Under this advice Mark braced up, while the commandant asked in his pleasant way: “Well, Cadet Captain Bascomb, may I ask why I am honored with this visit?” This appealed to the young cadet officer, who prided himself upon his speech-making, and was always glad to get a chance to display his oratory, saluted, and responded: “We are here, most respected commander, to present to you one who boarded the academy grounds by way of the harbor and over the sea wall. “He asked the way to your quarters, and discovering in him the young hero who won his appointment to the service, which is more than any of us were guilty of, we came as a convoy to conduct him to your presence, and I beg to introduce Mr. Mark Merrill.” [Illustration: “‘We come as a convoy to conduct him to your presence, and I beg to introduce him as Mr. Mark Merrill.’” (See page 69.)] CHAPTER XVII. JACK JUDSON’S MEMORY. When the little schooner Venture was seen driving up the bay and into the Severn River, the cadet midshipmen ashore were not the only interested watchers of her progress. She had swept around the bluff, where now stands the popular resort known as Bay Ridge, in a manner that at once attracted every sailor’s eye who saw her. The little fleet of stanch craft that found a safe harbor in Annapolis, were anchored snugly in a sheltered nook, all ship-shape to ride out the gale. Each vessel had its crew on board in case there should be dragging of anchors, and they were compelled to get up sail, which all devoutly hoped would not be the case. Then ashore there was an interested crowd on the oyster docks gazing with admiration upon the beautiful craft driven along like the very wind, carrying an amount of canvas which appeared foolhardy in the extreme. Over at the fort, on the opposite side of the river, were groups of soldiers also observing the schooner’s rush up the harbor, and officers were braving the fierce wind to have a look at her. The reviewing ship, and training ship for the middies, also had their quota of observers, while upon the stately vessel of war anchored in the stream the large crew were riveting their gaze upon the Venture, while the tars were commenting upon the manner in which she was being handled in a manner most complimentary to the helmsman, though with a belief that they would see him come to grief before he reached an anchorage. Upon the quarter-deck of the vessel-of-war her officers were chatting over the flying craft, and various criticisms were made as to the skill and recklessness of the helmsman. They, of course, had their own ideas as to what was good seamanship, and expressed them accordingly. But it is forward, among the men, the bone and sinew, the human machinery of the navy, that I will ask my reader to accompany me. Among a group of over a score of sailors leaning over the port bulwarks forward was one who was gazing with more than usual interest upon the schooner.