But Dan’s ears were keenly alert for the response to his summons, and he straightened up ever so little as he heard footsteps approaching the door. It had been the dream of these two young American boys for many months to join the Navy. They had talked and talked of the day when they should have arrived at the age that permitted them to make application for admission to the service. A few weeks before reaching the legal age, which is seventeen, each had received a letter from a recruiting station in New York City pointing out the advantages that the service offers to young Americans. Correspondence had been immediately opened with the recruiting office, with the result that the lads made their preparations to go directly to New York City and present themselves at the recruiting station. Dan, who lived with his widowed mother, was a clerk in the general store in his home town; while Sam, an orphan, had been serving an apprenticeship in a small machine shop. It had been therefore no small effort for the boys to get together enough money for their expenses to the metropolis; and, as already stated, they were now practically at the end of their resources. But this did not discourage them. “If we are rejected we shall be able to find something to do in New York that will let us earn enough money to take us back home,” Dan had declared resolutely, his pale face lighting up, his eyes sparkling with purpose and determination. “Yes; I had just as lief work in New York as in Piedmont,” agreed Sam. “I hope, Sam, we shall have to do neither.” The door was thrown open abruptly, and the boys found themselves confronted by a middle-aged man clad in a blue suit. On the right sleeve he wore three bright red chevrons enclosing a white pilot wheel, surmounted by a white eagle, showing that he was a quartermaster in the United States Navy. “Well, what is it?” he demanded rather brusquely. “We wish to join the Navy, sir,” answered Dan firmly. The quartermaster surveyed the lads keenly. “Come inside,” he said. The boys entered the waiting room, where they were directed to seat themselves at a table. A printed blank form was placed before each. “Fill out those applications,” directed the petty officer who had admitted them. “If your answers to the questions are satisfactory you will be asked some further questions; then we shall have you examined.” Having spent three years in high school, after finishing at the grammar school, the boys found themselves well able to fill out the application blanks without having to ask questions of the quartermaster. This they did with much care, giving such facts about themselves as the application blank demanded. Sam nudged his companion. “See that man sitting over there to the left of you?” he asked. “Yes.” “I think he must be a general or something of the sort.” “Humph! There’s only one general in the Navy, and he is in the Marine Corps,” answered Dan reprovingly. “I know what that officer is.”