"Did either of you gentlemen recognize the midshipman to whose rescue you rushed?" Dan and Joyce replied in the negative. "Tell me the circumstances of the attack, Mr. Darrin. Take pains to make your statement so exact that you will not have to amend the statement afterwards." Darrin told the affair as it had happened. "Hm! And none of you recognized the fourth midshipman?" pursued the O.C. "That, in itself, was strange, Mr. Darrin, was there any agreement among you three that you would not recognize your comrade?" "Not exactly an agreement, sir," Dave confessed candidly. "At the distance that we were from the scene before we rushed in the darkness prevented our seeing the face of the unknown midshipman. As we started forward, I will admit that I warned Mr. Dalzell and Mr. Joyce not to look at the other midshipman's face." "So that you might answer truthfully, if asked, that you did not know the man?" "Yes, sir; that was my reason for so advising Mr. Dalzell and Mr. Joyce." "That was what might be termed extraordinary foresight, Mr. Darrin," remarked Lieutenant-Commander Denham ironically. "Thank you, sir," answered Dave as innocently as though he did not understand that he had just been rebuked. The O.C. frowned. "Mr. Darrin, since I assume you to have been the ringleader of your trio, did you give that wonderful advice to your companions just so that you might be able to refuse any aid to the Naval Academy authorities in running this matter to the ground?" "Yes, sir," Dave answered very frankly. "You wished, then," demanded the O.C. sternly, "to hinder the course of justice at the Naval Academy?" "It, at least, sir, did not strike me at the time quite in that light." "Yet something was happening on the streets of Annapolis that you knew would be very thoroughly investigated if it were reported here, and so you took precautions against being able to aid the authorities in the investigation?" "I admit the truth of that, sir." "Mr. Darrin, why did you feel called upon to try to defeat the investigation that you foresaw, and which is now under way?" "Because, sir, it is contrary to the spirit of the brigade of midshipmen to carry tales against each other. I did not care to act contrary to that spirit." "Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that you did not dare," observed the O.C. half sneeringly. "That way of stating it would be true, sir. I do not care to turn informer against my comrades." "Yet you think you possess the courage to become one of our fighting officers in the future, if the need arises? "Of my courage as a fighting man, sir, I am unable to form any opinion until that courage has been properly tested." "But you are afraid to inform the authorities of the identity of comrades who commit serious offenses?" "As it is contrary to the spirit of the brigade, sir, I would be more afraid of my own contempt than of any other punishment."