Ralph Osborn arrived in Annapolis in May, just a month before the
entrance examinations were to take place. He secured room and board at
the price of eight dollars a week, and immediately enrolled himself for
one month’s tuition in Professor Wingate’s preparatory school. Here the
special instruction given consisted in studying previous examination
questions, and Ralph soon felt he was well prepared for his coming
ordeal.
At this time Annapolis was full of visitors, and the number of these
increased daily. There were here many of the friends and relations
of the midshipmen soon to graduate, and also more than a hundred and
seventy candidates were distributed in the different boarding-houses
of the old town. One of these aspirants came into immediate notoriety
because apparently he possessed enormous wealth and made much noise
in spending his money. His name was Short; he arrived in Annapolis in
a private car and immediately rented a handsome, well-furnished house
in which he installed a retinue of servants. Short was an orphan. He
had inherited millions, and though nominally under the control of a
guardian, he actually ruled the latter with an imperious will that
brooked neither check nor interference. Though he was not aware of it,
Short as a midshipman was an impossible contemplation. First, he was
utterly unprincipled; secondly, he was uncontrollable. But he made an
effort to prepare himself, engaged special tutors, and promised them
large bonuses if he passed the examinations successfully. A week before
the examinations were held he was frankly told he would certainly fail
in mathematics. Short immediately went to the telegraph office and sent
several messages to New York. The next day two flashily-dressed men
came to Annapolis, had several long talks with Short and received money
from him.
Short enjoyed company and soon after he was domiciled in Annapolis he
had invited several of the candidates to live with him as his guests.
As these young men were earnestly preparing for their examinations,
their presence probably influenced Short to study more than he
otherwise would have done.
A few mornings before the day set for the commencement of the
examinations, Short at breakfast asked one of his guests to come with
him to the library. With them was also one of the men who had come down
from New York. Short was in particular good humor.
As soon as they reached the library, Short turned to the young
candidate, and without any preliminary words said abruptly, “The jig is
up. I’ve got you.”
The young man spoken to turned pale and trembled violently. “What do
you mean?” he gasped.
Short laughed. “I mean you’re caught,” he replied. “I’ve been missing
things of late and spotted you for the thief. The two hundred dollars
you took at two o’clock this morning was a plant for you. Every bill
was marked, and there were two detectives hidden in the room who saw
you steal the money. I’ve a warrant for your arrest; you’ll land in the
pen for this instead of becoming a midshipman.”
The young man addressed dropped helplessly into a near-by chair, and
hysterically cried, “I didn’t do it. This is a put up job.”
Short grinned. “Perhaps,” he said. “But I hate to be hard on a chum.
There’s a way out of it for you, though, if you will do exactly what I
say.”
“I didn’t do it; you can’t prove I did,” exclaimed the young man.
“I’m not going to try to prove it,” smiled Short, in reply. “I’m just
going to have you locked up in jail; the prosecuting attorney of
Annapolis and a jury will take charge of you; but I guess you’ll live
at public expense for a few years. It’s a clear case, my boy, but I
bear you no ill will; two hundred dollars or so isn’t much to me. But
I told you there was a way out of it for you, and an easy way out of
it, too.”
“What do you mean? Oh, Short, you wouldn’t disgrace me, you wouldn’t
ruin me?” implored the young man in trembling tones.
“Stop your sniveling,” commanded Short. “Now do you want to get out of
this and have no one know anything about it or do you want to go to
jail? Take your choice, and be quick about it.”
“I’ll do anything. What do you want me to do?”
“First, I want you to write a confession stating you stole the two
hundred dollars and other amounts from Thomas G. Short.”
“I’ll not do it.”
“Oh, well, then, go to jail; I’m tired of bothering with you.”
“Oh, Short, don’t. What would you do with that confession?”
“I don’t mind telling you. I’d lock it up and no one would ever see it.
But I’d own you, do you understand? I’m going to be the most popular
man at the Academy; I’m going to be class president and cut a wide
swathe here. Now you’d help me and I’ll need help. That’s all you’ll
have to do. And there’ll be a lot of money and good times in it for
you. Come, write me that confession. You’ll never hear of it again;
you’ll simply know I’m your boss and you’ll have to do what I tell
you.”
