“So he offered his friendship simply to blind the commandant, did he? I wondered how he could be guilty of such an act of manliness as he professed; but it was for a purpose, not meant. Well, I know what to expect from him now, and will govern myself accordingly; but I have not forgotten a voice I heard one night before I left home, when a net was set to drown me. I think I shall send Silly Sam a letter by Captain Crane, for the poor fellow is to be trusted, and is keen enough in mind when he has an object in view.”
So Mark went on board his schooner to write his letters and give the joyful news to his mother that she could address his letters to:
“Cadet Midshipman Mark Merrill,
U. S. Naval Academy
Annapolis, M. D.”
CHAPTER XXI.
SHAKING HANDS WITH THE PAST.
“Well, Master Mark, I congratulate you with all my heart,” said Captain Jasper Crane, when the youth told him that he had stood the first test, and crossed the rubicon of his hopes and fears.
The two sons of the skipper also offered their congratulations in their honest way, and the skipper added:
“Well, it means we must sail back alone, and that we’ll not see you for many a long day, Master Mark?”
“Not until my graduation leave, Captain Crane, unless business may call you to this port or Baltimore some time, when you must surely give me a call.”
“You won’t be too proud to wish to see an old coast skipper, then, after you get your brass buttons on?” said the skipper slyly.