"You'll find supper ready, gentlemen," replied the clerk, pointing
the way to the dining room.

So the two young men passed in and enjoyed their first sample of
southern cookery.

At this hour there were only a half dozen other people in the
dining room--none of them interesting, Darrin decided, after
hastily surveying the other diners.

The meal over, the two young candidates sauntered again out into
the hotel office.

"Any midshipmen out around the town, sir?" Darrin asked.

"Hardly, sir," replied the clerk, with a smile. "At this hour
the young gentlemen are in their rooms at Bancroft Hall."

"What does a midshipman look like?" ventured Dalzell.

"Like a human being, of course," Dave laughed.

"You mean the uniform?" inquired the clerk. "A midshipman, sir,
wears a dark blue uniform, like an officer's, and a visored cap,
Naval pattern. He also wears the anchor insignia on each side
of his coat collar."

Dave and Dan soon walked over to the open doorway and stood looking
out upon the street, in which, at this time, few people were passing.