certainly
-would be willing to prove, as a witness, that Breslin was the
-aggressor, and was justly punished. Since I came aboard ship I learn
-that others saw the affair.”
-
-“Ah!” and Clemmons started, and quickly asked:
-
-“Do you know who they are?”
-
-“I do not, for I overheard the affair being talked about, and as
-neither Merrill nor myself referred to it, and you doubtless did not,
-some of our fellows must have seen it, though unseen by us. If the
-affair is called up we will doubtless know who they are.”
-
-Scott Clemmons looked uneasy, for he felt that his version would differ
-from what all others had, or might tell of the occurrence.
-
-But he hoped that as he was already under punishment he would hear no
-more of it, so he said coldly:
-
-“You wished to see me, I believe?”
-
-“Yes, I wished to return to you a paper which you left on the dining
-table at the Astor House yesterday--the waiter gave it to me.”
-
-He handed over the telltale paper as he spoke, and after a glance at it
-the face of Scott Clemmons crimsoned to a painful extent, and then so
-suddenly grew white that he seemed as though about to faint.
-
-But he rallied quickly, and with a reckless laugh said:
-
-“Oh, yes, I had not missed it. It is the pledged word of that scamp
-Breslin never to come near me again, as I suppose you know?”
-
-“Yes, I read it, I frankly confess, for it was handed to me open; but
-you pay high for the loss of Breslin’s society, Clemmons, and one
-would almost think he blackmailed you. That was all I wished to see
-you about,” and Perry walked away, leaving Scott Clemmons in a very
-unenviable humor.
-
-After a few days passed in the harbor of the metropolis the good ship
-set sail and headed across the seas for a run to English, French,
-Spanish, Italian, and Egyptian ports, that the young sailors might have
-a glance at other lands and also enjoy to its full extent
-
-  “A life on the ocean wave,
-   A home on the rolling deep.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLII. “MAN OVERBOARD!”
-
-
-The cruiser is in midocean, bowling merrily along over a dark sea,
-growing darker and rougher under the approach of a storm and increasing
-wind.
-
-As the breeze freshens a strong swell causes the ship to roll heavily,
-and the barometer steadily going down, causes the officer of the deck
-to keep his weather eye to windward alow and aloft.
-
-“Knowing ones,” old salts who have sailed the seas over for a
-generation or more, also cock an eye to windward now and then, but of
-course, feel only confidence in their officers and the man who happens
-just at that time to hold the ship’s destiny in his keeping.
-
-The ship has been kept well crowded with sail, and the wind being fair
-the run across promises to be a phenomenal one, a promise that pleases
-all hands.
-
-The middies have had their chance to work the ship in fair weather and
-foul, but just now the falling barometer promises a night of it that
-will blow great guns, for the cloud-bank is steadily rising and the
-wind comes in stronger and stronger squalls.
-
-The ship is sticking her nose deep into huge white billows, but surging
-ahead the while in splendid manner.
-
-Suddenly a cadet comes aft and reports to the captain:
-
-“The wind is freshening, sir.”
-
-A few seconds after comes the ringing cry of the first lieutenant:
-
-“All hands ahoy to reef topsails.”
-
-In an instant all is seemingly wild excitement on board the good ship,
-and yet perfect order reigns, for every man knows his duty.
-
-The “executive” takes command, great coats are donned, cap peaks pulled
-hard down over their eyes, and the middies, acting as sailors, rush for
-their posts of duty.
-
-Then comes in trumpet tones the orders, issued in the commanding tones
-the sailors love so well to hear, and which fill their hearts with
-confidence in their commander:
-
-“Reef topsails! Man the topsail clew lines and buntlines--weather
-topsail braces! Stand by the lee braces, bowlines and halyards!”
-
-The young reefers obey with alacrity and seeming recklessness, the
-orders being taken up and repeated, the boatswain’s whistle piping
-merrily the while.
-
-Soon comes another order in hoarse, manly tones from the executive,
-and it is given to a mass of youthful humanity huddled together at the
-foot of the shrouds, and awaiting their turn with all the eagerness of
-champions about to spring away upon a race of life or death.
-
-Loud came the orders:
-
-“Haul out the reef tackles! Haul up the buntlines! Aloft, topmen! Lay
-out!”
-
-Away they go up the shrouds like a stampede of monkeys, and out upon
-the slender yards and “lay out.”
-
-With strong hands they gather in the flapping, heavy folds of canvas
-and reef close, while just as the order is upon the lips of the
-officer: “Lay in, top men!” one of the reefers, by a violent lurch of
-the ship, is torn from his hold and goes downward, striking with a
-dull thud the yard below in his fall, and thence downward into the sea.
-
-The command of the officer is heard and obeyed:
-
-“Lay down from aloft!”
-
-While a score of voices utter the thrilling cry:
-
-“Man overboard!”
-
-But all are startled by seeing a form run out on the yard and spring
-into the sea. What does it mean?
-
-The executive officer did not lose his head for an instant, for his
-command came sharply, and with promptness to lay the ship to and man
-the lifeboat. At the order:
-
-“Lay down from aloft!” came the young sailors at a run, some of them
-fairly flying down the shrouds, others sliding down the backstays, and
-getting to the deck as best they can.
-
-The good ship is “laying to,” and the life boat is lowered and pulls
-back over her wake to pick up the two men who have gone overboard,
-while the question goes the rounds:
-
-“Who are they?”
-
-At last one answers who knows:
-
-“It was Clemmons who was thrown from aloft, and Merrill who sprang
-after him.”
-
-The speaker was Bemis Perry, and he was at once ordered before his
-captain, who asked:
-
-“Do you know the men, Mr. Perry?”
-
-“Yes, sir, the one who fell was Clemmons, and as he struck the yard
-Merrill called out to me:
-
-“‘He struck hard, so must be hurt. I will go after him.’ And then he
-ran out on the yard and made the leap, sir.”
-
-For once discipline was cast to the winds, and such a yell as rose
-from the midshipmen at this news had never been heard on the good ship
-before.
-
-But every eye now was upon the life boat, as it went leaping over the
-seas, and again came a ringing cheer as the executive called out:
-
-“The boat is returning, sir.”
-
-But had those on the boat given up the search in the face of that
-terrible storm, threatening to break every instant?
-
-Had they found one?
-
-Had they found both?
-
-These questions could not be answered until the boat returned.
-
-The clouds grew blacker, the sea ran higher, and the wind whistled more
-viciously.
-
-Over the black waters, dimly seen, the bounding light carried on board
-the lifeboat was seen to draw nearer and nearer.
-
-The ship’s lights were burning brightly to guide the daring rescuers
-back to safety.
-
-“They are pulling for their lives,” said the executive officer,
-somewhat anxiously, and then came the low response of Captain De Long:
-
-“They have need to.”
-
-Nearer and nearer came the leaping light in the boat, and the storm was
-keeping pace with it, perhaps outracing it, for so many believed.
-
-Once it struck the ship before the lifeboat reached it, and the
-rescuers would share the fate of those they had risked their lives to
-rescue.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIII. A DEBT OF GRATITUDE.
-
-
-The suspense on board of the cruiser was terrible, the more so because
-perfect discipline kept it under, and it could find no vent in words.
