he one to start
any trouble."

"He called me a liar," protested Pennington.

"Did he?" gasped Hallam.

"Well, he qualified the statement, but his way of saying it was as
offensive as the direct lie could have been."

"So you're bent on fighting Darry?"

"I am."

"Too bad!" muttered Hallam, shaking his head.

"Are you anxious for your idol?" asked Pen in a disagreeable tone.

"No, Penny; it's you that I'm concerned about in my own mind. You're
going next to a very hard proposition. Darry is patient--almost as
patient as the proverbial camel--but when he fights he fights! You'll be
hammered to a pulp, Pen."

"Pooh!"

"No one has yet beaten Darrin at a fist fight."

"There always has to be a first time, you know."

"And you think you're It?"

"As far as Darrin is concerned--yes."

"Too bad--too bad!" sighed Hallam. "I'm afraid, Penny, that the heat in
the furnace room was too much for you this morning."

"Then you won't serve as one of my seconds?"

"The honor is most regretfully declined," replied Hallam in a tone of
mock sadness.

"You want to see Darrin win?"

"If there has to be a fight, I do," replied Midshipman Hallam.

"Don't bet your money on him, anyway."

"I'm not a gambler, Penny, and I don't bet," replied Hallam, with a
dignity that, somehow, ended the conversation.

Pennington had considerable difficulty, at first, in finding a second.
At last, however, he induced Decker and Briggs to represent him.

These two midshipmen went to see Dan Dalzell.

"Wait until I send for Mr. Farley," proposed Dalzell. He soon had that
midshipman, who was wholly willing to serve Darrin in any capacity.

"We're ready to have the fight this evening," proposed Midshipman
Decker.

"We're not," retorted Dan, with vigor.

"Why not?"

"This forenoon Pennington deliberately stepped on Darrin's shoulder,
with such force as to lame it a good deal," replied Dan. "Our man
insists that he has a right to rest his shoulder, and to wait until
to-morrow."

"But to-morrow we have a short shore liberty at Hampton Roads,"
remonstrated Briggs.

"Yes; and during that shore liberty we can have the fight more safely
than on board ship," insisted Dalzell.

"But we intended to devote our shore leave to pleasure," objected
Decker.

"You'll find plenty of pleasure, if you accept our proposition," urged
Dan dryly. "At any rate, we won't hear of Darrin fighting before
to-morrow. He must have to-night to rest that sh