Dave Darrins Fourth Year at Annapolis | Page 2

where he's welcome to cast his anchor."
"May I sit down?" queried Mr. Farley.
"Surely, Furl, and with my heartiest apologies for having been too dull to push a chair toward you."
"I can easily help myself," laughed the other midshipman, "since there's only one other chair in the room."
"What have you and Page been talking about tonight?" asked Dave.
"Why do you want to know?"
"So that I won't run the risk of boring you by talking oh the same subject."
"Well," confessed Midshipman Farley, "we've been talking about this season's football."
"Oh, dear!" sighed Darrin. "That's the only topic really worth talking about."
"Speaking of football," resumed Farley, "don't you believe that we have a stronger eleven than we had last year!"
"If we haven't we ought to walk the plank," retorted Dave. "You remember how the Army walloped us last year?"
"That was because the Army team had Prescott and Holmes on it," rejoined Farley quickly.
"Well, they'll have 'em this year, too, won't they?
"So Prescott and Holmes are to be out for the Army this year!"
"I haven't heard anything definite on that head," Dave answered. "But I take it as a matter of course that Prescott and Holmes will play once more with the Army. They're West Point men, and they know their duty."
"What wonders that pair are!" murmured Farley with reluctant admiration for the star players of the United States Military Academy. "Yet, after all, Darry, I can't for the life of me see where Prescott and Holmes are in any way superior to yourself and Dan Dalzell."
"Except," smiled Dave, "that Prescott and Holmes, last year, got by us a good deal oftener than we got by them---and so the Army lugged off the score from Franklin Field."
"But you won't let 'em do it this year, Darry!"
"Dan and I will do all we can to stop our oldtime chums, now of the Army," agreed Dave. "But they're a hard pair to beat. Any one who saw Prescott and Holmes play last year will agree that they're a hard pair of nuts for the Navy to crack."
"We've got to beat the Army this year," Farley protested plaintively.
"I certainly hope we shall do so."
"Darry, what is your candid opinion of Wolgast?"
"As a man?"
"You know better!"
"As a midshipman?"
"Darry, stop your nonsense! You know well enough that I'm asking your opinion of Wolgast as captain of the Navy eleven."
"He seems inclined to be fair and just to every member of the squad, so what more can you ask of him."
"But do you think he's any real good, Darry, as captain for the Navy?"
"I do."
"We ought to have had you for captain of the team, Darry," insisted Farley.
"So two or three other fellows thought," admitted Dave. "But I refused to take that post, as you know, and I'm glad I did."
"Oh, come, now!
"Yes; I'm glad I refused. A captain should be in mid-field. Now, if Dalzell and I are any good at all on the gridiron-----"
"Oh, Mr. Modesty!"
"If we're of any use at all," pursued Darrin, "it's only on the flank. Now, where would the Navy be with a captain directing from the right or left flank."
"Darry, you funker, you could play center as well as Wolgast does."
"Farl, you're letting your prejudices spoil your eyesight."
"Oh, I've no prejudice at all against Wolgast," Farley hastened to rejoin. "Only I don't consider him our strongest man for captain. Now, Wolgast-----"
"Here!" called a laughing voice. The door had opened, after a knock that Darrin had not noticed.
"Talking about me?" inquired Midshipman Wolgast pleasantly, as he stopped in the middle of the room.
Midshipman Farley was nothing at all on the order of the backbiter. Service in the Brigade of Midshipmen for three years had taught him the virtue of direct truth.
"Yes, Wolly," admitted Farley without embarrassment. "I was criticizing your selection as captain of the eleven."
"Nothing worse than that?" laughed First Classman Wolgast.
"I was saying---no offense, Wolly---that I didn't consider you the right man to head the Navy eleven."
Midshipman Wolgast stepped over to Farley, holding out his right hand.
"Shake, Farl! I'm glad to find a man of brains on the eleven. I know well enough that I'm not the right captain. But we couldn't make Darry accept the post."
Midshipman Wolgast appeared anything but hurt by the direct candor with which he had been treated. He now threw one leg over the corner of the study table, though he inquired:
"Am I interrupting anything private?"
"Not in the least," Dave assured him.
"Am I intruding in any way?"
"Not a bit of it," Darrin answered heartily "We're glad to have you here with us."
"Surely," nodded Farley.
"Now, then, as to my well known unfitness to command the Navy football team," continued First Classman Wolgast, "do either of you see any faults in me that can be remedied?"
"I can't," Dave answered. "I believe, Wolly, that you can lead the team as well