THE "FORGOT" PATH TO TROUBLE
"Here, confound you! I'll teach you to-----"
"Teach me how to walk the way you were going when I stopped you?"
demanded the same voice, and a harder grip was taken on Dalzell's
shoulder.
In his misery Dan was not at all averse to fighting, if a good
excuse were offered. So his first move was not to look up, but
to wrest him self out of that grip, haul away and put up his guard.
"Dave Darrin!" gasped Midshipman Dan, using his eyes at last.
Dave was laughing quietly.
"Danny boy, you shouldn't cruise without lights and a bow watch!"
admonished Dave. "What sent your wits wool gathering? You look
terribly upset over something."
"Do I?" asked Dan, looking guilty.
"You certainly do. And see here, is this the way to the Preston
house?"
"No; it's the way away from it."
"But you had permission to visit at the Prestons."
"That isn't any news to me," grunted Dalzell.
"Then---pardon me---but why aren't you there?"
"Are you the officer of the day?" demanded Dan moodily.
"No; merely your best friend."
"I beg your pardon, Dave. I am a grouch tonight."
"Wasn't Miss Preston at home."
"I---I don't know."
"Don't know? Haven't you been there?"
"Yes; but I didn't ask-----"
As Dan hesitated Dave rested both hands on his chum's shoulders,
looking sharply into that young man's eyes.
"Danny, you act as though you were _loco_. (crazy). What on
earth is up? You went to call on Miss Preston. You reached the
house, and evidently you left there again. But you don't know
whether Miss Preston was in; you forgot to ask. Let me look in
at the answer to the riddle."
"Dave---Miss Preston is going to be married!"
"Most girls are going to be," Darrin replied quietly. "Do you
mean that Miss Preston is going to marry some one else than yourself?"
"Yes."
"Soon?"
"Monday noon."
Dave Darrin whistled.
"So this is the meaning of your desperation? Danny boy, if you're
stung, I'm sincerely sorry for you."
"I don't quite know whether I want any sympathy," Dan replied,
though he spoke rather gloomily. "Perhaps I'm to be congratulated."
He laughed mirthlessly, then continued:
"When a girl will treat a fellow like that, isn't it just as well
to find out her disposition early?"
"Perhaps," nodded Darrin. "But Danny, do you mean to say that
you attempted to pay your call without an appointment?"
"What was the need of an appointment?" demanded Dan. "Miss Preston
invited me to call at any time---just drop in. Now, she must
know that Saturday evening is a midshipman's only chance at this
time of the year."
"Nevertheless, you were wrong at that point, in the game," Dave
went on gravely. "Unless you're on the best of terms with a young
lady, don't attempt to call on her without having learned that
your purpose will be agreeable to her. And so Miss Preston, while
receiving your calls, has been engaged to some one else?"
Dan nodded, adding, "She might have given me some hint, I should
think."
"I don't know about that," Darrin answered thoughtfully. "Another
good view of it would be that a young lady's private affairs are
her own property. Didn't she ever mention the lucky fellow to you?"
"It seems that she did," Dalzell assented. "But I thought, all
the time, that she was talking about her brother."
"Why should you especially think it was her brother whom she was
mentioning?"
"Because she seemed so mighty fond of the fellow," Dan grunted.
Dave choked a strong impulse to laugh.
"Danny boy," he remarked, "girls, very often, are mighty fond,
also, of the fellow to whom they're engaged."
"Why did she let me call?" demanded Dan gloomily.
"How often have you called?" inquired Midshipman Darrin.
"Once, before to-night."
"Only once? Then, see here, Danny! Don't be a chump. When you
call on a girl once, and ask if you may call some other time,
how on earth is she to guess that you're an intended rival of
the man she has promised to marry?"
"But-----" That was as far as Midshipman Dalzell got. He halted,
wondering what he really could say next.
"Dan, I'm afraid you've got an awful lot to learn about girls,
and also about the social proprieties to be observed in calling
on them. As to Miss Preston receiving a call from you, and permitting
you to call again, that was something that any engaged girl might
do properly enough. Miss Preston came to Annapolis, possibly
to learn something about midshipman life. She met you and allowed
you to call. Very likely she permitted others to call. From
what you've told me I can't see that she treated you unfairly
in any way; I don't believe Miss Preston ever guessed that you
had any other than the merest social reasons for calling."
