to your advantage to step aside and hear what I
have to say now."

"Make it very short, then."

"Mr. Brimmer," continued Darrin, when they were by themselves,
"all I have to say is to confirm the language that I used to you
the other evening. Further, I will say that you are quite at
liberty to report me for having assaulted you. Or, you may ask
for a class committee to investigate this affair between us.
The last that I have to say is that I have the vial of knockout
stuff that you gave Tony to serve to Dalzell and myself, and I
have also expert testimony as to the nature of the stuff. Nor
do I mind admitting to you that Dalzell and I are going to go
as far as we can in getting the evidence that; will warrant our
making an official report your scoundrelly conduct. If possible
we shall bring about your dismissal from the Naval Academy."

Brimmer's eyes flashed. Yet in the next minute the yellow streak
in him showed. His lip quivered, and he begged, brokenly:

"Darrin, show a little mercy. Would you care to be kicked out
of the Academy?"

"Not any more than Dalzell would have liked it," replied Dave
dryly.

"Then you must realize that it would spoil my life, too."

"Mr. Brimmer," retorted Darrin sternly, "it is no longer a question
of what your feelings in the matter may be. The plain fact is
that you are not a gentlemen--not honorable. You are not fit
to be the comrade of gentlemen. You are a profanation of the
uniform of the United States. It is for the good of the service,
far more than for any personal enmity, that several of us have
resolved to keep on the hunt for evidence until we get a complete
enough lot to drive you away from Annapolis."

Finding that coaxing was of no avail Brimmer became surly.

At the first opportunity for liberty to go into town Dave, Dan
and Farley went abruptly to Tony, the Greek, questioning him
insistently. Tony, however, would not say a word beyond stolidly
denying that he had had any part in the plot, and that he had
ever said so.

Tony had abundant reasons for his silence. He had promptly demanded
two hundred dollars from Brimmer, and the latter had sent post
haste to his father for the money, explaining only that he needed
it to "buy his way out of a scrape."

The money now rested in Tony's pocket.

Dave, Dan, Farley and Page tried hard, however, in other directions,
to secure the need evidence. There was no druggists' label on
the vial, so these fou