old captain. Say, you just ought to see his place--it's the
queerest lay-out. Snug and neat as a pin. He's tried to arrange
everything the way it is on shipboard. He's got a Chinaman or a Jap, I
don't know which, for a servant. He is the first one I ever saw, though
they say there are lots of them in Kansas City. This chap can work all
right. We had the best supper the evening Frank and I went over for
hay."

"My, I wish I could see it. Do you suppose Father would take me over
some time?"

"I don't know. They say he hates women--won't have one around."

"Pshaw, you're making that up, but what's the idea? Oh, you old hateful,
you're just teasing--I can tell by your eyes!"

"Honest Injun, I'm not any such thing, only you interrupt so you don't
give me a chance. You know the Captain has been at sea for twenty-five
years--never'd quit only his asthma got so bad the doctor told him he'd
have to go to a dry climate, and bundled him off here to Kansas. Well,
he seemed to take a shine to me, and he asked me a lot of questions
about what I was going to do. Finally, he wanted to know why I didn't
try to get into the Naval Academy instead of going to college. Said if
he had a son--and do you know, he turned kind of white when he said
that, perhaps he's lost a boy or something--he'd send him there."

"O Ernest, and be an officer? I saw a picture of one at Mrs.
Wilcox's--her nephew--and his uniform was perfectly grand."

"Just like a girl--always thinking of clothes! But I've been thinking
perhaps I should like the life. I always like to read about naval
fights, and our navy's always been some pumpkins, if it has been small.
And the captain says a naval officer has a chance to go all over the
world. Think of your beloved brother, who has never been on a train but
six times, sailing away for China or Australia!"

Chicken Little gave a gasp, "Ernest Morton, it wouldn't be a bit fair
for you to go without me!"

"Don't worry, I don't suppose there's one chance in a hundred that I
could get the appointment. Father knows Senator Pratt, and the Captain
said he didn't think there was as much competition for Annapolis out
here as for West Point. It's so far from the sea. But mind, Jane, not a
word to anybody till I think it over some more. I'm going to see the
Captain again."

"O Ernest, what if you should go clear round the world?"

"'Twouldn't hurt my feelings a bit. But mum's the word, Sis."

CHAPTER III

CHICKEN LIT