"And I'm not sure that I did have," grunted Dalzell.
Dave shot another swift look into his chum's face before he said:
"Danny boy, your case is a light one. You'll recover speedily.
Your vanity has been somewhat stung, but your heart won't have
a scar in three days from now."
"What makes you think you know so much about that?" insisted Dan,
drawing himself up with a dignified air.
"It isn't hard to judge, when it's another fellow's case," smiled
Darrin. "I believe that, at this minute, I understand your feelings
better than you do yourself."
"I don't know about my feelings," proclaimed Dan gloomily still,
"but I do know something about my experience and conclusions.
No more girls for me!"
"Good idea, Danny boy," cried Darrin, slapping his friend on the
back. "That's the best plan for you, too."
"Why?"
"Because you haven't head enough to understand girls and their ways."
"I don't want to."
"Good! I hope you will keep in that frame of mind. And now,
let's talk of something serious."
"Of what, then?" inquired Dalzell, as the two started to walk
along together.
"Football."
"Is that more serious than girls?" demanded Dan Dalzell, suspicious
that his friend was making fun of him.
"It's safer, at any rate, for you. Why, if a girl happens to
say, 'Delighted to meet you, Mr. Dalzell,' you expect her to give
up all other thoughts but you, and to be at home every Saturday
evening. No, no, Danny. The company of the fair is not for you.
Keep to things you understand better---such as football."
Dan Dalzell's eyes shot fire. He was certain, now, that his chum
was poking fun at him, and this, in his present temper, Dan could
not quite endure.
"So, since we've dropped the subject of girls," Dave continued
placidly, "what do you think are our real chances for the balance
of this season?"
"They'd be a lot improved," grunted Dan, "if you'd get the grip
on yourself that you had at the beginning of the season."
"I know I'm not playing in as good form as I had hoped to," Dave
nodded. "The worst of it is, I can't find out the reason."
"A lot of the fellows think you've lost interest since you found
that you won't have the great Prescott to play against in the
Army-Navy game," Dan hinted.
"Yes; I know. I've heard that suspicion hinted at."
"Isn't it true?" challenged Dalzell.
"To the best of my knowledge and belief, it isn't. Why, Danny,
it would be absurd to think that I couldn't play right now, just
because Dick isn't to be against us on Franklin Field."
"I know it would sound absurd," Dan replied. "But let us put
it another way, Dave. All along you've been working yourself
up into better form, because you knew that, otherwise, it was
very doubtful whether the Navy could beat the Army on the gridiron.
So you had worked yourself up to where you played a better game
than ever Dick Prescott thought of doing. Then you hear that
poor Dick is in Coventry, and therefore not on the team. You
haven't got the great Army man to beat, and, just for that reason,
you slack up on your efforts."
"I am not slacking up," retorted Dave with some spirit. "I am doing
the best that is in me, though I admit I appear to have gone stale."
"And so something will happen," predicted Dan.
"What will that be?"
"Between now and the game with the Army, Prescott's comrades will
find what boobs they've been, and they'll lift the Coventry.
Prescott and Holmes will get into the Army team at the last moment,
and the fellows from West Point will ride rough-shod over the
Navy, just as they did last year."
"Do you really think that will happen?" demanded Darrin eagerly.
"Do you really believe that dear old Dick will get out of that
Coventry and back on the Army eleven?"
"Well," returned Midshipman Dalzell soberly, "I'll venture a prediction.
If you don't get a brace on your playing soon, then it'll be
regular Navy luck for Prescott to come to Philadelphia and put
on his togs. Then the soldiers will drag us down the field to
the tune of 46 to 2."
"I'd sooner he killed on the field than see that happen!" cried
Midshipman Dave, his eyes flashing.
"Then don't let it happen! You're the only star on our team, Dave,
that isn't up to the mark. If we lose to the Army, this year,
Prescott or no Prescott, it will be your fault, Dave Darrin.
You're not one of our weak spots, really but you're not as strong
as you ought to be and can be if you'll only brace."
"Brace!" quivered Dave. "Won't I, though?"
"Good! Just stick to that."