The hapless young candidate immediately brightened up and taking pen
and paper rapidly wrote a few lines. Short read what he had written,
and then, in a satisfied manner, said, “That’s sensible. You’ll never
regret it.”
The young man then said, “Short, here’s your two hundred. Thank you so
much for your goodness to me; but I can’t help taking things, I really
can’t; I’m what they call a kleptomaniac.”
“Oh, keep the two hundred,” said Short, folding up the paper the young
man had written, and putting it in his pocket. “Now see here, I can’t
afford to have my right-hand man get caught stealing and you surely
will be if you keep it up. Whenever the feeling comes over you again
come to me and I’ll give you fifty or so. Now skip out. I’ve some
private matters I want to talk over with my friend here.”
The young candidate returned the two hundred dollars to his pocket
and left the room in an apparently happy frame of mind. With him the
crime of a thing was not in the guilty act but in the publicity and
punishment following detection.
“You’ve got that fellow good and hard,” remarked the other man who had
remained in the room with them.
“Yes, and he’ll stay got,” returned Short, drily. “Well, what have you
to report? Are you going to get the math exam for me?”
“You bet, we’ll have it to-night sure thing. We’ve got it located,
have a complete plan of the building, and Sunny Jim, the greatest
safe cracker in the world, will get it to-night. Nothing less than a
burglar-proof time-lock could keep him out. He’ll get here to-night
on the six o’clock train and you’ll have a copy of your mathematical
examination before this time to-morrow, and no one will ever be the
wiser unless you choose to tell. Sunny Jim will not know who it’s for
and he’ll lock up everything behind him when he leaves. He’ll not
leave a trace behind him and no one will suspect the building has been
entered.”
“Good. I’ll depend upon you. I can pass in the other subjects, and will
in mathematics if I get hold of the examination several days ahead of
time. That’s all for the present.”
The examinations were to begin on Monday, the first of June. Ralph
Osborn felt well prepared and confident, yet he dreaded the ordeal and
longed for it to be over.
On Friday night preceding the examinations, Ralph was in his room
studying. At nine o’clock there was a sharp rap at his door.
“Come in,” he called out; and a man he had never seen before entered
and said: “Mr. Osborn?”
“Yes; what can I do for you?” replied Ralph, feeling an instinctive
dislike for the coarse-featured man he was addressing, and wondering
what could have brought him to his room.
“You are a candidate, I believe, Mr. Osborn?”
“Yes,” replied Ralph, “and I’m very busy studying my mathematics.”
“Just so,” said the stranger with a knowing look, and taking a step
nearer. “And your mathematics examination is going to be difficult. I’m
sure you’ll not pass--unless you get my assistance.”
“Who are you, and what are you talking about?” asked Ralph sharply.
“Never mind who I am,” retorted the stranger, unfolding a paper, “but
do you see this? It is the examination in mathematics. You can have it
for fifty dollars.”
Ralph sprang at the stranger, his eyes dilated with wondering
indignation, his soul aflame at the infamous proposal made to him. His
breath came short and he almost choked. Nothing like this had ever
entered his life and he was utterly unprepared with word or thought.
“The examination in mathematics!” he stammered as he started toward him.
“Take it easy,” smiled the stranger; “others have it, why shouldn’t
you?”
At that moment there came a rap at the door and a black, woolly head
was thrust into the room.
“Mistah Osborn,” said the intruder, “dere’s a telegram boy what’s got a
telegraph fo’ you; he says dere’s fo’ty cents to collec’.”
“Excuse me for a minute,” said Ralph to the stranger, “while I see
the telegraph messenger.” As he hurried out of the room and down
the stairs, he felt glad of the interruption as it gave him time to
gather his scattered thoughts. What should he do? He was in a terrible
quandary. Somehow he did not doubt the fact that the stranger’s claim
to possess the examination was correct. His whole nature revolted at
the notion of passing an examination by such underhand means; he was
horrified, but he did not know what to do. If he refused to take the
examination the stranger would leave with it. And if he reported the
occurrence without proof other than his unsupported word he was afraid
nothing would come of his report.
