"I shan't do it," maintained Darrin. "If it happens it will have been Pen's own work."
"You'd better let the chink go, just to save one of our class."
"Is a fellow who has turned opium fiend worth saving to the class!" demanded Dave, looking straight into Hallam's eyes.
"Well, er—er—" stammered the other man.
"You see," smiled Dave, "the doubt hits you just as hard as it does me!"
"Oh, of course, a fellow who has turned opium fiend is no fellow ever to be allowed to reach the bridge and the quarter-deck," admitted Hallam. "But see here, are you going to report this affair to the commandant of midshipmen, or to anyone else in authority?"
"I've no occasion to report," replied Dave dryly. "I am not in any way in command over Pennington. But I mean to persuade him to report himself for what he has done!"
"But that would ruin him!" protested Hallam, aghast. "He wouldn't even be allowed to start on the cruise. He'd be railroaded home without loss of a moment."
"Yet you've just said that an opium-user isn't fit to go on in the brigade," retorted Darrin.
"Hang it, it's hard to know what to do," rejoined Hallam, wrinkling his forehead. "Of course we want to be just to Pen."