flying eastward; "you have the kindest of fathers and you can
never do enough to repay your obligations to him."

"I admit all that," replied the young man smiling, "but what's the use
of rubbing it in when I _didn't_ run away?"

"But you started to do so," she persisted.

"And stopped in time: what was wrong in _that_?"

"It was wrong that you should have had a minute when you seriously
intended to commit the crime."

"Commit the crime!" he repeated, with a reproving look; "perhaps it
would have been a crime, but I'm not so sure about that."

"I am; Jack I'm ashamed of you."

"So am I; but don't forget that I was younger then than now."

"Yes; two or three months; persons sometimes grow a good deal in that
period."

"They may not grow so much in stature, but they do in sense."

"I have heard of such instances, but I do not remember to have met
any."

"Come now, sister," laughed the youth who admired his friend's
brilliancy, "I beg you to let up; I confess all you have charged; I am
a base villain, for whom hanging would be too good; you will be filled
with remorse when I become General of the army and you recall all the
harsh words you have said of me."

"_When_ you become General I will mourn my cruelty in sackcloth and
ashes. But I am willing to change the subject. Let us drop the past
and talk of the future. Your term at West Point I believe is four
years."

"Provided I'm not 'found' as the expression goes. But I'm not really
admitted as yet, though I passed the preliminary examination before
leaving home and won my appointment in a competitive contest. The
decisive examination will take place at the Point when I get there; I
understand it is severe, but I am quite confident."

"You always were, no matter what issue was involved."

Since we have already learned that all went well with the young man,
it is not necessary to repeat the speculation of the couple as they
steamed eastward. Jack did enter the Military Academy, and, as I have
said, made a creditable record for himself. Warrenia Rowland at the
same time became a student in the famous young ladies' seminary, to
which further reference will be made later, and the two were graduated
within a few weeks of each other.

It would be supposed that the military career upon which Major Jack
Starland entered would have extinguished his love of boating and the
water, but it did not. Could he have chosen his profession it would
have been that of the