e officer ran. Nine of the young men
proved to have leave to be away from their quarters. The other seven
did not have such permission. The names of these seven, therefore, were
written down to be reported. The seven, too, were ordered at once back
to their quarters.

Having issued his instructions, the naval officer turned and walked
away. Jack and his comrades, too, left the scene.

Yet they had not gone far when they heard a low hail behind. Turning,
they saw Cadet Midshipmen Merriam hastening toward them.

"Gentlemen," he said, earnestly, as he reached them, "it may not be
best for me to be seen lingering here to talk with you. But my comrades
wanted me to come after you and to say that we think you bricks. You
carried that off finely, Mr. Benson. None of us will ever forget it."

"It wasn't much to do," smiled Jack, pleasantly.

"It was quick-witted of you, and generous too, sir," rejoined Mr.
Merriam, finding it now very easy to employ the "sir." "Probably
you agree with us that no great crime was committed, anyway. But,
just the same, hazing is under a heavy ban these days. If you hadn't
saved the day as you did, sir, all of our cadet party might have been
dismissed the Service. Those absent from quarters without leave will
get only a few demerits apiece. We have that much to thank you for,
sir, and we do. All our thanks, remember. Good night, sir."

"My courage was down in my boots for a while," confessed Hal Hastings,
as the three chums continued their walk back to the Basin.

"When?" demanded Eph, grimly. "When your boots--and the rest of
you--were so high up in the air over the blanket?"

"No; when the cadets were caught at it," replied Hal.

"Say, Jack," demanded Eph, "do you ever give much thought to the future
life?"

"Meaning the life in the next world?" questioned Benson.

"Yes."

"I sometimes give a good deal of thought to it," Jack confessed.

"Then where do you expect to go, when the time comes?"

"Why?"

"After the whoppers you told that officer?"

"I didn't tell him even a single tiny fib," protested Jack, indignantly.

"Oh, you George Washington!" choked Eph Somers.

"Well, I didn't," insisted Jack. "Now, just stop and think. Weren't
we all three discussing hazing?"

"Yes."

"Then that part of what I told the officer was straight. Now, Eph, when
we saw that first cadet come along, didn't I suggest to you to ask him
about hazing?"

"Ye-es," admitted Som