-
-Men spoke in muffled tones, cadets hoped and feared, and all awaited
-the result--life or death to the bold rescuers.
-
-No one yet knew whether the safety of his crew had caused the gallant
-cadet officer at the helm of the lifeboat to put back for the ship
-before the storm struck them, or he had returned because he had
-accomplished his perilous errand.
-
-The ship plunged and keeled as she lay to, and the eyes of all were
-alternately turned toward the inky-black tempest roaring down upon
-them, and the lifeboat struggling so manfully to reach the lee of the
-vessel and safety.
-
-“Ahoy, my brave fellows! pull for your lives!”
-
-It was the voice of the gallant De Long thus sent over the black,
-tempestuous waters.
-
-The brave commander could stand the strain of suspense no longer--he
-must speak.
-
-Then came a faint cheer from the struggling oarsmen, and a roar like
-mighty winds went up from the ship’s deck in response.
-
-“Pull! Pull for your lives, brave lads!” shouted Captain De Long.
-
-And back over the waters came the answer:
-
-“Ay, ay, sir, we’ll make it!”
-
-But would they?
-
-Hushed were all for a moment more, and then the leaping light shot up
-under the lee of the cruiser, the men aboard cheered wildly, while
-those in the boat were drawn on board by ready and willing hands.
-
-The next instant the lifeboat was hung to its davits and firmly lashed,
-while from it was taken a limp form and carried below to the care of
-the ship’s surgeon.
-
-The storm was upon them now, and the men sprang to their stations, yet
-loud and ringing were the cheers in honor of the gallant rescuers, for
-the lifeboat had picked up those for whom they had risked their lives.
-
-“Mr. Merrill, the captain wishes to see you aft, sir.”
-
-It was an hour after the breaking of the storm, and the good ship was
-driving along before the gale, and directly on her course.
-
-Stars were seen now in the black cloud-rifts, and all knew that the
-hardest work was over.
-
-Mark Merrill had not gone below to change his clothes.
-
-“What’s the use in this sea?” he had said, and he reported at his
-station.
-
-Now he was sent for to come aft, and he promptly reported, saluting,
-though capless.
-
-“Mr. Merrill, accept my congratulations upon as plucky a deed as I ever
-beheld,” and Captain De Long grasped the hand of the young midshipman.
-
-“Thank you, sir; but I saw that he was hurt and could not swim,” said
-Mark modestly.
-
-“You found him readily, it seems?”
-
-“Yes, sir, and he was unconscious, so I had no trouble in keeping him
-up until the lifeboat took us in.”
-
-“May I ask if you knew who it was when you made your leap to the
-rescue?”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-Just then a cadet came up and said:
-
-“Pardon, sir, but the surgeon asks to see Mr. Merrill.”
-
-“Go below, Mr. Merrill, and then you had better turn in for the night.
-To-morrow morning report to me at eight bells.”
-
-Mark departed from the quarter-deck and sought the surgeon’s quarters.
-
-There he found Scott Clemmons, who had returned to consciousness, with
-a gash upon his head, skillfully dressed, and his left arm bound close
-to his side, for his collar-bone was broken.
-
-“Ah, Merrill, I wish to say that your plucky act saved Clemmons, for he
-was stunned by the blow on the head, and his collar-bone is fractured.
-He wishes to see you.”
-
-Mark’s hand had been warmly grasped by the ship’s surgeon as he spoke,
-and now he stepped toward Scott Clemmons.
-
-“Say, old fellow, you did a manly thing, they tell me, and I owe you my
-life. We haven’t been exactly chummy in the past, but, of course, now
-you’ll believe in my friendship for you?”
-
-Mark Merrill would have given much could he have escaped the thanks of
-Scott Clemmons.
-
-He could understand how much it cost him of pain and humiliation to say
-what he did.
-
-But he said:
-
-“Oh, we are good enough friends, Mr. Clemmons, and what I did for you I
-would have done for any one else, and you know I don’t mind a ducking
-and a swim even in the sea.”
-
-“I don’t recall any of it except that I lost my hold and felt the dull
-thud as I struck the yard; but they say you leaped from aloft and kept
-me afloat until the lifeboat picked us up. Now I’m laid up in ordinary
-for a few weeks, so come in and see me often.”
-
-“You’ll be all right soon, Clemmons, and now you need sleep, as the
-doctor will tell you,” and Mark Merrill turned away and went to swing
-his hammock, get on a dry rig, and turn in, for his struggle with the
-sea even his iron frame could not help but feel.
-
-The next morning all hands were mustered on deck, and Captain De Long,
-in a few well-spoken words, complimented Mark Merrill upon his noble
-act, and praised the crew of the lifeboat for their gallant service.
-
-Mark blushed like a girl under the words of the captain, and to his
-brother midshipmen made light of his act; but he got full credit for
-the deed all the same, for all understood that there had been no love
-lost between Scott Clemmons and himself.
-
-And so on its way held the cruiser until the shores of England hove in
-view, and the anchor was soon after let fall in the Mersey.
-
-Among the first to land were three midshipmen who seemed to have some
-special mission ashore.
-
-They were Herbert Nazro, Winslow Dillingham and Bemis Perry, and they
-made their way directly to a fashionable jewelry establishment, where
-an order was left for some special work, with directions to forward it
-by express to Lisbon by a certain time, when the ship would touch there.
-
-After a few days in port the cruiser again set sail, and Scott Clemmons
-was again on duty, though there was a red scar still visible upon his
-forehead.
-
-But all noticed that, in spite of owing his life to Mark Merrill, Scott
-Clemmons seemed rather to shun the one to whom he owed his life than to
-seek his company.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIV. THE PILOT MIDSHIPMAN.
-
-
-From port to port went the cadet’s cruiser, saluting the flags, forts,
-and ships of other nations and receiving salutes in turn, while the
-young sailors were given a run ashore to see something of the countries
-they were visiting.
-
-At length one night came the cry from aloft:
-
-“Light ho!”
-
-It was Cape Rosa Light, and on the vessel sails in the coming dawn
-until all the cadets gather on deck to behold the land of Portugal.
-
-Lateen-rigged craft pass out, and other vessels are met, one large bark
-flying the Stars and Stripes, which brings a cheer of greeting from the
-young sailors.
-
-The high crags of Cintra, with its castle and surrounding fields, are
-passed, the old fort of St. Julian, next frowning Fort Bugio, and
-thence onward into the waters of the Tagus.
-
-The tower of Beleur next looms up, with fortress-clad cliffs, and the
-cadets soon after are called to their stations as Lisbon, seated upon
-her many hills, rises in terraces before them, telling them that the
-haven is reached, for with a plunge the anchor is let fall.
-
-Then up aloft is run a ball of bunting, which, when shaken out, reveals
-the standard of Portugal, and gun after gun thunders a salute from the
-cruiser to the old city of Lisbon.
-
-As the health officer has reported all safe on board, a boat soon
-after goes ashore, and in it are the three cadets who landed first at
-Liverpool, and visited the jewelry establishment.
-
-They now seek the offices of the Continental Express Company, and there
-awaiting them is a small package.
-
-The jeweler has kept his promise.
-
-After a few days spent in Lisbon the cruiser sets sail for the blue
-waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and once the shores of Portugal are
-left astern a muster of all hands on deck is called, and Captain De
-Long orders:
-
-“Cadet Midshipman Merrill to the front!”
