Scott Clemmons did not even walk to the gangway with his visitor.
He saw him depart, and then walked aft to where a group of cadets stood.
He knew he would have to face the music, so he decided to meet the
onslaught at once.
“I say, Clemmons, who was your seedy friend?” asked one.
“What a loud suit he wears.”
“Yes, he is as striped as a zebra.”
“But the stripes run up and down.”
“True, and it makes a heap of difference to a man which way he wears
his stripes.”
“If I recognized the gentleman aright his home should be an institution
where the stripes should run round him,” said Perry.
“You are right, Perry; for, as you all know, doubtless, the fellow was
my old chum, Barney Breslin,” remarked Clemmons.
“Why did he not give you the letters he had for you?”
“What letters?”
“He answered the hail of the officer of the deck with the remark that
he had most important letters for you.”
“Indeed! he said nothing to me about them. In truth, that was a mere
excuse to get aboard, for he came to borrow money.”
“Ah! he had cheek to come here, and to get any money was worse.”
“You don’t owe him any money, do you, Clemmons?” innocently said one of
the cadets.
“Owe him? I only wish I had what he owes me; but he came and asked me
for a loan, and I guess he has gone to the bad utterly, for his father
has cast him off, he told me.”
“I didn’t see you lend him any.”
“No, and I told him never to cross my path again,” and with this
Clemmons returned to his work in the captain’s cabin.
Later a number of midshipmen were given leave ashore, and Scott
Clemmons was among them. So, too, were Mark Merrill and Bemis Perry.
The latter two went off for a sight-seeing expedition alone, and a
group of cadets also started on a “voyage of discovery” together.
But Scott Clemmons separated from all the others, saying that he had
friends to visit, and punctually at eight o’clock he entered the Astor
House, the place of his appointment with Barney Breslin.
New York is a large city, but yet people who are friends will run upon
each other there in a most unaccountable manner. Two cadets were seated
in the gentlemen’s parlor and saw Clemmons when he came along the hall.
A moment after they saw him joined by Barney Breslin, and the two,
after some parley, entered the dining room together.
“Well, that looks friendly, Merrill.”
“It certainly does, Perry,” was the answer.
The appointment had been as faithfully kept by Barney Breslin as by
Scott Clemmons.
“Well, I have come,” said the latter.
“You are wise,” was the reply.
“What is it, now that I am here?”
“I am hungry, and cannot talk upon an empty stomach. Come, let us have
some dinner, and over it we can come to some understanding.”
Clemmons frowned, but replied:
“Do I understand that this is an invitation for me to dine with you?”
“On the contrary, I am to dine with you, for I have not a dollar to my
name.”
“Well, as this is to be our last meeting, Breslin, I will honor you.”
They entered the dining room together, and a good dinner with wine was
ordered.
“Now, what do you wish to say, Breslin?” asked Scott Clemmons, an hour
after the dinner had been dispatched, Breslin eating with a degree
of relish that showed he was, indeed, hungry, while Clemmons ate
sparingly, seeming nervous and ill at ease.
“I wish to go West and grow up with the country, or go to South America
and get a berth there, and I need just one thousand dollars to go
with,” said Breslin, rendered bolder by the wine he had drank.
“Won’t your father give it to you?”
“Not a dollar.”
“Then I cannot see how you’ll get there.”
“I can.”
“How?”
“You will give it to me,” was the almost threatening response.
“You were never more mistaken in your life.”
“Am I?”
“You are.”
“Then there is no need of further talk, for I can work my way to B----,
and hold an interview with your father, who I believe will think it a
small sum to stand between his son and----”
“He will not give you a cent.”
“Then I shall work my way back to Baltimore, tramp it, or beat the
railroad, to Annapolis and see the commandant of the Naval Academy, and
when I have had my interview with him somebody will find that they have
made a mistake--that is all,” and Breslin arose to go.
“Hold, Breslin, and be reasonable. Now I know you can make charges
which you could not sustain; but I wish to avoid a suspicion, and I’ll
give you all the money I have, but I cannot raise a thousand dollars.”
“How much have you?”
“Well, both of my parents have been liberal, as I was going upon a
foreign cruise, and I have some six hundred dollars.”
“I’ll take it, so hand it over.”
“You are to give me a written pledge never to cross my path again.”
“Of course.”
Pen, ink and paper were sent for, the written pledge was given, the
money handed over, and paying the shot for the dinner, the two left
the hotel to come face to face upon Mark Merrill and Bemis Perry, who
were just about to enter and have dinner together, having taken another
stroll after seeing Clemmons and his companion enter the dining room,
as they did not wish to be seen by them.