"Well, er--er--" stammered the other man.
"You see," smiled Dave, "the doubt hits you just as hard as it does me!"
"Oh, of course, a fellow who has turned opium fiend is no fellow ever to be allowed to reach the bridge and the quarter-deck," admitted Hallam.
"But see here, are you going to report this affair to the commandant of midshipmen, or to anyone else in authority?"
"I"ve no occasion to report," replied Dave dryly. "I am not in any way in command over Pennington. But I mean to persuade him to report himself for what he has done!"
"But that would ruin him!" protested Hallam, aghast. "He wouldn"t even be allowed to start on the cruise. He"d be railroaded home without loss of a moment."
"Yet you"ve just said that an opium-user isn"t fit to go on in the brigade," retorted Darrin.
"Hang it, it"s hard to know what to do," rejoined Hallam, wrinkling his forehead. "Of course we want to be just to Pen."
"It doesn"t strike me as being just exactly a question of justice to Pennington," Darrin went on earnestly. "If this is anything it"s a question of midshipman honor. We fellows are bound to see that all the unworthy ones are dropped from the service. Now, a fellow who has fastened the opium habit on himself isn"t fit to go on, is he?"
"Oh, say, but this is a hard one to settle!" groaned Hallam.
"Then I"ll take all the responsibility upon myself," said Dave promptly.
"I don"t want to make any mistake, and I don"t believe I"m going to.
Wait just a moment."
Going to the rear room, Dave faced his three comrades there with the question:
"You three are enough to take care of everything here for a few minutes, aren"t you?"
"Yes," nodded Dan. "What"s up?"
"Hallam and I are going for a brief walk."
Then, stepping back into the front room, Darrin nodded to his cla.s.smate, who followed him outside.
"Just come along, and say nothing about the matter on the street,"
requested Dave. "It might be overheard."
"Where are you going?" questioned Hallam wonderingly.
"Wait and see, please."
From Chow Hop"s wretched establishment it was not far to the other building that Dave had in mind as a destination.
But when they arrived, and stood at the foot of the steps, Hallam clutched Darrin"s arm, holding him back.
"Why, see here, this is the police station!"
"I know it," Dave replied calmly.
"But see here, you"re not--"
"I"m not going to drag you into anything that you"d object to," Darrin continued. "Come along; all I want you for is as a witness to what I am going to say."
"Don"t do it, old fel--"
"I"ve thought that over, and I feel that I must," replied Dave firmly.
"Come along. Don"t attract attention by standing here arguing."
In another instant the two midshipmen were going swiftly up the steps.
The chief of police received his two callers courteously. Dave told the official how their attention had been called to the fact that one of their number was in an opium joint. Dave named the place, but requested the chief to wait a full hour before taking any action.
"That will give us a chance to get out a comrade who may have committed only his first offense," Dave continued.
"If there"s any opium being smoked in that place I"ll surely close the joint out!" replied the chief, bringing his fist down upon his desk.
"But I understand your reasons, Mr.--"
"Darrin is my name, sir," replied Dave quietly.
"So, Mr. Darrin, I give you my word that I won"t even start my investigations before this evening. And I"ll keep all quiet about the midshipman end of it."
"Thank you very much, sir," said Dave gratefully.
As the two midshipmen strolled slowly back in the direction of Chow Hop"s, Dave murmured:
"Now, you see why I took this step?"
"I"m afraid not very clearly," replied Midshipman Hallam.
"That scoundrelly Chow made his boast that other midshipmen patronized his place. I don"t believe it. Such a vice wouldn"t appeal to you, and it doesn"t to me. But there are more than two hundred new plebes coming in just now, and many of these boys have never been away from home before. Some of them might foolishly seek the lure of a new vice, and might find the habit fastened on them before they were aware of it.
Chow"s vile den might spoil some good material for the quarter-deck, and, as a matter of midshipman honor, we"re bound to see that the place is cleaned out right away."
"I guess, Darry, you come pretty near being right," a.s.sented Hallam, after thinking for a few moments.
By the time they reached Chow Hop"s again they found that Dr. Lawrence had brought the unfortunate Pennington to. And a very scared and humiliated midshipman it was who now stood up, a bit unsteadily, and tried to smooth down his uniform.
"How do you feel now?" asked Dave.
"Awful!" shuddered Pennington. "And now see here, what are you fellows going to do? Blab, and see me driven out of the Navy?"
"Don"t do any talking in here," advised Dave, with a meaning look over his shoulder at the yellow men in the outer room. "Doctor, is our friend in shape to walk along with us now?"
"He will be, in two or three minutes, after he drinks something I"m going to give him," replied the medical man, shaking a few drops from each of three vials into a gla.s.s of water. "Here, young man, drink this slowly."
Three minutes later the midshipmen left the place, Dave walking beside Pennington and holding his arm lightly for the purpose of steadying him.
"How did this happen, Pen?" queried Dave, when the six men of the third cla.s.s at last found themselves walking down Maryland Avenue. "How long have you been at this "hop" trick?"
"Never before to-day," replied Midshipman Pennington quickly.
"Pen, will you tell me that on your honor?" asked Dave gravely.