DAN'S EYES JOLT HIS WITS
Dan Dalzell, on the point of stepping out of Bancroft Hall, wheeled
like a flash, and bounded back against Farley, Jetson and Page.
"Don't look!" whispered Dan hoarsely. "Duck!"
"What on earth is the matter?" demanded Midshipman Darrin, eyeing
his chum sharply.
"I---I don't know what it is," muttered Dan, after he had backed
his friends some feet from the entrance.
"What does it look like?" asked Farley.
"Something like a messenger boy," returned Dan.
"Surely, you're not afraid of a messenger boy with a telegram,"
laughed Darrin. "Little chance that the message is for you, at
any rate."
"But---it's got a Naval uniform on, I tell you," warned Dan.
"No; you hadn't told us. What is it---another midshipman?"
"Not by a jugful!" Dan sputtered. "It's wearing an officer's
uniform."
"Then undoubtedly you chanced to glance at an officer of the
Navy," Darrin replied, sarcastically soothing. "Brace up, Dan."
"But he's only a kid!" remonstrated Dan. "And he wear a lieutenant's
insignia!"
"Bosh! Some officers are quite boyish-looking," remarked Farley.
"Come on out, fellows; I haven't forgotten how to salute an officer
when I see one."
The others, except Dan, started briskly for the entrance. As for
Dalzell, he brought up the rear, grumbling:
"All right; you fellows go on out and see whether you see him.
If you don't, then I'm going to report myself at hospital without
delay. Really, I can't swear that I saw---it."
But at that moment the object of Dan's alarm reached one of the
doors of the entrance of Bancroft Hall and stepped briskly inside.
This new-comer's glance fell upon the knot of midshipmen, and
he glanced at them inquiringly, as though to see whether these
young men intended to salute him.
Surely enough, the newcomer was decidedly boyish-looking, yet
he wore the fatigue uniform and insignia of a lieutenant of the
United States Navy. If he were masquerading, here was a dangerous
place into which to carry his antics.
The five midshipmen brought their right hands hesitatingly to
the visors of their uniform caps. The very youthful lieutenant
smartly returned their salutes, half smiled, then turned, in search
of the officer in charge.
"Scoot! Skip! Let's escape!" whispered Dan hoarsely, and all
five midshipmen were speedily out in the open.
"Now, did you fellows really see---it---or did I have a delusion
that I saw you all salute when I did?"
"I saw it," rejoined Farley, "and I claim it, if no one else
wants it."
"The service is going to the dogs," growled Page, "when they give
away a lieutenant's uniform with a pound of tea!"
"What ails you fellows?" rebuked Dave Darrin. "The man who passed
us was a sure-enough lieutenant in the Navy."
"Him?" demanded Midshipman Dalzell, startled out of his grip on
English grammar. "A lieutenant? That---that---kid?"
"He's a lieutenant of the Navy, all right," Dave insisted.
"You're wrong," challenged Page. "Don't you know, Dave, that
a man must be at least twenty-one years old in order to hold an
officer's commission in the Navy?"
"That man who received our salutes is a Naval, officer," Dave
retorted. "I don't know anything about his age."
"Why, that little boy can't be a day over seventeen," gasped Dan
Dalzell. "Anyway, fellows, I'm overjoyed that you all saw him!
That takes a load off my mind as to my mental condition."
"Whoever he is, he's a Navy officer, and he has trod the bridge
in many a gale," contended Dave. "Small and young as he looks,
that man had otherwise every bit of the proper appearance of a
Navy officer."
"What a joke it will be on you," grinned Page, "when you find
the watchman dragging the little fellow away to turn over to the
doctors from the asylum!"
The midshipmen were on their way to report for afternoon football
work. As they had started a few minutes early, and had time to
spare, they had now halted on the way, and were standing on the
sidewalk in front of the big and handsome barracks building.
"Can you fellows still use your eyes?" Dave wanted to know. "If
you can, look toward the steps of Bancroft."
The officer in charge was coming out. At his side was the very
youthful looking one in the lieutenant's uniform.
"The O.C. is decoying the stranger away to turn him over to the
watchmen without violence," guessed Midshipman Farley.
