de him famous at the Naval Academy.

Dave Darrin waved his hand in thanks for the "Four-N" yell, the
surest sign of popularity, and vanished inside. When he returned
to the parlor be found that Farley had conducted his parents and
friends to one of the parlor windows, from which, behind drawn
blinds, they had watched the scene and heard the uproar without
making themselves visible.

At noon the hotel dining room was overrun with midshipmen and
their friends, all awaiting the afternoon train.

But at last the time came to leave Annapolis behind in earnest.
Extra cars had been put on to handle the throng, for the "train,"
for the first few miles of the way, usually consists of but one
combination trolley car.

"You're leaving the good old place behind," murmured Belle, as
the car started.

"Never a graduate yet but was glad to leave Annapolis behind,"
replied Dave.

"It seems to me that you ought not to speak of the Naval Academy
in that tone."

"You'd understand, Belle, if you had been through every bit of
the four-year grind, always with the uncertainty ahead of you
of being able to get through and grad."

"Perhaps the strict discipline irked you, too," Miss Meade hinted.

"The strict discipline will be part of the whole professional
life ahead of me," Darrin responded. "As to discipline, it's
even harder on some ships, where the old man is a stickler for
having things done just so."

"The old man?" questioned Belle.

"The 'old man' is the captain of a warship."

"It doesn't sound respectful."

"Yet it has always been the name given to the ship's captain,
and I don't suppose it will be changed in another hundred years.
How does it feel, Danny boy, going away for good?"

"Am I really going away for good?" grinned Dalzell. "I thought
it was only a dream."

"Well, here's Odenton. You'll be in Baltimore after another little
while, and then it will all seem more real."

"Nothing but Gridley will look real to me on this trip," muttered
Dan. "Really, I'm growing sick for a good look at the old home
town."

"I wish you could put in the whole summer at home, Dan," sighed
his mother. "But, of course, I know that you can't."

"No, mother; I'll have time to walk up and down the home streets
two or three times, and then orders will come from the Navy Department
to report aboard the ship to which I'm to be assigned. Mother,
if you want to keep a boy at home you shouldn't allow him to go
to a place wh