"And I"ll bottle up Holmes and put the stopper in," promised Dan with solemn modesty.
Again two of the men made a rush for him to quiet him.
"It may be only a rumor that Prescott and Holmes are on the Army eleven,"
spoke up another midshipman.
"No," objected still another, "I had a letter, this afternoon, from a cousin who has been up to West Point and has seen the Army crowd at work.
The Army is rejoicing over Prescott and Holmes as a pair of precious finds, and they"re both nailed to the colors for this season."
"Then we"re going to have a tough time in our game with the Army," Darrin declared thoughtfully. "And the Army will beat more college teams this year than usual."
"We won"t die until the Army shoots, anyway," promised Hepson. "And now, Darry, there"s another question we want to put to you, and we want an out-and-out answer. Do you believe that Jetson really meant to trip you this afternoon?"
"You heard his denial," Dave rejoined.
"Yes."
"Well, Jetson is a midshipman and a gentleman. There has never been any question here about his honor," Darrin replied. "I accepted his denial of intention at the time, and I still accept it."
"It"s queer, then, how Jetson came to give you such a nasty trip,"
observed another caller.
"I"ll tell you what I think really must have happened," Dave continued frankly. "I think Jet was crazy to stop me. It was on his mind, and he was determined to do it. He tripped me, of course, but I think he really acted on an unconscious impulse and without intention. So, at that rate, the trip was not really intended, since he had not deliberately planned it."
"Would you be willing to play on the same team with him, Darry?" pursued Midshipman Hepson.
"Yes, or with any other man in the brigade. I don"t suspect any man here at the Naval Academy of anything intentionally and deliberately dishonorable."
"Good, Darry!" cried several midshipmen.
For a few minutes the talk grew fast and furious. Then some one looked at his watch and there was a prompt flight of visitors. Ten minutes later taps sounded and a master switch turned off the lights in midshipmen"s quarters, with nearly eight hundred young men in their beds and already dropping asleep.
At eight the next morning the many sections marched off to recitations and for hours the grind of the day was on. At the Naval Academy, as at West Point, not even football is allowed to interfere in the least with studies or recitations. No football player is permitted to go into section room, after extra practice in the field, and announce himself unprepared to recite. Only midshipmen of a good grade of scholarship are permitted to join or remain in the football squad.
Late in the afternoon, when recreation time came, all was speedily changed. Every member of the squad hastily reported in togs. Scores of midshipmen not of the squad hastened over to see the practice work. The scores were presently increased to hundreds. Fifty or more Naval officers detailed at the yard were scattered along the side lines. Many of the wives and daughters of officers stationed at Annapolis turned out to view the work. Other young ladies came from Annapolis. There was also a big delegation of "St. Johnnies," as the gray-clad young men from St. John"s College are called.
The news had evidently traveled far that the Navy had two new men on the team who were expected to prove "wonders."
"A big part of this crowd is out to see you and Danny boy," Hepson remarked to Darrin.
"Haven"t they anything better to do with their time, then?" laughed Dave.
"Great Scott, man! Every one of the spectators wants to see the Navy beat the Army this year."
"But these spectators are a heap cheered up by what they"ve heard about you and Dalzell."
Dave, however, went about his work all but unconsciously. Never much of an egotist, he declined to believe himself the star man of the Navy eleven.
When Coach Havens called off the two teams that were to play that day, Jetson observed that he was not called for either.
"It looks as though Darrin has queered me," muttered that midshipman gloomily to himself. "I didn"t think Darrin was quite as bad as that."
After the practice game had started, and Dave had put through the most brilliant play that he had yet exhibited, the air rang with his name from hundreds of throats.
"That"s the way!" grumbled Jetson. "It"s all Darrin now! These idiots will forget that I was ever at Annapolis."
Jetson sulked about. After the rebuke he had received the day before from the head coach, he did not dare to carry his sulk so far as to go and un-tog without leave.
Towards the end of the first half of the practice game, a man on the second team was hurt enough to be retired, and Joyce was called.
"They might have given me a chance," quivered Jetson sulkily. "I"m a lot better player than the fool coach imagines. But, anyway, I suppose Darrin has turned the coach and Hepson against me. I owe Darrin for that one!"
Five minutes later another player of the second eleven was retired with an injured wrist.
"Howard!" called the coach briskly.
"Excused for to-day, sir," reported another player.
"Any one but me!" growled Jetson.
"Jetson!" sounded the head coach"s heavy voice.
Midshipman Jetson started. His face flushed. Then, for an instant, a sulky impulse seized him to reply that he did not feel up to form to-day.
But the midshipman smothered that desire and started forward.
"Here, sir," he reported.
"Take right guard on second," directed Coach Havens.
"Very good, sir."
The game was resumed. Jetson, however, had a face full of sulkiness. As he joined the line-up his eyes rested on Dave Darrin.
"I wonder if Jetson means me any harm?" flashed through Dave"s mind. In an instant, however, he dismissed the suspicion.
"Jetson is a midshipman, a gentleman and a man of honor," thought Darrin generously.
The whistle sounded, the ball was snapped back and pa.s.sed, Darrin received it and dashed forward to carry it past the opponents.
In a twinkling there was a staggering crash. Dave was down with the ball, with men of two teams piled above him.
At the sound of the referee"s whistle the ma.s.s disentangled itself. Dave and Jetson were at the bottom of the heap. Jetson was the last man up, but Dave still lay there.
"Surgeon here?" called the coach"s steady voice, devoid of excitement.
But there was anxiety enough when it was seen that Midshipman Darrin still lay face downward.
"Has Darrin been hurt--our Darrin--the great Darrin?" flew from tongue to tongue.
"Did Jetson do it?" was another question that was instantly asked.