Three officers were approaching. These the five midshipmen turned
and saluted. In another moment all of the five save Dave Darrin
received a sharp jolt. For the O.C. had halted and was introducing
the three Navy officers to the youthful one.
"This is Lieutenant Benson, the submarine expert of whom you have
heard so much," said the O.C., loudly enough for the amazed middies
to hear.
"Sub---sub----say, did you fellows hear that?" begged Dan hoarsely.
"Yes," assented Dave calmly. "And say, you fellows are a fine
lot to be serving here. You all remember Mr. Benson. He was
here last year---he and his two submarine friends. We didn't
see them, because our class didn't go out on the Pollard submarine
boat that was here last year. But you remember them, just the
same. You remember, too, that Mr. Benson and his friends were
hazed by some of the men in last year's youngster class. You
heard about that? A lot of the fellows came near getting ragged,
but Benson didn't take offense, and his quick wit pulled that
lot of last year's youngsters out of a bad fix."
"Then Benson and his mates are real people?" demanded Dan, still
doubtful, if his voice were an indication.
"Yes; and Benson is a real submarine expert, too, even if he is
a boy," Dave went on.
"Then he is only a boy?"
"He's seventeen or eighteen."
"Then how can he be a lieutenant?" demanded Dalzell, looking more
bewildered.
"He isn't," Dave answered simply.
"But the O.C. introduced him that way."
"And quite properly," answered Darrin, whereat his companions
stared at him harder than ever.
"Let's walk along," proposed Dave, "and I'll tell you the little
that I know, or think I know, about the matter. Of course, you
fellows all know about the Pollard submarine boats? The government
owns a few of them now, and is going to buy a lot more of the
Pollard craft."
"But that kid officer?" insisted Dan.
"If you'll wait I'll come to that. Benson, his name is; Jack
Benson he's commonly called. He and two boy friends got in on
the ground floor at the Farnum shipyard. They were boys of
considerable mechanical skill, and they found their forte in the
handling of submarine boats. They've done some clever, really
wonderful feats with submarines. Farnum, the owner of the yard,
trusted these boys, after a while, to show off the fine points of
the craft to our Navy officers and others."
"But what has that to do with giving Benson a commission in the
Navy?" demanded Farley.
"I'm coming to that," Dave replied. "As I've heard the yarn,
Benson and his two boy friends attracted attention even from the
European governments. The Germans and some other powers even
made them good offers to desert this country and go abroad as
submarine experts. Our Navy folks thought enough of Benson and
his chums to want to save them for this country. So the Secretary
of the Navy offered all three the rank and command of officers
without the actual commissions. As soon as these young men, the
Submarine Boys as they are called, are twenty-one, the Navy Department
will bestir itself to give them actual commissions and make them
real staff or line officers."
"So that those kids will rank us in the service?" grumbled Dan.
"Well, up to date," replied Dave quietly, "the Submarine Boys
have done more for their country than we have. Of course, in
the end, we may be admirals in the Navy, even before they're captains.
Who can tell?"
"I wonder what Benson is doing here?" murmured Farley.
"Lieutenant Benson," Dave corrected him, "is probably here on
official business. If you want exact details, suppose we stop
at the superintendent's house and ask him."
"Quit your kidding," grinned Farley.
"So I've got to say 'sir,' if that boy speaks to me?" asked Dan.
"I think it would be better," smiled Darrin, "if you're anxious
to escape another handful of demerits."
By the time that the football squad began to assemble on the football
field, Dan and his friends found that some of the midshipmen were
full of information about the famous Submarine Boys. Readers
who may not be familiar with the careers of Lieutenant Jack Benson,
Ensign Hal Hastings, and Ensign Eph Somers are referred to the
volumes of the _Submarine Boys' Series_. In _"The Submarine Boys
and the Middies"_ will be found the account of the hazing that Jack,
Hal and Eph had received at the hands of midshipmen.
Benson and his two friends, with a crew of four men, were now at
the Naval Academy, having arrived at two o'clock that afternoon,
for the purpose of giving the first classmen instruction aboard
the latest Pollard submarine, the "Dodger."
But play was called, and that stopped, for the time being, all talk
about the Submarine Boys.