"First company—eyes right!"
After dismissal the midshipmen rushed into their working clothes and dispersed into different shops, and great was the hammering in the blacksmith and boiler shops as the Board marched through. In this week of each year the Naval Academy is on official exhibition for this wise Board. And for its benefit sham battles are fought, young men scramble aloft on antiquated sailing ships and feverishly loose and make sail, haul on buntlines, clewlines, sheets and braces. They are mustered in the different class rooms and the Board sees them at the blackboard, pointer in hand, in the act of explaining an intricate valve motion to an earnest lieutenant. What the Board does not see is the alacrity with which pointer, blackboard and room are abandoned as soon as the Board has passed on.
So this week there were, as there always is at graduation time, sample machine shop drills, gunnery drills, electrical drills, steam engine drills—and many others. And the tired, earnest, hard-working Board was marched through it all at a lively pace. This Board was composed of statesmen, professional men, and business men of established reputation; but it is not certain that any of them knew the difference between a Stephenson link of an engine and the club link of an anchor chain. However, they worked hard and wrote a voluminous report of fifty printed pages, which, covered with dust, is lying with fifty other similar reports in a pigeonhole at the Navy Department.
On Wednesday occurred the great day for Helen Blunt. At ten in the morning she was in the receiving stand gowned beautifully in simple white, and carrying a huge bunch of American Beauty roses.
Soon martial music was heard, and then the brigade of midshipmen was to be seen across the parade ground, marching with its precise military stride. Then loud vibrating orders were carried to the ears of ten thousand spectators and bugles rang out their harsh notes. In exact unison the seven hundred midshipmen, who had been in column of squads, wheeled into line, and marched steadily to the front until they were within a hundred paces of the reviewing stand, where they halted. In the centre of the long line were the colors, unfolded and waving to the breeze.
"Color guard to the front," was the vibrant order from Cadet Commander Stonewell.
"First company to the front and centre," followed immediately.
The old color guard with the colors marched slowly to the front, and on the right of the line some quick, jerky orders were heard, and the first company broke from the line and came marching toward the centre of the brigade.
Thousands of spectators now saw a pretty ceremony. A young girl stepped from the receiving stand and advanced toward the waiting color guard; the Academy colors were handed to her, and the ex-color guard was then marched off.
Helen did not remain alone for many moments, but for an instant a pretty picture was presented on the drill grounds. A beautiful girl, carrying in one arm a huge bunch of red roses, and in the other steadying the glorious colors of the Naval Academy, standing alone, facing seven hundred blue-coated statues. But in a moment another color guard approached, the color guard of the company judged to have won the flag. And with it marched the captain of the company, Cadet Lieutenant Drake.