"That way of stating it would be true, sir. I do not care to turn informer against my comrades."
"Yet you think you possess the courage to become one of our fighting officers in the future, if the need arises?
"Of my courage as a fighting man, sir, I am unable to form any opinion until that courage has been properly tested."
"But you are afraid to inform the authorities of the identity of comrades who commit serious offenses?"
"As it is contrary to the spirit of the brigade, sir, I would be more afraid of my own contempt than of any other punishment."
Lieutenant-Commander Denham appeared to lose some of his patience presently.
"I wonder," he remarked brusquely, "why you midshipmen cannot learn to accept some of your sense of honor from the officers who have seen so much more service than you. I wonder why you will go on formulating your own canons of honor, even when such beliefs sometimes result in the dismissal of midshipmen from the service."
The three midshipmen, not being questioned, remained silent.
"And so not one of you has the slightest idea of the original nature of the quarrel in which you so readily took part? And none of you has any idea of the identity of the fourth midshipman concerned in this evening's work?"
"I have not, sir," replied Midshipmen Darrin, Dalzell and Joyce in one breath.