-
-Mark Merrill promptly obeys, and then as the captain takes from a
-morocco case a beautiful gold badge, he, for the first time, realizes
-that he is to be the recipient of a token as an appreciation of his
-services when he leaped from the yardarm to save the life of Scott
-Clemmons.
-
-In a few well-chosen words the captain made the presentation, in which
-occurred the following:
-
-“This souvenir, Midshipman Merrill, is a unanimous expression of
-the appreciation of your daring deed by this ship’s crew, for from
-quarter-deck to forecastle every one has insisted upon being a
-subscriber, with the one exception of Mr. Clemmons, from whom the
-intention was kept a secret as well as from yourself. I pin it upon
-your breast for you to wear as a badge which you may well feel proud
-of.”
-
-As the captain spoke he pinned upon the jacket of the young hero a
-beautiful emblem of his courage, which was a massive anchor of solid
-gold, to which was suspended a shield with bars of pearls, turquoises
-and rubies to represent the colors red, white and blue, while below was
-engraved:
-
-  “PRESENTED
-  BY THE OFFICERS AND MEN
-  OF
-  _The U. S. Cadet Cruising Ship Constellation_
-  TO
-  CADET MIDSHIPMAN MARK MERRILL
-  _As an Appreciation of His Splendid Courage
-  in Leaping Overboard at Night
-  in a Storm to Save the Life of
-  a Shipmate_.”
-
-In what was certainly a very neat speech, though taken unawares, Mark
-Merrill thanked Captain De Long and all for their great kindness, and
-raised his cap as three cheers were given for him.
-
-A number of eyes were turned upon Scott Clemmons during this scene,
-and it could be easily discovered that he seemed ill at ease, though
-he stepped forward and told his rescuer how glad he was of the honor
-bestowed upon him, adding, with some feeling:
-
-“Had I chipped in, Merrill, it would have spoiled all, or had I
-suggested it, for my debt to you can never be cancelled.”
-
-Had Scott Clemmons overheard the criticism which Bemis Perry made of
-his speech he would have been overwhelmed with confusion, for though
-the young South Carolinian said but one word, and used slang, it was to
-the point, for he simply said:
-
-“Rats!”
-
-There was another criticism offered also, and by Herbert Nazro, who
-said with a wicked little laugh:
-
-“Go tell that to the marines, Clemmons.”
-
-After this episode Clemmons seemed more constrained than ever in
-his conduct toward Mark Merrill. He seemed positively uneasy in his
-presence.
-
-At last, after a visit to several ports in the Mediterranean the prow
-of the cruiser was turned homeward, for a stop was to be made upon the
-New England coast.
-
-It was a stormy passage home, keeping the young tars constantly busy
-reefing, pulling, and setting more sail, and giving them a thorough
-experience in the life of a sailor.
-
-In the last storm not far off the coast, the cruiser had sprung her
-mainmast, but fortunately the gale blew itself out, and a calm fell
-upon the sea. The next morning the shores of New England were in view.
-
-The weather was hazy and sultry, the barometer was steadily falling,
-and Captain De Long and his lieutenants viewed the weather with anxiety.
-
-There was a huge black mass gathering to seaward, and as the day passed
-it began to rise slowly, though the deadest of calms still rested upon
-the sea.
-
-The shore was a little over a league distant, and with a breeze the
-good ship could readily work off, but in the teeth of a storm, and with
-the mainmast sprung, there were too many odds against her.
-
-The afternoon passed, all eagerly watching for a cap full of air, to
-bear the vessel into a haven of safety, the Kennebec River.
-
-But no ripple stirred the glass-like waters, and to landward a wild and
-forbidding coast only was seen.
-
-The charts were examined closely, but no harbor was noted just there,
-and all wondered what was to be done, for the sprung mast would never
-stand to beat out to sea against such a tempest as was rising.
-
-At last Captain De Long turned to Cadet Midshipman Clemmons, and asked:
-
-“Do you not live somewhere in this vicinity, Mr. Clemmons?”
-
-“Some leagues from here, sir.”
-
-“And you know of no haven into which we could tow with our boats!”
-
-“I have heard of several harbors for fishing boats, sir, but I do not
-know of them,” replied Scott Clemmons, who would not say:
-
-“But Merrill might know.”
-
-He did not care to put another feather in the cap of his rival--his
-rescuer though he had been.
-
-“Pardon me, Captain De Long, but Mr. Merrill pointed out to me a while
-ago with his glass his own home, and he may know,” said Herbert Nazro,
-who had heard the captain questioning Clemmons.
-
-“Ah, yes, he is the very man! Send Mr. Merrill here at once,” said the
-captain, with considerable eagerness.
-
-Mark Merrill reported promptly.
-
-“Mr. Merrill, your home is near here, I am told?”
-
-“My mother dwells in the large mansion, sir, you see on the cliff
-yonder, a league and a half away, but it is not our own home, sir.”
-
-“Do you know of any harborage in here which we can tow into with our
-boats, for yonder seems like a good anchorage ground?”
-
-“That, sir, is a death trap with a storm from seaward, for the coasters
-call it Hopeless Haven. Yonder, where you see the cliff, is a harbor,
-and a safe one, though small, and the entrance is dangerous.”
-
-“Do you know these waters well?”
-
-“Perfectly, sir,” was the response, and there was no boasting in the
-reply.
-
-“There is depth for this ship in the harbor you refer to?”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“And you can pilot her in with the boats ahead, if we can get there
-before the storm breaks?”
-
-“It was there, sir, I took General Peyton’s yacht, the Midshipman, sir,
-when the Secretary of the Navy and Commodore Lucien were on board.”
-
-“Ah, indeed! I have been told of that bold piloting by the commodore
-himself; and it got you your appointment?”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“Then I will order the boats out ahead, and----”
-
-“Pardon me, Captain De Long, but as the gale is coming from seaward, I
-can run in, sir, if you will order topmasts housed and set only lower
-sails, to save the sprung mainmast,” said Mark modestly.
-
-“Mr. Merrill, you are a born sailor, sir, and I give the ship over to
-you as pilot,” said Captain De Long, with frank acknowledgment of the
-youth’s skill and nerve.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLV. UNEXPECTED VISITORS.
-
-
-Standing upon Beacon Cliff were three persons, watching with interest
-and deep anxiety the cadets’ cruiser as she lay off the coast a league
-or more.
-
-They were Mrs. Merrill, the mother of the gallant middy, old Peggy, and
-a beautiful young girl whom the reader will recall as Virgene Rich, the
-fair witness who had testified so well in behalf of the young sailor in
-his affray with Scott Clemmons, Ben Birney, and others of like ilk at
-B----.
-
-Mrs. Merrill read at a glance the danger of the vessel, when she saw
-that she was becalmed and a storm rising from seaward; but her anxiety
-would have been far greater had she known that the craft was crippled
-and might not be able to beat off the coast.
-
-What her feelings would have been had she known that her only son was
-on board the vessel can well be imagined.
-
-But though she saw that it was a vessel of war she did not connect Mark
-with her, as she supposed that his cruiser was in foreign seas, not
-having received his last letter from Lisbon, in which he had told her
-what the remainder of the voyage would be.
