had left them.

It was an enormous room, and the three beds in it did not crowd
the apartment in the least. All the furniture was of a massive
and old-fashioned pattern.

A few minutes later, with face and hands washed--clean collars,
clothes neatly brushed, the two clear-eyed, manly-looking young
fellows returned to the first floor.

"I suppose this hotel is full of young men like ourselves, wondering
what tomorrow will bring them, when they get before the sawbones,"
muttered Dan.

"Candidates, like ourselves, you mean?" suggested Darrin. "We'll
inquire." With that, he approached the clerk and made the inquiry.

"Oh, no," replied the clerk, in answer to Dave's question. "There
are only two other candidates besides yourselves stopping here.
There are a good many young men in town, of course, but most
of them have been here for some weeks, and are in lodging houses.
A good many young men come here, you know, to attend the Naval
preparatory schools before they go up for their examinations."

"We've had our academic examinations, and have passed," announced
Dan.

"What about supper, sir?" asked Dave, who, in his short trip through
the South, had noticed that in this part of the country the "sir"
is generally employed.