He received the telegram which was of little importance, and still in
perplexity as to what to do, he started to return when his eyes fell
upon a telephone in the hall. A sudden inspiration came to him. He
took down the receiver and said: “Central, give me the house of the
superintendent of the Naval Academy immediately.”
Soon a voice came which said: “This is the superintendent; what is it?”
“Is this the superintendent of the Naval Academy?”
“It is. What do you want with him?”
“I am Ralph Osborn, a candidate.”
“What is it, Mr. Osborn?”
“Sir, I am at number twenty-six Hanover Street. There is a man in my
room who has a paper which he says is the examination in mathematics
the candidates are to have next Monday morning. He wants to sell it for
fifty dollars. What shall I do, sir?”
“Keep him there. Offer a less price, haggle with him, but keep him
there. Lock your door if you can, and open it when you hear four loud,
distinct knocks.”
“All right, sir.”
Ralph immediately went to his room. His mind was now perfectly clear
and determined. He had to kill time and he proposed to do it. First he
deliberately rearranged the chairs; then he made a great pretence of
getting ice-water for his visitor. Then he engaged in conversation, and
asked all kinds of questions. Finally his visitor became impatient. “Do
you want it or not?” he cried. “If you don’t, say so. I’ve no time to
fool away.”
“Yes, I want it, but not for fifty dollars.”
The stranger got up to leave. Ralph begged him to reduce the price.
When Ralph saw he could not delay the man longer, he jumped to the
door, locked it and quickly put the key in his pocket.
“What are you doing?” angrily demanded the intruder, advancing upon
Ralph.
“I’m going to get that paper at a cheaper price,” returned Ralph,
picking up a heavy andiron with both hands. “Now keep away or you’ll
get hurt.”
“You’ll have a big job if you think you can stop me from leaving,”
shouted the man with a curse. “Open that door or I’ll break your head.”
“Keep off, or I’ll brain you,” cried Ralph, excitedly, but with
menacing determination; just then there were four loud knocks on the
door. Ralph quickly unlocked the door and threw it open. In walked two
officers, one of magnificent presence, with two silver stars on his
coat collar and broad gold bands on his sleeves. With the officers were
two Naval Academy watchmen and an Annapolis policeman.
The superintendent, for it was he, looked at Ralph, who, with flushed
face and panting breath, the irons in hand, now felt much relieved.
The superintendent then addressed the stranger. “Who are you, sir?” he
demanded.
“A free American citizen,” returned the man sulkily, “about my own
business.”
“Officer, arrest that man on a charge of burglary. Go through his
pockets and let me see what papers he has in them.”
“I protest against this indignity,” cried the man; “you’ll pay for
this;” but his protests were unavailing. He was searched, and in a
moment a paper was handed the superintendent.
“Professor,” asked the superintendent, “is this the examination the
candidates are to have Monday?”
The officer with the superintendent looked at the paper and instantly
replied, “It is indeed, sir.”
“Very well; officer, I’d like to have you lock that man up over night.
I’ll prefer charges against him to-morrow. The watchmen will go with
you to help take him to the jail.”
And then the superintendent looked at Ralph; his steel gray eyes seemed
to pierce him through and through. He then offered Ralph his hand and
said: “Good-night, Mr. Osborn. I congratulate you; you have done well,
sir. Continue as you have begun and you will be an honor to the Navy.”
Ralph, overcome with feeling at the superintendent’s words of
commendation, could stammer but unintelligibly in reply. And for some
time after the superintendent had left, Ralph stood in the middle of
his room, andiron still firmly grasped, wondering at the exciting
events he had just experienced.
The bars of the Annapolis jail may be sufficiently strong to keep
securely negro crap shooters, but they were hardly child’s play to the
skilful Sunny Jim, who had broken through and was far away long before
morning.
A searching investigation developed no clue as to how the examination
questions had gotten adrift, but a new examination was immediately made
out and substituted for the one previously made. All in the ignorance
of Mr. Thomas G. Short, who marched to the examination Monday morning
believing that he was to make close to a perfect mark in mathematics.