-
-Mrs. Merrill looked several years younger than when Mark had gone to
-the Naval School.
-
-Her really beautiful face had almost lost its expression of sadness and
-her form was still youthful and graceful.
-
-Virgene Rich, true to her promise, had often ridden down to see Mrs.
-Merrill, and so attached had she become to her that Landlord Rich had
-asked her to become his daughter’s governess, and thus we find the
-young girl also an inmate of “Spook Hall.”
-
-Mrs. Merrill had kept up the flower garden, made the wing in which she
-dwelt more comfortable, and, with a horse and phaeton, which she had
-purchased, did not seem near so far away from civilization as before.
-
-Then, too, Skipper Jasper Crane, with the Venture, was making a very
-snug living for her, and her bank account steadily increased, while
-Mark was winning his way in the world, as she well knew.
-
-So the three stood watching the cruiser, the rising storm, and the
-coming of night.
-
-“It will be a terrible night, I fear,” Mrs. Merrill said, with
-increased anxiety for the cruiser.
-
-At length the deep rumbling of thunder was heard, the lightning flashes
-rent the black clouds, and the roar of the still distant tempest
-reached their ears.
-
-Then there came a ripple upon the waters, and instantly sail was set
-upon the cruiser, which, under its influence, began to move ahead.
-
-“She heads down the coast,” said Mrs. Merrill.
-
-But the wind came in gusts, followed by calms, and each squall was more
-severe.
-
-Sail was shortened upon the cruiser at last, as the storm was coming
-near, lights were set, and night, black, threatening and dangerous,
-came upon land and sea. But the three watchers upon the cliff had
-secured wraps, and kept their places to watch the lights that marked
-the position of the cruiser.
-
-Louder burst the thunder crashes, more vivid flashed the lightning, and
-wilder roared the winds as they bore down upon the devoted ship.
-
-“See, see! she heads in toward our harbor!”
-
-“She is lost!” cried Mrs. Merrill, wringing her hands in distress.
-
-“Perhaps she has a pilot on board,” suggested Virgene.
-
-“No! no! for the coasters shun this harbor, and only Captain Crane and
-one of his boys know the channel in.”
-
-“Mark knows,” said old Peggy, in a very decided way.
-
-“Yes, but he is not here--see! the lights advance steadily,
-and--Virgene, there is a pilot on board yonder craft, for she has
-rounded Whaleback Rock and passed between The Sentinels, and that was
-not chance, surely.”
-
-“And the storm is upon her now,” cried Virgene, as the lurid glare upon
-the sea showed now the advance of the tempest directly down upon the
-ship.
-
-“Yes, but Whaleback Rock and The Sentinels will break its force, while
-she has now gotten under the lee of Castle Rock, and heads into the
-harbor.”
-
-As Mrs. Merrill spoke the storm was seen to catch the ship and hide the
-lights from view in an instant; but the rocky islands she had spoken of
-broke its force, and, though the cruiser was driven onward with a rush,
-she was held firmly on her course, and a few minutes after glided in
-under the lee of Beacon Cliff.
-
-“She is safe!” cried Mrs. Merrill, as she saw the lights reappear in
-the harbor, and the three were almost blown by the wind to the mansion.
-
-The storm howled savagely about the old mansion, but all was comfort
-within, and old Peggy set about getting supper, when all were startled
-by a loud knock.
-
-“It must be some one from the ship,” said Mrs. Merrill, and she and
-Virgene went to the door.
-
-“Mother!” and a form clad in a greatcoat steps forward, while other
-cloaked forms are behind him.
-
-“My son!” cried Mrs. Merrill, as she was enfolded in her son’s arms,
-but quickly released as the others stepped in out of the storm, and
-Mark said:
-
-“Mother, I wish to present my commander, Captain De Long, Lieutenant
-Briggs, and my chum, Cadet Midshipman Bemis Perry.”
-
-Other introductions followed to Virgene, and Captain De Long said:
-
-“We found ourselves on your coast, Mrs. Merrill, in distress, for we
-had a crippled mast, and your brave son became our pilot, and ran
-us into a safe harborage. Then I gave him leave to come ashore on
-condition that he brought us with him.”
-
-It was a pleasant evening that was passed there in old “Spook Hall,”
-and old Peggy sat down to them one of her most tempting suppers.
-
-It was midnight before Captain De Long started upon his return to his
-ship, but he gave Mark permission to remain till after breakfast the
-following morning, when, if the weather was not severe, the cruiser
-would sail on her course once more, as, with his crippled mast, the
-commander wished to reach Annapolis as soon as possible, knowing that
-he would have to run from port to port in good weather.
-
-It was noon the next day when the cruiser sailed, Mark again acting as
-pilot out to sea, and fair weather and a stiff breeze held her on her
-way, until once again she dropped anchor off the Naval School, and the
-young sailors went ashore to “bone it” hard for another long year, and
-to struggle for honors.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLVI. A FORCED RESIGNATION.
-
-
-The second year began with Mark Merrill in the lead for honors.
-
-He had not only won a badge for a gallant act at sea, but he had
-received “honorable mention” for his services as pilot under
-circumstances where only skill and nerve alone could have saved the
-cruiser from a very dangerous position.
-
-Then, too, he held the honors of his class for the first year, and that
-was in his favor.
-
-He had enemies, of course--what really good fellow has not?--yet he was
-generally popular, and the officers all liked him.
-
-Scott Clemmons was still distantly polite, and his clique of toadies
-imbibed his manner toward Mark Merrill.
-
-But of their treatment Mark was severely indifferent.
-
-Scott Clemmons had given out that he meant to win the honors of his
-second year.
-
-He had thrown this challenge, or rather defiance, in the face of
-Merrill, and at once he set about his task to win.
-
-But those who made the situation a study were convinced that Scott
-Clemmons would never stand number one, though he had a strong chance
-for position number two.
-
-There were more who said it was very bad form for him to attempt to
-take first honors away from a man to whom he owed his life, but Mark
-Merrill seemed not to regard it in that light.
-
-One afternoon Mark received a letter which seemed to give him a great
-deal of worry.
-
-At last he sought Bemis Perry, and said:
-
-“See here, Perry, you have got a very level head, and I wish to ask
-your advice.”
-
-“Fire away, old man, for I am at your service from truck to keelson.”
-
-“I have a letter here from Miss Virgene Rich, whom you met at my
-mother’s.”
-
-“Ah! I see; but you are over-young to marry yet, Mark. Flirt all
-you wish to, have a sweetheart in every port, which is a sailor’s
-prerogative, but don’t let any girl get her grappling irons on you too
-securely to shake off.”
-
-“My dear Perry, you generally speak with the wisdom of Solomon, but
-just now you are on the wrong tack, so go about and know your course
-before you set full sail.”
-
-“My anchor’s down, Merrill, and hatches closed,” and Perry dropped into
-his chair and placed his finger upon his lips.
-
-“It concerns Clemmons, and places me in an awkward position.”
-
-“Ah! more of his deviltry, eh?”
-
-“I’ll read you Miss Virgene’s letter.” And taking it from his pocket,
-Mark read aloud as follows:
-
-  “MY DEAR MARK: A letter from me will doubtless surprise you, but
-  I write for Silly Sam, who is not gifted with a superior style of
-  penmanship.
