Should this story create any interest in Ralph Osborn and his friends it may here be stated that they have all lived. They were not the first nor will they be the last to have trials and triumphs at Annapolis.

Edward Latimer Beach,
Lieutenant-Commander,
United States Navy.

United States Ship Montana.

CONTENTS

I.A Competitive Examination for the Naval Academy[11]
II.Mr. Thomas G. Short and His Man[21]
III.Short’s Method of Passing an Examination[33]
IV.Short’s Naval Career is Short[44]
V.Himskihumskonski[55]
VI.The Summer Practice Cruise Begins[65]
VII.Man Overboard[76]
VIII.Bollup’s Watch in a Queer Place[88]
IX.“Indignant Fourth Classman”[101]
X.“The Osborn Demonstration”[113]
XI.Third Classman Osborn[122]
XII.Chief Water Tender Hester[132]
XIII.Oiler Collins Jumps Ship[145]
XIV.Ralph is Kidnapped[156]
XV.Ralph Breakfasts with His Captain[164]
XVI.A Boiler Explosion[173]
XVII.Third Classmen Elect Class Officers[187]
XVIII.“Professor Moehler is a Liar and a Fool”[198]
XIX.“Osborn Never Wrote It, Sir”[209]
XX.Himski Saves Ralph[219]
XXI.“Creelton, I Believe You are the Man”[230]
XXII.Ralph at Bollup’s Home[241]
XXIII.Ralph Saves Bollup from Dismissal[252]
XXIV.Ralph has a Joke Played on Him by a Candidate[262]
XXV.Ralph Court-Martialed for Hazing[275]
XXVI.Ralph is Dismissed by Sentence of General Court Martial[289]
XXVII.Himski and Company are Joyfully Astonished[300]
XXVIII.First Class Leave at Hampden Grove[309]
XXIX.“Turn Out On This Floor. Turn Out, Turn Out”[320]
XXX.The Thief Unmasked[333]
XXXI.Ralph’s Lost Watch is Found[346]
XXXII.Ralph Finds His Uncle at Last[359]

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
“You did well, sir” Frontispiece[80]
“They are not my papers”[43]
He saw the man just ahead and on the port bow swimming frantically[146]
“You may be the man”[235]
Ralph threw himself on Bollup and caught him around the waist[330]