"Dan!" Darrin halted his chum before a store where dry goods and
notions were sold. "Let's go in here-----"
"What, for?" Midshipman Dalzell asked in astonishment.
"I want to make a purchase," replied Dave soberly. "Danny boy,
I'm going to buy you a hat pin---one at least ten inches long.
You're to slip it in, somewhere in your togs. When you catch
me lagging---practice or game---just jab that hat pin into me
as far as you can send it."
"Bosh!" retorted Dan impatiently. "Come along."
Dave submitted, in patient silence, to being led away from the
store. For some moments the chums strolled along together in
silence.
"Now, speaking of Miss Preston," began Dan, breaking the silence
at last, "she-----"
"Drop that! Get back to football, Danny---it's safer," warned
Dave Darrin.
"But-----"
"Hold on, I tell you! You had almost recovered, Danny, in the
short space of five minutes. Now, don't bring on a relapse by
opening up the old sore. I shall soon begin to believe it was
your heart that was involved, instead of your vanity."
"Oh, hang girls, then!" exploded Dan.
"Couldn't think of it," urged Dave gently. "That wouldn't be
chivalrous, and even a midshipman is required to be a gentleman
at all times. So-----"
"Good evening, gentlemen," spoke a pleasant voice. The midshipmen
glanced up, then promptly brought up their hands in salute to
an officer whom they would otherwise have passed without seeing.
That officer was Lieutenant Adams, discipline officer.
"Are you enjoying your stroll, Mr. Darrin?" asked Mr. Adams.
"Very much, sir; thank you."
"And you, Mr. Dalzell. But let me see---wasn't your liberty
for the purpose of paying a visit?"
"Yes, sir," Dan answered, coloring.
"And you are strolling, instead?"
"Yes, sir; the person on whom I went to call was not there."
"Then, Mr. Darrin, you should have returned to Bancroft Hall,
and reported your return."
"Yes, sir; I should have done that," Dan confessed in confusion.
"The truth is, sir, it hadn't occurred to me."
"Return at once, Mr. Dalzell, and place yourself on report for
strolling without permission."
"Yes, sir."
Both midshipmen saluted, then turned for the shortest cut to Maryland
Avenue, and thence to the gate at the end of that thoroughfare.
"Ragged!" muttered Dan. "And without the slightest intention of
doing anything improper."
"It was improper, though," Dave replied quickly, "and both you
and I should have thought of it in time."
"I really forgot."
"Forgot to think, you mean, Dan, and that's no good excuse in
bodies of men where discipline rules. Really, I should have gone
on report, too."
"But you had liberty to stroll in town."
"Yes; but I'm guilty in not remembering to remind you of your
plain duty."
Lieutenant Adams had not in the least enjoyed ordering Dan to
place himself on report. The officer had simply done his duty.
To the average civilian it may seem that Dan Dalzell had done
nothing very wrong in taking a walk when he found the purpose
of his call frustrated; but discipline, when it imposes certain
restrictions on a man, cannot allow the man himself to be the
judge of whether he may break the restrictions. If the man himself
is to be the judge then discipline ceases to exist.
"So I've got to stick myself on pap, and accept a liberal handful
of demerits, all on account of a girl?" grumbled Dan, as the chums
turned into the road leading to Bancroft Hall."
"That is largely because you couldn't get the girl out of your
head," Dave rejoined. "Didn't I tell you, Danny, that you hadn't
head enough to give any of your attention to the other sex?"
"It's tough to get those demerits, though," contended Dan. "I
imagine there'll be a large allowance of them, and in his fourth
year a fellow can't receive many demerits without having to get
out of the Academy. One or two more such scrapes, and I'll soon
be a civilian, instead of an officer in the Navy!"
"See here, Dan; I'll offer an explanation that you can make truthfully.
Just state, when you're called up, that you and I were absorbed
talking football, and that you really forgot to turn in the right
direction while your mind was so full of Navy football. That may
help some."
"Yes; it will---not!"
Dan Dalzell passed into the outer room of the officer in charge,
picked up a blank and filled it out with the report against himself.
Dave was waiting outside as Dan came out from the disagreeable
duty of reporting himself.
"Hang the girls!" Dalzell muttered again disgustedly.