-
-  “Let me first tell you that all at Spook Hall jogs on in the same
-  easy way, and I am still under your sweet mother’s kind charge,
-  though I am spending Sunday, to-day, at home with father, so I can
-  send no message from your mother, and, in fact, my letter to you is a
-  secret known only to the writer, Silly Sam, and the recipient.
-
-  “Now to Sam’s letter. He begs me to say to you that he is in the
-  employ of Merchant Clemmons, and that the other day, when asleep
-  in the little room adjoining the office, Mr. Clemmons came in,
-  accompanied by a young man whom he had met at his door.
-
-  “Sam did not make his presence known, and through the door, he being
-  back in the dark, he saw that the young man presented a very seedy,
-  dissipated look, but had a very defiant air.
-
-  “Then, as near as I could get it from Sam, the young man demanded
-  money from the merchant, and was refused.
-
-  “Then he told him that he would go to the Naval Academy, where he had
-  been a cadet, and make a clean breast of it to the commandant that
-  his son, Scott Clemmons, had led him into a plot against _you_.
-
-  “Scott had paid him well for his services, said services being to
-  persecute you in any way in his power, to cause you demerit marks,
-  and that Scott Clemmons had arranged a plan by which you should
-  be found with a gold fifty-dollar coin, which he, Clemmons, had
-  pretended was stolen from him.
-
-  “The plot did not turn out a success, as you had thwarted him in some
-  way, and he had been dismissed from the academy.
-
-  “To keep him quiet and accept his dismissal, Scott Clemmons had paid
-  him well, and he had all the proofs of what he said, and knew that
-  it was the intention of Scott Clemmons to get you dismissed from the
-  academy by some foul means, notwithstanding that you had saved his
-  life, for he treated you with the bitterest venom.
-
-  “Then, Sam says, the visitor, who gave his name as Barney Breslin,
-  boldly demanded two thousand dollars from Merchant Clemmons, or he
-  would go to the commandant and give proof of Scott’s villainy and
-  have him dismissed in disgrace.
-
-  “Sam says that Mr. Clemmons was deeply moved, when convinced that
-  the young man told the truth, and told him that he would give him the
-  money, and more, on condition that he should give into his hands all
-  proofs and then leave the country.
-
-  “This the young man promised to do, and when Mr. Clemmons sent to
-  the bank for the money, he handed over to him a bundle of papers,
-  letters, which Scott Clemmons had written, and other documents, which
-  the merchant seemed glad to get.
-
-  “Such is Sam’s story, and you now know what a foe you have in Scott
-  Clemmons, and can govern yourself accordingly, Mark.”
-
-Such was the letter, and Bemis Perry listened to every word of it with
-the deepest attention.
-
-“Now, Perry, you have the facts.”
-
-“Yes, and you asked my advice?”
-
-“I did, and I wish it, for, though I do not fear Clemmons’ open
-hostility, I do not care to be on guard constantly against his blow in
-the dark, nor do I wish a scandal, for of that there has been enough
-with Breslin.”
-
-“So I think; but my idea is to save a scandal, and to keep the secret
-between ourselves, while I force Clemmons to resign, for it will come
-better from me than from you. If you will trust me with that letter I
-will act.”
-
-Mark handed it over without a word, and, rising, Bemis Perry went to
-his desk and took out a paper he had locked therein.
-
-“I will soon return,” he said, and he left the room.
-
-He went straight to the quarters of Scott Clemmons, whom he found alone.
-
-Scott Clemmons looked up with some surprise as he entered, for they
-were upon barely speaking terms; but Perry gave him no time to
-consider, but said:
-
-“I have come to see you, Clemmons, upon a matter of vital importance to
-you, and we must be alone.”
-
-“Well, sir, we are not likely to be disturbed.”
-
-“Mr. Clemmons, I have come to ask you to do yourself a favor.”
-
-“In what way?”
-
-“To resign.”
-
-“What do you mean, sir?” angrily asked Clemmons.
-
-“Be patient, extremely patient, and you shall know. I am here to do you
-a favor, if you will so consider it; to do my duty by the service, the
-academy, and my brother cadets, if you do not obey my wishes.”
-
-“Your words are inexplicable to me, sir!”
-
-“Well, I’ll be more explicit than you can wish, sir. You had as a
-friend here one Barney Breslin, a cadet who became your tool, for you
-paid him well to persecute Mark Merrill in every manner possible--hold!
-I have here Breslin’s confession, and more, I hold other papers to
-criminate you in that gold coin affair, which you professed to have had
-stolen from you for the purpose of disgracing Merrill. Now the paper
-I handed to you, which you left upon the table in the Astor House, I
-allowed three cadets to read, and I took a copy of it. That shows that
-Breslin blackmailed you out of six hundred dollars. He did not leave
-the country, but on the contrary has forced money from your father, who
-has feared to have you disgraced by his coming to the commandant.”
-
-“My father?” gasped Clemmons.
-
-“Yes, your father paid him over two thousand dollars to prevent his
-coming here, and so, as I hold all proofs of your villainy----”
-
-“Sir!”
-
-“I repeat it, of your criminal scoundrelism toward Merrill, I tell you,
-that if you do not this day send in your resignation to the commandant
-I shall place the whole matter before him, and the result will be your
-utter disgrace. See, I am blackmailing you now, threatening, forcing
-you to resign, for if you do not, I shall do as I say; if you do, I
-shall keep your secret, upon my honor. What will you do?”
-
-“Resign,” and the word was hardly audible.
-
-“When?”
-
-“To-day.”
-
-“You are wise.”
-
-“You will keep my secret?”
-
-“Yes; write your resignation now.”
-
-It was done, and Bemis Perry said:
-
-“Now, good-by, Clemmons; but permit me to say that I pity one of your
-splendid attainments who was not man enough to fight a rival openly.”
-
-And Bemis Perry left the room, while soon after Scott Clemmons went
-over to the quarters of the commandant and handed in his resignation.
-
-It was a surprise to the commandant, a wonder to all, the resignation
-of Scott Clemmons, but all questioning as to the cause went unanswered,
-for Bemis Perry kept his word and the secret.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLVII. A MIDNIGHT EXPEDITION.
-
-
-Mark Merrill continued on in the even tenor of his way through his
-second year, and once more stood at the head of his class.
-
-As for honors won the third year was but a repetition of the other two,
-and he entered upon the last year of his Naval School life with the
-goal of his ambition in sight, the chance of becoming the “first honor
-man.”
-
-When the last day rolled around, the one that was to make or mar his
-hopes of winning or losing, he was pale but calm.
-
-He had held his popularity with all, and they all wished him success.
-
-He had held his place so well in his studies, his deportment, and
-through every duty and drill, that only a slip could send him to the
-rear.
-
-There, among the visitors, was the Honorable Secretary of the Navy, and
-there, too, was the gallant old sailor who had been his friend, and who
-had been honored by promotion, and now appeared as Rear-Admiral Lucien.
-
-“I dare not fail in their presence,” Mark Merrill had muttered to
-himself, and his face flushed as he suddenly beheld two others there
-with their eyes upon him.
-
-Those two were his mother and Virgene Rich, the latter now grown into a
-beautiful young lady of twenty.
