The boys hastened from the car, and found themselves opposite a not particularly prepossessing looking building, the lower floor of which was occupied by an old book store. But above an open door leading to the upper stories, which had been newly painted and presented a neat appearance, floated a flag that made both their hearts beat quicker. If all went well, they would soon be enlisted under it. Old Glory hung bravely above the dingy portal, amid the hurry and squalidness of the surroundings. "Well, here's the place, Herc." But to Ned's surprise, Herc stopped short and was standing irresolutely behind him. "Um-ah! I guess we'd better walk around the block a couple of times first, Ned," stammered the red-headed youth. "What's the trouble?" laughed Ned. "You look as awkward as a hired man going courting. You don't mean to say that you are nervous?" "No," protested Herc, "not nervous, Ned; but--but---- Well, the fact is, I'd have liked a little preparation first, as the fellow said when he fell into the well on Luke Bates' place up home." "You're going to come in with me right now," said Ned grimly, seizing Herc's arm in a grip there was no resisting. Together the two lads passed through the door and up a flight of stairs. At the head of the flight they found a well-furnished office confronting them. A rather brusque-looking man, with a pair of formidable mustaches, sat at a table facing them. "Well?" he demanded somewhat truculently. "Well," the irrepressible Herc was beginning in the same aggressive tone, when Ned checked him. "We wish to enlist in the navy. Have we come to the right place, sir?" he asked civilly. "You have, my boys," was the response in heartier tone; "and if you mean business, I think I can promise, from looking you over casually, that you'll pass with flying colors. Fill out these blanks, and I'll see what you're made of. We have so many fakes we have to be careful." He pushed toward the boys two large sheets of paper. On them were printed numerous questions about themselves, their parents, their previous condition of life, and so forth. "Gee! this is like passing an examination at school," whispered Herc, as the boys sat down with pen and ink at a corner table and prepared to fill out the blank spaces left for answers. "Hush!" cautioned Ned. "Or the papers you fill out when you enter a prize heifer at the county fair," continued the incorrigible red-headed youth. Despite Herc's frequent remarks, breathed in a cautious undertone, the questions were all answered in due time and the papers handed over to the bristly mustached man, who eyed them approvingly. "Good!" he snapped. "Neat and satisfactory. Now," he continued, "go into that room and undergo a physical examination." He indicated a door, which the boys opened with somewhat of a feeling of awe, and found themselves in the presence of a surgeon, who ordered them to disrobe and conducted a thorough examination of them.