e may take looking to that end?" asked another member of the Board.

"That is my firm conviction, sir."

The superintendent, who had been silently examining and marking some
statements in the pamphlet, now passed it to the nearest member of the
Board, who, after a glance or two, passed the pamphlet on to another
member.

Silence fell upon the room while Dan's printed record was being read.

"Have you anything else that you wish to say, Mr. Dalzell?" asked the
superintendent at last.

"Only this, sir and gentlemen," replied Dan promptly. "If I am permitted
to go on with the brigade, I promise, as far as any human being may
promise, that I will not only be found to have passed at the end of this
term, but that I will also have a higher marking after the annual
examinations than after the semi-annuals."

These last few words Dan spoke with his whole soul thrown into the
words. How he longed to remain in the Navy, now that he stood at the
threshold of the life, uncertain whether he was about to be kicked
across it into the outer world!

After glancing around the table, the superintendent turned once more to
the young man.

"That will be all, at present, Mr. Dalzell."

Saluting briskly, crisply, Dan wheeled about, marching from the room.

He was in time to make a section recitation before dinner.

"How did you come out, Danny boy?" anxiously inquired Dave Darrin as the
two, in their room, hastily prepared to answer the coming call for
dinner formation.

"I wish I knew," replied Dalzell wistfully. "I said all that I could
say without being everlastingly fresh."

After the brigade had been formed for dinner, and the brigade adjutant
had reported the fact, the command was given:

"Publish the orders!"

This the brigade adjutant did rapidly, and in perfunctory tones.

Dalzell jumped, however, when he heard his own name pronounced. He
strained his ears as the brigade adjutant read:

"In the matter of Daniel Dalzell, summoned before the Academic Board to
determine his fitness and aptitude for continuing in the brigade, the
Board has granted Midshipman Dalzell's urgent request that he be
continued as a midshipman for the present."

There was a great lump, instantly, in Dan's throat. It was a reprieve, a
chance for official life--but that was all.

"I'll make good--I'll make good!" he told himself, with a violent gulp.

The orders were ringing out sharply now. The midshipmen were being
marched in to dinner.