-
-Dare he fail now? No, and he did not, for his name stood at the head of
-the list as number one.
-
-And more, he was praised in no measured terms, and cheered in a manner
-that showed that his fellows were glad in their inmost hearts.
-
-And that night when he appeared at the Naval Ball he was the cynosure
-of all eyes, and justly so, for a splendid, handsome fellow was this
-daring young sailor who had made such a brave fight for fame.
-
-When Mrs. Merrill and Virgene returned homeward they had as an escort
-the young naval officer, who was on his “graduation leave” before being
-ordered away on a three years’ cruise.
-
-Arriving at Spook Hall, and mingling among those who had known him in
-the past, the verdict of all was that he was not in the least spoiled
-by the honors he had won.
-
-Asking about Scott Clemmons, Mark learned that he had gone away from
-home upon an expedition to Cuba, to fight with the Cuban patriots
-struggling to free the “ever faithful isle” from the tyrannical yoke of
-Spain.
-
-After a happy visit at home, where Herbert Nazro came and visited him
-the last month of his leave, and fell desperately in love with Virgene
-Rich, Mark reported for duty, and was ordered on board the United
-States steamer Frolic, which was to sail for the West Indies.
-
-Three months after, one dark and rainy night, the Frolic lay at anchor
-in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba.
-
-In the steerage a number of young officers were gathered around a
-table, before which was spread a map of the harbor and the town.
-
-One was talking in low, earnest tone, and others were listening with
-rapt attention.
-
-The speaker was saying: “Now, gentlemen, these prisoners have been
-placed in this prison--here it is upon this map, and to-morrow they
-will be taken to the fortress, where they will remain until Sunday,
-when, with the others now condemned and captured on the Commandatario,
-they will be shot by the Spaniards, for Spain is merciless to her foes.
-If they are removed to the fortress, then all hope for them is gone,
-so we must act to-night. I have bribed a Spaniard to aid us, and he
-is to secure the uniform of an aide to General Buriel, and meet us at
-this point--here on this map. He will have uniforms awaiting us, and
-we will march to the outpost for the prisoners, while he states that
-he has been sent to conduct them to the fortress, fearing an attempt
-at rescue by the Cubans. The commandant of the outpost prison is a new
-man, and his men have just come from Havana, so that Buriel’s aides
-are not known to them, and herein is our strength. Now I saw these
-prisoners to-day, and every one of the seven are Americans, whom, as
-our cruiser will not protect, we must aid to escape. Nay, more, one
-of these prisoners is the gallant Bascomb, who resigned after leaving
-the academy, and accepted a position as commander of a Cuban blockade
-runner. Another is Scott Clemmons, also once a cadet, who was Bascomb’s
-lieutenant, and the others are also brave American boys who must not be
-shot to satiate Governor Buriel’s thirst for blood. Are you with me?”
-
-“To a man,” said Bemis Perry, and the others, eight in number, held
-forth their hands and grasped that of Mark Merrill, who continued:
-
-“It is not law; I know, it is against naval discipline; but it is
-justice, it is humanity, for if we do not save those poor lads they are
-dead men within thirty-six hours. Now we have leave to go on a special
-invitation to our fellows of the Powhattan, so we’ll instead pull
-ashore and meet my Spaniard.”
-
-“We are ready,” said Perry, and soon after, muffled in their great
-coats, the young officers entered a cutter and were rowed away through
-the darkness and rain.
-
-They landed at a certain point on the shore where there was a hut in
-which shone a light.
-
-Here a Spaniard met them, and Spanish uniforms were put on over their
-own, muskets were taken, and they marched off.
-
-The Spaniard was in the uniform of a captain, and wore a cloak.
-
-He led the way, and after a march of half a mile they came to the
-outpost _carcel_, or prison.
-
-The pretended Spanish officer gave the countersign, and going into the
-_carcel_ told what his orders were.
-
-It seemed a long time for the waiting officers in their disguise, but
-at last the clanking of chains was heard and out marched the prisoners,
-seven in number, and heavily ironed.
-
-The pretended captain placed them in single file between his men, and
-off they marched in the darkness and storm. They did not return to the
-cabin, but continued along the shore, until they came to a boat, and
-dimly seen offshore was a small sailing craft.
-
-“Now, señor, unlock these irons, and let the men go aboard as quickly
-as possible, for their craft must be well off the coast before dawn,
-and with this gale they can be, for it blows straight out of the
-harbor. Then see us back to the cabin, and your work is done,” said
-Mark Merrill.
-
-“I should know that voice among a thousand--by heaven! you are Mark
-Merrill.”
-
-“Yes, Bascomb, but breathe it not, for we are Spanish soldiers this
-night of our Lord.”
-
-“Ever the same noble, gallant fellow, Merrill, and God knows I’ll never
-forget you for this, will we----”
-
-“Come, you must be off, or you will undo all that has been done. There
-is your craft and two men on board, chartered for the cruise--please
-go.” And thus urged the rescued men hastened into the boat, which at
-once shoved off, while brave Bascomb cried:
-
-“We’ll meet again, Merrill; God bless you and your brave crew, whoever
-they be.”
-
-“Now we must get out of this,” said Mark, and the Spaniard led the way
-rapidly back to the hut.
-
-When the uniforms were discarded Mark handed the Spaniard the amount
-promised him, and getting into their boat, it was headed back to the
-Frolic.
-
-“Merrill,” said Bemis Perry, in a low tone.
-
-“Yes?”
-
-“You engineered the bravest act of your life to-night, one which, dared
-it be known, would win you a name that would never die. I am proud to
-have been with you; but did you see that Clemmons skulked away when
-Bascomb recognized you, that he uttered no word?”
-
-“Yes, he’s the same old Clemmons, Perry,” was the reply.
-
-The ship was reached, and when the next morning came the news of the
-daring rescue of the prisoners became known, but no one placed the
-daring deed where it belonged, and that the call of the captured men
-was a close one was proven by the deliberate and cruel execution, as
-the murder was called, of scores of gallant men who had volunteered to
-aid the patriot cause of Cuba, and were doomed to death by the butcher,
-Buriel.
-
-Soon after the Frolic steamed away from the shores of the ever faithful
-isle, and no one ever dreamed the real truth of that midnight rescue of
-Americans led by Mark Merrill.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLVIII. CONCLUSION.
-
-
-After her West Indian cruise the Frolic dropped anchor in New York
-harbor, and, to his surprise, Mark Merrill found a leave of absence
-granted him from active duty.
-
-A letter from his mother partly explained the situation. She had begged
-the leniency of a leave for him.
-
-Upon his arrival in B---- his mother met him, and upon the drive home
-he learned the story, which I will now let the reader know.
-
-Mark’s father had been a wild, but not wicked, lad, and his mother had
-married a second time.
-
-The stepfather, Vance Vanloo, had treated the youth so cruelly, wishing
-to get rid of him so that his own son could get possession of his
-wife’s valuable estates, that the lad had run away to sea.
-
-He had the proper spirit in him, and had worked his way up from the
-forecastle to the command of a fine vessel, when he had fallen in love
-with a young girl who was crossing the ocean with her invalid father.
-
-The father had died, and was buried at sea, and the daughter, falling
-in love also with the handsome young captain, had married him.
