well trained and hardened athlete like Dan Dalzell.

He got his head into the bowl all right, and rested his hands
on the floor on either side of the bowl. It was when he tried
to throw his feet up against the wall that he came to grief.
His feet slid along the wall and came down to the floor again.

Dan fell out of the bowl with a good deal of splash.

"If, at first, you don't succeed, mister," began Midshipman Trotter,
who had constituted himself chief of the tormentors, "try, try
some more."

"I'll make it, sir," responded Dan cheerily, and his very manner,
now, inclined his tormentors to go a little more lightly with him.

At the third trial, with his eyes closed, just below the level of
the water, Dalzell succeeded in standing very solidly on his head.

The upper class men, who were all third class men, or "youngsters"
as they are unofficially termed, watched the performance with
interest.

"Rather well done, for a beginner," commented Midshipman Trotter.
"As you were, mister."

Dan, unfortunately, tried to be a bit "smart." He made a half
somersault forward, trying to spring up on his feet. He fell
back, however, and sat down squarely in what was left of the water.