Then, all in the dark as they were, Midshipman Dave Darrin seized
his chum and roommate by the shoulders.

"Danny boy," he commanded firmly, "come over with an account of
yourself! Why this mad prank tonight---and what was it?"

CHAPTER II

SOME ONE PUSHES THE TUNGSTEN

You don't have to know every blessed thing that I do, do you?"
demanded Dan Dalzell, in an almost offended tone.

"No; and I have no right to know anything that you don't tell me
willingly. Are you ready to give me any explanation of tonight's
foolishness?

"Seeing that you kept awake for me, and were on hand to let me in,
I suppose I'll have to," grumbled Dan.

"Well, then?

"Dave, for the first time tonight, I struck my flag."

"Struck to whom?"

"Oh---a girl, of course," grunted Dan.

"You? A girl?" repeated Dave in amazement.

"Yes; is it any crime for me to get acquainted with a girl, and
to call on her at her home?"

"Certainly not. But, Dan, I didn't believe that you ever felt
a single flutter of the pulse when girls were around. I thought
you were going to grow up into a cheerful, happy old bachelor."

"So did I," sighed Dan.

"And now you've gone and met your fate?"

"I'm not so sure about that," Dalzell retorted moodily.

"Do you mean that you don't stand any real show in front of the pair
of bright eyes that have made you strike your colors?"

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Dan, is the game worth the candle," argued Darrin.

"You're mightily interested in Belle Meade, aren't you?"

"Yes; but that's different, Danny boy."

"How is it different, I'd like to know?"

"Well, in the first place, there's no guesswork in my case. Belle
and I are engaged, and we feel perfectly sure each of the other.
I'm so sure of Belle that I dream about her only in my leisure
moments. I don't ever let her face come between myself and the
pages of a textbook. I am here at the Naval Academy working for
a future that Belle is to share with me when the time comes, and
so, in justice to her, I don't let the thought of her get between
myself and the duties that will lead to the career she is to share
with me."

"Humph!" commented Midshipman Dalzell.

"Above all, Dan, I've never Frenched it over the wall. I don't take
any disciplinary chances that can possibly shut me off from the
career that Belle and I have planned. Belle Meade, Danny boy, would
be the first to scold me if she knew that I had Frenched it over the
wall in orde