-
-And she it was who afterward became Mark Merrill’s mother.
-
-But soon after little Mark reached his twelfth year the father was lost
-at sea, and his wife was left destitute, for, as sorrows never come
-singly, what they had saved up in bank was wiped out by the failure of
-the bank.
-
-So it was that Mark, born upon the sea and reared upon his father’s
-vessel, turned his attention to the water to earn a living for himself
-and mother.
-
-They had sought the coast of Maine, near B----, and afterward became
-dwellers, by the kindness of the agent, in the grand old mansion known
-as Spook Hall. But, better still, an inquiring attorney had sought out
-the heirs of the estate, and of other large property coming to them,
-and found them in Mrs. Merrill and her son.
-
-So the Vanloo mansion, old Spook Hall, was in reality the home of Mrs.
-Merrill, who suddenly found herself a very rich woman.
-
-Such was the mystery hanging over the Merrills, and hovering about
-Beacon Castle, and such was the story told to the young naval officer
-during his drive to the place so long dreaded as Spook Hall, but which
-had been fitted up and refurnished by Mrs. Merrill to welcome home its
-master.
-
-A pleasant month did Mark spend at home, and while there he gave away
-in marriage, for her father had died the year before, pretty Virgene
-Rich to Herbert Nazro, of the United States Navy, and a handsome couple
-they were, too.
-
-And Mark Merrill?
-
-But if I say more I fear I will be pointing too directly at the
-officer who has been my hero, and whom, perhaps, too many already have
-recognized; so I will let fall the curtain upon the gallant young
-sailor who won the victory in his fight for fame.
-
-THE END.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-THE CREAM OF JUVENILE FICTION
-
-THE BOYS’ OWN LIBRARY
-
-A Selection of the Best Books for Boys by the Most Popular Authors
-
-The titles in this splendid juvenile series have been selected with
-care, and as a result all the stories can be relied upon for their
-excellence. They are bright and sparkling; not over-burdened with
-lengthy descriptions, but brimful of adventure from the first page to
-the last--in fact they are just the kind of yarns that appeal strongly
-to the healthy boy who is fond of thrilling exploits and deeds of
-heroism. Among the authors whose names are included in the Boys’ Own
-Library are Horatio Alger, Jr., Edward S. Ellis, James Otis, Capt.
-Ralph Bonehill, Burt L. Standish, Gilbert Patten and Frank H. Converse.
-
-SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE BOYS’ OWN LIBRARY
-
-All the books in this series are copyrighted, printed on good paper,
-large type, illustrated, printed wrappers, handsome cloth covers
-stamped in inks and gold--fifteen special cover designs.
-
-140 Titles--Price, per Volume, 75 cents
-
-For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, on receipt of price by
-the publisher,
-
-DAVID McKAY, 610 SO. WASHINGTON SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA, PA.
-
-HORATIO ALGER, Jr.
-
-One of the best known and most popular writers. Good, clean, healthy
-stories for the American Boy.
-
-  Adventures of a Telegraph Boy
-  Dean Dunham
-  Erie Train Boy, The
-  Five Hundred Dollar Check
-  From Canal Boy to President
-  From Farm Boy to Senator
-  Mark Stanton
-  Ned Newton
-  New York Boy
-  Tom Brace
-  Tom Tracy
-  Walter Griffith
-  Young Acrobat
-
-C. B. ASHLEY.
-
-One of the best stories ever written on hunting, trapping and adventure
-in the West, after the Custer Massacre.
-
-  Gilbert, the Boy Trapper
-
-ANNIE ASHMORE.
-
-A splendid story, recording the adventures of a boy with smugglers.
-
-  Smuggler’s Cave, The
-
-CAPT. RALPH BONEHILL.
-
-Capt. Bonehill is in the very front rank as an author of boys’ stories.
-He writes also under the name of Stratemeyer and Winfield. These are
-two of his best works.
-
-  Neka, the Boy Conjurer
-  Tour of the Zero Club
-
-WALTER F. BRUNS.
-
-An excellent story of adventure in the celebrated Sunk Lands of
-Missouri and Kansas.
-
-  In the Sunk Lands
-
-FRANK H. CONVERSE.
-
-This writer has established a splendid reputation as a boys’ author,
-and although his books usually command $1.25 per volume, we offer the
-following at a more popular price.
-
-  Gold of Flat Top Mountain
-  Happy-Go-Lucky Jack
-  Heir to a Million
-  In Search of An Unknown Race
-  In Southern Seas
-  Mystery of a Diamond
-  That Treasure
-  Voyage to the Gold Coast
-
-HARRY COLLINGWOOD.
-
-One of England’s most successful writers of stories for boys. His best
-story is
-
-  Pirate Island
-
-GEORGE H. COOMER.
-
-Two books we highly recommend. One is a splendid story of adventure at
-sea, when American ships were in every port in the world, and the other
-tells of adventures while the first railway in the Andes Mountains was
-being built.
-
-  Boys in the Forecastle
-  Old Man of the Mountain
-
-WILLIAM DALTON.
-
-Three stories by one of the very greatest writers for boys. The stories
-deal with boys’ adventures in India, China and Abyssinia. These books
-are strongly recommended for boys’ reading, as they contain a large
-amount of historical information.
-
-  Tiger Prince
-  War Tiger
-  White Elephant
-
-EDWARD S. ELLIS.
-
-These books are considered the best works this well-known writer ever
-produced. No better reading for bright young Americans.
-
-  Arthur Helmuth
-  Check No. 2134
-  From Tent to White House
-  Perils of the Jungle
-  On the Trail of Geronimo
-  White Mustang
-
-GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
-
-For the past fifty years Mr. Fenn has been writing books for boys
-and popular fiction. His books are justly popular throughout the
-English-speaking world. We publish the following select list of his
-boys’ books, which we consider the best he ever wrote.
-
-  Commodore Junk
-  Dingo Boys
-  Golden Magnet
-  Grand Chaco
-  Weathercock
-
-ENSIGN CLARKE FITCH, U. S. N.
-
-A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, and thoroughly
-familiar with all naval matters. Mr. Fitch has devoted himself to
-literature, and has written a series of books for boys that every
-young American should read. His stories are full of very interesting
-information about the navy, training ships, etc.
-
-  Bound for Annapolis
-  Clif, the Naval Cadet
-  Cruise of the Training Ship
-  From Port to Port
-  Strange Cruise, A
-
-WILLIAM MURRAY GRAYDON.
-
-An author of world-wide popularity. Mr. Graydon is essentially a friend
-of young people, and we offer herewith ten of his best works, wherein
-he relates a great diversity of interesting adventures in various parts
-of the world, combined with accurate historical data.
-
-  Butcher of Cawnpore, The
-  Camp in the Snow, The
-  Campaigning with Braddock
-  Cryptogram, The
-  From Lake to Wilderness
-  In Barracks and Wigwam
-  In Fort and Prison
-  Jungles and Traitors
-  Rajah’s Fortress, The
-  White King of Africa, The
-
-LIEUT. FREDERICK GARRISON, U. S. A.
-
-Every American boy takes a keen interest in the affairs of West Point.
