heir
share of good words.

"And to think, Darry, that you can never play on the Navy eleven
again!" groaned a second classman.

"You'll have some one else in my place," laughed Dave.

"The Navy never before had a football player like you, and we'll
never have one again," insisted the same man. "Dalzell's kind
come once in about every five years, but your kind, Darry, never
come back---in the Navy!"

CHAPTER XV

DAN FEELS AS "SOLD" AS HE LOOKS

It was the first hop after the New Year.

"Tell me one thing Dave," begged Belle Meade, who, with Laura
Bentley, and accompanied by Mrs. Meade, had come down to Annapolis
for this dance.

"I'll tell you two things, if I know how," Darrin responded promptly.

"Dan has danced a little with Laura, to be sure, but he introduced
Mr. Farley to her, and has written down Farley's name for a lot of
dances on Laura's card."

"Farley is a nice fellow," Dave replied. "But why didn't Dan
want more of the dances with Laura, instead of turning them over
to Mr. Farley?" followed up Belle. "And---there he goes now."

"Farley?"

"No, stupid! Dan."

"Well, why shouldn't he move about?" Midshipman Darrin inquired.

"But with---By the way, who is that girl, anyway?"

The girl was tall, rather stately and of a pronounced blonde type.
She was a girl who would have been called more than merely pretty
by any one who had seen her going by on Midshipman Dalzell's arm.

"I don't really know who she is," Dave admitted.

"Have you seen her here before?"

"Yes; I think I have seen the young lady half a dozen times before
to-night."

"Then it's odd that you don't know who she is," pursued Miss Meade.

"I've never been introduced to her, you see."

"Oh! I imagined that you midshipmen were always being presented
to girls."

"That's a fairy tale," said Dave promptly. "The average midshipman
has about all he can do to hold his place here, without losing
any time in running around making the acquaintances of young women
who probably don't care at all about knowing him."

"What I'm wondering about," Belle went on, "is whether the young
woman we have been discussing is any one in whom Dan Dalzell is
seriously interested."

"I'll ask Dan."

"Oh! And I suppose you'll tell him that it's I who really want
to know."

"I'll tell him that, too, if you wish it."

"Dave, you won't even mention my name to Dan in connection with
any topic so silly."

"All right, Belle. All