"What,--you ain't got no money!" exclaimed old Zack incredulously and in somewhat alarmed tones. There was a note in Ned's voice he had never heard there before and he saw his authority melting away like snow in the spring, "and besides, maybe I was a bit hasty, Ned. Come, we'll call it square and you do your work right in future and we'll say no more about it." "I shall do only a little more work for you, gran'pa," was Ned's amazing reply, which almost caused the old man to drop his lines and fall backward off his seat. "What's that?" he cried, and his voice fairly squeaked under the stress of his great astonishment. "I said," calmly repeated Ned, "that I shall not do much more work for you, grandpa, and neither will Herc here, I guess. We are going away." It was Herc's turn to look astonished. Accustomed as he was to accept Ned's opinion in most things, this latest resolve seemed somewhat drastic even to the impetuous red-headed youth. "Why, you ain't got no money?" stammered old Zack, not being able to think of anything else to say in his great amazement. "Oh, yes, I have," quietly rejoined Ned. "I have fifty dollars saved up that I got for skins last winter and Herc has about the same sum. That will carry us a little way, I guess." "Why, Ned, boy! Land o' Goshen, what have yer set yer mind on doin'?" gasped the farmer. "We're going to enter the navy," announced Ned, in these same quiet, determined tones; which unmistakably meant to anyone who knew him that his mind was made up beyond the possibility of change. "What, out on the water?" gasped old Zack, his mind in a whirl at this sudden kicking over the traces of authority. "I believe they usually sail the vessels of Uncle Sam's navy on the water," chirped the irrepressible Herc, who, his first astonishment over, had quite resolved to follow his cousin's footsteps wherever they might lead. The sarcasm was lost on old Zack, however. He even forgot to emit his customary minute interval cry of "Geddap!" to his old team which, in consequence, came to a dead standstill in the middle of the road. "Of course we shall stay and help you till you get a hired man to suit you," went on Ned, with quiet sarcasm. "Yes--yes," quavered the old man, chirruping to his stationary team, and seemingly dazed by the sudden announcement of the boys' intentions. "In the navy--out on the water," he muttered as they drove on, "Land o' Goshen!--two dollars!--fights!--busted stoves!--the navy!" CHAPTER III. UNCLE SAM GETS TWO RAW RECRUITS. Old Zack's daze was not dispelled the next morning when, having done their work as usual, the boys set off to trudge the six miles into Lambs' Corners. "Will you be back to dinner?" the old man croaked, in such a quavering voice that even Herc felt sorry for him. "We'll be back before then, and make up the time we've lost before night," Ned assured him, as the two cousins swung off to take what they both felt was the final step of their resolve.