in
which year I turn that life over to the Flag?"

"Edgecombe," said the commandant, rather huskily, as the two
officers left the hospital, "I am glad--mighty glad--that we
didn't lose Darrin today. We are going to need him in the Navy
of tomorrow!"

CHAPTER XXII

THE "BAZOO" MAKES TROUBLE

"Sir, the brigade is formed," reported the brigade adjutant, the
next day, as the midshipmen stood in ranks, ready to march into
the mess hall.

"Publish the orders," directed the cadet commander.

Then the brigade adjutant rattled off the orders, reading them
in a quick monotonous voice.

"For coolness, judgment and remarkable bravery displayed in an
accident encounter in the sinking and foundering of a sailboat
under his command, which accident was not any way due to his own
negligence or incapacity--"

Dave started, then crimsoned, as the brigade adjutant continued
reading:

"Midshipman David Darrin, fourth class, is hereby specially commended,
and his conduct is offered as an example to all his comrades in
the brigade of midshipmen."

A moment later the crisp marching orders rang out, and the brigade
was marching in by classes.

Dave's face was still flushed, his blood tingling somewhat. It
was pleasing, doubtless, to be thus reviewed in orders, but Dave
was not unduly elated.

In the Navy, though courage may sometimes be mentioned in orders,
not much fuss is made over it. All officers and men in the Navy
are expected to be brave, as a matter of course and of training.

Dan, in fact, was more pleased over that one paragraph in orders
than was his chum.

"Of course everyone in the Navy must brave," thought Dalzell,
to himself. "But old Dave will always be one of the leaders in
that line."

In accordance with custom a copy of the order giving Darrin special
commendation was mailed to his father, as one who had a right
to know and to be proud of his son's record at the Naval Academy.

Not a doubt was there that the senior Darrin was proud! So many
of the elder Darrin's friends were favored with a glimpse of the
official communication received from Annapolis that the editor
of the Gridley "Blade," heard of it. Mr. Pollock asked the privilege
of making a copy of the official communication, which contained
a copy of the paragraph in orders.

Mr. Pollock, however, was not contented with publishing merely
a copy of the official communication from the Naval Academy authorities.
The editor printed