ed Eph Somers to himself. "If
they do--"

That was far as he got, for Eph was suddenly flung upon the blanket.

Sir, sir, surcingle!

Then how Eph _did_ go up and down! It was as though these cadet midshipmen
knew that it would make Eph mad, madder, maddest! These budding young
naval officers fairly bent to their work, tautening and loosening on the
blanket until their muscles fairly ached.

It was lofty aerial work that Eph Somers was doing. Up and up--higher and
higher! Without the need of any effort on his own part young Somers was
now traveling upward at the rate of ten or eleven feet at every punctuated
bound.

Then, suddenly, there came a sound that chilled the blood of every young
cadet midshipman hazer present.

"_Halt!_ Where you are!"

Under the shadow of the barracks building a naval officer had appeared. He
now came forward, a frown on his face, eyeing the culprits.

It is no merry jest for cadet midshipmen to be caught at hazing! And here
were some thirty of them--red-handed!

CHAPTER XII: JACK BENSON, EXPERT EXPLAINER

At the first word of command from the officer several of the cadet
midshipmen who were near enough to an open doorway vanished through it.

As the officer strode through the group of startled young men a few more,
left behind his back, made a silent disappearance.

There were left, however, as the officer looked about him, sixteen of the
young men, all too plainly headed and led by Cadet Midshipman Merriam.

"Young gentlemen," said the officer, severely, "I regret to find so many
of you engaged in hazing. It is doubly bad when your victims are men
outside the corps. And, if I mistake not, these young gentlemen are here
as temporary civilian instructors in submarine work."

Mr. Merriam and his comrades made no reply in words. Nor did their faces
express much. They stood at attention, looking stolidly ahead of them,
though their faces were turned toward the officer. It was not the place of
any of them to speak unless the officer asked questions.

Severe as the hazing had been, however, Jack and Hal, at least, had taken
it all in good part. Nor was Jack bound by any of the rules of etiquette
that prevented the cadets from speaking.

"May I offer a word, sir?" asked Jack, wheeling upon the officer.

"You were one of the victims of a hazing, were you not?" demanded the
officer, regarding Jack, keenly.

"Why, could you call it that, sir?" asked Jack