Tommy was feeling perfectly well. A small blue mark still remained on his forehead showing where he had been hit by some part of the wreckage in the accident and knocked insensible. Being fully dressed when the others arrived, they all were soon investigating the wonderful battleship. For two full hours they pestered the patient Dorlan with more questions and inquiries than he could have answered in a lifetime. In the course of their personally conducted trip they were on a visit to the bridge when their attention was again attracted to the small bugler of marines who had been the innocent cause of their presence on board the flagship. He was again sounding the call which they had been discussing when the motor boat dashed under the stern of the vessel and crashed into them. "What is the meaning of that call?" asked Dick of their guide. "He’s callin’ away the motor sailer," replied Dorlan. "Is he a marine--the little fellow blowing the bugle?" inquired Tommy. "Surest thing ye know," was the answer. "Why! He can’t be as old as we are," remarked Dick; "how old do you have to be to enlist in the Marines?" "Those kids sometimes come in at the age of fifteen," answered Dorlan; "they enlist as drummers and trumpeters and serve till they’re twenty-one years old." "May anyone enlist?" Dick asked. "Sure, if yer old enough." "And work your way up to a commission, as they do in the army?" "Indeed ye can, if ye’ve got it in ye," replied the Sergeant; "Captain Henderson come up from the ranks, and a mighty good officer he is, too," he added. After this talk Richard Comstock remained very thoughtful. A sudden idea had come to his mind, and he wanted to think it over. The sight of the neat-looking marines, their military bearing, smart uniforms and soldierly demeanor attracted him powerfully, and when he learned that enlisted men were afforded the opportunity to rise in rank to that of commissioned officer, he saw in this a means of following a career which, if not exactly the one he had always desired to pursue, was similar in many respects, at least. A little later the boys were taken ashore in one of the flagship’s steamers, first being assured that their own boat would be sent to the boat club in the morning. CHAPTER IV SEMPER FIDELIS--ALWAYS FAITHFUL The actions of Dick Comstock for the next few days were clothed in mystery so far as his own immediate family was concerned, for he kept his own counsel as to his movements when away from home. Even his sister Ursula was not taken into his confidence. In the meantime the day of Gordon Graham’s departure for Annapolis arrived, and his friends went to the station to give him a proper send-off. Ursula and Dick were there, also Donald, Robert and Tommy Turner and many of Gordon’s classmates, of whom Dick was the closest friend.