-No more capable writer on this popular subject could be found than
-Lieut. Garrison, who vividly describes the life, adventures and unique
-incidents that have occurred in that great institution--in these famous
-West Point stories.
-
-  Off for West Point
-  Cadet’s Honor, A
-  On Guard
-  West Point Treasure, The
-  West Point Rivals, The
-
-HEADON HILL.
-
-The hunt for gold has always been a popular subject for consideration,
-and Mr. Hill has added a splendid story on the subject in this romance
-of the Klondyke.
-
-  Spectre Gold
-
-HENRY HARRISON LEWIS.
-
-Mr. Lewis is a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and has
-written a great many books for boys. Among his best works are the
-following titles--the subjects include a vast series of adventures in
-all parts of the world. The historical data is correct, and they should
-be read by all boys, for the excellent information they contain.
-
-  Centreboard Jim
-  King of the Island
-  Midshipman Merrill
-  Ensign Merrill
-  Sword and Pen
-  Valley of Mystery, The
-  Yankee Boys in Japan
-
-LIEUT. LIONEL LOUNSBERRY.
-
-A series of books embracing many adventures under our famous naval
-commanders, and with our army during the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
-Founded on sound history, these books are written for boys, with the
-idea of combining pleasure with profit; to cultivate a fondness for
-study--especially of what has been accomplished by our army and navy.
-
-  Cadet Kit Carey
-  Captain Carey
-  Kit Carey’s Protegé
-  Lieut. Carey’s Luck
-  Out With Commodore Decatur
-  Randy, the Pilot
-  Tom Truxton’s School Days
-  Tom Truxton’s Ocean Trip
-  Treasure of the Golden Crater
-  Won at West Point
-
-BROOKS McCORMICK.
-
-Four splendid books of adventure on sea and land, by this well-known
-writer for boys.
-
-  Giant Islanders, The
-  How He Won
-  Nature’s Young Nobleman
-  Rival Battalions
-
-WALTER MORRIS.
-
-This charming story contains thirty-two chapters of just the sort of
-school life that charms the boy readers.
-
-  Bob Porter at Lakeview Academy
-
-STANLEY NORRIS.
-
-Mr. Norris is without a rival as a writer of “Circus Stories” for boys.
-These four books are full of thrilling adventures, but good, wholesome
-reading for young Americans.
-
-  Phil, the Showman
-  Young Showman’s Rivals, The
-  Young Showman’s Pluck, The
-  Young Showman’s Triumph
-
-LIEUT. JAMES K. ORTON.
-
-When a boy has read one of Lieut. Orton’s books, it requires no urging
-to induce him to read the others. Not a dull page in any of them.
-
-  Beach Boy Joe
-  Last Chance Mine
-  Secret Chart, The
-  Tom Havens with the White Squadron
-
-JAMES OTIS.
-
-Mr. Otis is known by nearly every American boy, and needs no
-introduction here. The following copyrights are among his best:
-
-  Chased Through Norway
-  Inland Waterways
-  Unprovoked Mutiny
-  Wheeling for Fortune
-  Reuben Green’s Adventures at Yale
-
-GILBERT PATTEN.
-
-Mr. Patten has had the distinction of having his books adopted by the
-U. S. Government for all naval libraries on board our war ships. While
-aiming to avoid the extravagant and sensational, the stories contain
-enough thrilling incidents to please the lad who loves action and
-adventure. In the Rockspur stories the description of their Baseball
-and Football Games and other contests with rival clubs and teams make
-very exciting and absorbing reading; and few boys with warm blood in
-their veins, having once begun the perusal of one of these books, will
-willingly lay it down till it is finished.
-
-  Boy Boomers
-  Boy Cattle King
-  Boy from the West
-  Don Kirke’s Mine
-  Jud and Joe
-  Rockspur Nine, The
-  Rockspur Eleven, The
-  Rockspur Rivals, The
-
-ST. GEORGE RATHBORNE.
-
-Mr. Rathborne’s stories for boys have the peculiar charm of dealing
-with localities and conditions with which he is thoroughly familiar.
-The scenes of these excellent stories are along the Florida coast and
-on the western prairies.
-
-  Canoe and Camp Fire
-  Paddling Under Palmettos
-  Rival Canoe Boys
-  Sunset Ranch
-  Chums of the Prairie
-  Young Range Riders
-  Gulf Cruisers
-  Shifting Winds
-
-ARTHUR SEWELL.
-
-An American story by an American author. It relates how a Yankee boy
-overcame many obstacles in school and out. Thoroughly interesting from
-start to finish.
-
-  Gay Dashleigh’s Academy Days
-
-CAPT. DAVID SOUTHWICK.
-
-An exceptionally good story of frontier life among the Indians in the
-far West, during the early settlement period.
-
-  Jack Wheeler
-
-The Famous Frank Merriwell Stories.
-
-BURT L. STANDISH.
-
-No modern series of tales for boys and youths has met with anything
-like the cordial reception and popularity accorded to the Frank
-Merriwell Stories. There must be a reason for this and there is. Frank
-Merriwell, as portrayed by the author, is a jolly whole-souled, honest,
-courageous American lad, who appeals to the hearts of the boys. He
-has no bad habits, and his manliness inculcates the idea that it is
-not necessary for a boy to indulge in petty vices to be a hero. Frank
-Merriwell’s example is a shining light for every ambitious lad to
-follow. Six volumes now ready:
-
-  Frank Merriwell’s School Days
-  Frank Merriwell’s Chums
-  Frank Merriwell’s Foes
-  Frank Merriwell’s Trip West
-  Frank Merriwell Down South
-  Frank Merriwell’s Bravery
-
-VICTOR ST. CLAIR.
-
-These books are full of good, clean adventure, thrilling enough to
-please the full-blooded wide-awake boy, yet containing nothing to which
-there can be any objection from those who are careful as to the kind of
-books they put into the hands of the young.
-
-  Cast Away in the Jungle
-  For Home and Honor
-  From Switch to Lever
-  Little Snap, the Post Boy
-  Zig-Zag, the Boy Conjurer
-  Zip, the Acrobat
-
-MATTHEW WHITE, JR.
-
-Good, healthy, strong books for the American lad. No more interesting
-books for the young appear on our lists.
-
-  Adventures of a Young Athlete
-  Eric Dane
-  Guy Hammersley
-  My Mysterious Fortune
-  Tour of a Private Car
-  Young Editor, The
-
-ARTHUR M. WINFIELD.
-
-One of the most popular authors of boys’ books. He writes also under
-the name of Bonehill and Stratemeyer. Here are three of his best.
-
-  Mark Dale’s Stage Venture
-  Young Bank Clerk, The
-  Young Bridge Tender, The
-
-GAYLE WINTERTON.
-
-This very interesting story relates the trials and triumphs of a Young
-American Actor, including the solution of a very puzzling mystery.
-
-  Young Actor, The
-
-ERNEST A. YOUNG.
-
-This book is not a treatise on sports, as the title would indicate, but
-relates a series of thrilling adventures among boy campers in the woods
-of Maine.
-
-  Boats, Bats and Bicycles
-
-DAVID McKAY, Publisher, Philadelphia.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Transcriber’s Notes:
-
-Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are
-mentioned.
-
-Punctuation has been made consistent.
-
-Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in
-the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have
-been corrected.
-
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