“MY YOUNG FRIEND: I hereby redeem my promise and forward the necessary papers for your cadetship. I shall regard you as my _protégé_, and watch your career with the greatest of interest, for I have no doubt of your ability to go through. “If you need aid--a loan, consider it, for you are self-confessedly poor--do not hesitate to call upon me, as I shall be more than pleased to respond. You can repay it at your leisure. “Yours faithfully, THE SECRETARY.” The other letter bore the flag of Commodore Lucien upon envelope and paper head, and was as follows: “MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND: I saw the Secretary to-day, and he told me the President was pleased to appoint you to a cadetship-at-large, and that your papers would be forwarded immediately. “I congratulate you with all my heart, and as there will be some necessary expenses falling upon you, I send herewith my check for one hundred dollars, which please consider a loan until convenient for you to repay it. I also take the liberty of ordering your kit, containing your outfit complete, for I have no idea of your failing to pass, and the amount I expend you can also return at your convenience. Present my compliments to your good mother, and regard me ever as “Your friend, DAVID LUCIEN.” “Will you let me sail back in your boat, Miss Virgene, and tow my own?” asked Mark, when he had read the letters; and promptly came the answer: “Yes, indeed, and I’m glad to have you.” So the prow of the sailboat was pointed back for B----. CHAPTER XII. A PLOT THAT FAILED. Secrets often leak out of a country post office, just how no one knows, but still they do, and when Mark called upon Judge Miller after arriving in B----, and escorting Virgene home, that gentleman said: “Well, my young friend, I suppose I am to congratulate you upon receiving an appointment to the naval school, and I am glad of it.” Mark stood aghast, and the judge continued: “Mr. Clemmons told me his son Scott had received an appointment, and that a like official looking document had come through the mails for you, and he supposed it was also a cadet midshipman’s berth in our navy, though he wondered how you had obtained, without influence, what he had found no easy task to secure for his son.” “Yes, sir, I have orders to report for examination, but I wished to keep it secret, for I may fail, you know, sir.” “Not you; but I suppose you won yours from having saved a schooner from being wrecked some half a year ago, and which made quite a hero of you, I remember.” Mark saw that the judge was on the wrong track, so he did not correct him as to how he had gotten his appointment. “Well, Mark, you came to see me for some purpose, so out with it,” said the judge. Mark told of his seeing the little schooner adrift at sea, and going out in his boat had found her abandoned, so sailed her into port.