The week passed quickly, and at its close Robert Drake knew he would graduate fifth in his class. That Stonewell would graduate first had long been a foregone conclusion. The Blunt family were now out of suspense and knew that Harry had passed, his application to his studies in these last days being well rewarded. Graduation week came, and with it the Annual Board of Visitors, who are supposed to make a serious investigation of the Naval Academy in all of its parts. And for one week the midshipmen are required to show off their various accomplishments. On Monday morning, the midshipmen as a brigade of infantry passed in review before the Board of Visitors, and Robert Drake, commanding the first company, felt proud indeed as he snapped out the order, just before he reached the reviewing stand, of: "First company--eyes right!" After dismissal the midshipmen rushed into their working clothes and dispersed into different shops, and great was the hammering in the blacksmith and boiler shops as the Board marched through. In this week of each year the Naval Academy is on official exhibition for this wise Board. And for its benefit sham battles are fought, young men scramble aloft on antiquated sailing ships and feverishly loose and make sail, haul on buntlines, clewlines, sheets and braces. They are mustered in the different class rooms and the Board sees them at the blackboard, pointer in hand, in the act of explaining an intricate valve motion to an earnest lieutenant. What the Board does not see is the alacrity with which pointer, blackboard and room are abandoned as soon as the Board has passed on. So this week there were, as there always is at graduation time, sample machine shop drills, gunnery drills, electrical drills, steam engine drills--and many others. And the tired, earnest, hard-working Board was marched through it all at a lively pace. This Board was composed of statesmen, professional men, and business men of established reputation; but it is not certain that any of them knew the difference between a Stephenson link of an engine and the club link of an anchor chain. However, they worked hard and wrote a voluminous report of fifty printed pages, which, covered with dust, is lying with fifty other similar reports in a pigeonhole at the Navy Department. On Wednesday occurred the great day for Helen Blunt. At ten in the morning she was in the receiving stand gowned beautifully in simple white, and carrying a huge bunch of American Beauty roses.