me to reflect over that answer, Mr. Darrin?"

"No, sir."

"You are willing your answer should go on record, then?"

"My denial of the charge of having my shoes unlaced is the only
answer that I can possibly make, sir."

The commandant reflected. Then he directed that Midshipman Clairy
be ordered to report to him. Clairy came, almost immediately.
The commandant questioned him closely. Clairy still stuck resolutely
to his story that Dave Darrin had been passing through the corridor
with his shoes unlaced; and, furthermore, that Darrin, when rebuked
and ordered to place himself on report, had used impertinent language.

During this examination the midshipmen did not glance toward each
other. Both stood at attention, their glances on the commandant's
face.

"I do not know what to say," the officer admitted at last. "I
will take the matter under advisement. You may both go."

Outside, well away from the office, Dave Darrin halted, swinging
and confronting Clairy sternly.

"You lying scoundrel!" vibrated Darrin, his voice shaking with
anger.

"It constitutes another offense, Mr. Darrin, to use such language
for the purpose of intimidating a midshipman in the performance
of his duty," returned Midshipman Clairy, looking back steadily
into Dave's eyes.

"An offense? Fighting is another, under a strict interpretation
of the rules," Dave replied coldly.

"And I do not intend to fight you," replied Clairy, still speaking
smoothly.

"Perhaps I should know better than to challenge you," replied
Midshipman Darrin. "The spirit of the brigade prohibits my fighting
any one who is not a gentleman."

"If that is all you have to say, Mr. Darrin, I will leave you.
You cannot provoke me into any breach of the regulations."

Clairy walked away calmly, leaving Dave Darrin fuming with anger.

Page was sent for next, then Dalzell. Both denied utterly the
charges on which Clairy had ordered them to report themselves.
Again Mr. Clairy was sent for, and once more he asserted the
complete truthfulness of his charges.

It was so in the cases of the five remaining midshipmen under
charges, though still Mr. Clairy stuck to the correctness of the
report.

Action in all of the eight cases was suspended by the commandant,
who went post-haste to the superintendent. That latter official,
experienced as he was in the ways of midshipmen, could offer no
solution of the mystery.

"You see, my dear Graves," explained the super