True Blue: Stirring Stories of Naval Academy Life — page 14: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

* i i ; as _ ae _ = + a © -< - e——_ ~~ . i 7 ~ 7 oa ‘ hs a - " * . ) ~. ee ‘ TRUE BLUE. but we is ‘proaching de proxenmity of de mahtial camp.’ “Eh? Oh! That is so!” Clif aroused himself with a start. Then he gave his shoulders a shake as if to tumble back into the darkness the unpleasant thoughts that bothered him. lor Clif was bothered, seriously—had been during the present grim, silent half-hour ride from the spot where he had found the four strips of paper. Their presence there was easy to explain—one of the ” three cadets, espied but not recognized by Hannibal, had dropped them. Their motive was just asreadily guessed at—some cadet was in love with charming Bessie Stuart, now in An- napolis, the guest of Tess Herndon—was trying to “cut out’ Clif Faraday. What else could the aroused naval cadet think, when it was plain to see that the writer had begun with “Miss Bessie Stuart,” and wound up with “Dear Bessie?” “The audacious vandal!” commented Clif, hotly. “Why, I wouldn't call her that myself—except under great provocation !" Clif did not like all this. He had no particular blanket- mortgage on Annapolis belledom, but the friends he cher- ished—and especially the lady friends—he also infinitely respected. »o, he instinctively felt like pitching into the fellow who on tour sheets of paper could pass from formality to en- dearment easy as rolling off a log, in a bare four minutes of time. “He is some blockhead, for he does not appreciate the formalities,” concluded Clif, “and Bessie don’t like block- heads!” Clif tried to dismiss the subject from his mind with that, for the lights of the camp were sure enough, as Han- nibal proclaimed, directly before them. All the same, Clif tucked away in a safe pocket , written evidence of somebody's intended rivalry, with a hrm determination to ferret out “the guilty party” before he was many suns older. lt was*enough to make anyone forget all but-jovial— good comradeship, the greeting and the ensemble of the mess-tent, which Clif took in after a hurried visit to Lieu- tenant Disston. « La . * > ‘ ey ses OO e. ks.com