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[Illustration: cover]

[Illustration: _HE GLANCED AT THE WRITTEN ORDER_]




  AN
  ANNAPOLIS
  FIRST CLASSMAN

  _by_

  LT. COM. EDWARD L. BEACH

  U.S. NAVY

  Author of

  "AN ANNAPOLIS PLEBE"
  "AN ANNAPOLIS YOUNGSTER"
  "AN ANNAPOLIS SECOND CLASSMAN"

  Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill

  THE PENN PUBLISHING
  COMPANY PHILADELPHIA

  MCMX

[Illustration]


Introduction


This is the fourth and last book of the "Annapolis Series." It has been
the purpose of the author faithfully to portray the conditions in which
our midshipmen live at the Naval Academy. The training given at
Annapolis is regulated by the needs of the Fleet, and the Naval Academy
in all of its departments is entirely directed and controlled by
seagoing naval officers. After the Fleet's world-encircling cruise, many
of the officers attached to it were sent to the Naval Academy to
instruct midshipmen in navigation and electricity and gunnery and
seamanship.

In the navy it is believed that the officer who is fresh from drilling a
twelve-inch turret or a battery of broadside guns at record and battle
target practice, should be well qualified to initiate midshipmen in the
beginnings of naval gunnery. It is for this reason that the training at
Annapolis reflects the needs of the Fleet, and every officer on duty
there has either seen recent sea service or is looking forward to an
early sea assignment.

Stonewell and Robert Drake by name never existed, but the same thoughts
and ambitions that animate them have animated many hundreds of
midshipmen; and incidents similar to those described have happened
countless times. From this point of view these stories are true stories.
The names of their chief characters may be found in no navy list, but
the truth of the Annapolis books does not depend upon that. Stonewell
and Robert Drake have actually lived many times, and to-day are living
at Annapolis.

The author hopes he has presented in this book and its three
predecessors, "An Annapolis Plebe," "An Annapolis Youngster," and "An
Annapolis Second Classman," a fair picture of the life of American
midshipmen; and not only of the naval atmosphere which surrounds them,
but of that inner life which for the time dominates their relations to
each other and to the institution made famous as the alma mater of many
names illustrious in naval history.

EDWARD L. BEACH,
_Lieutenant-Commander, U.S. Navy_.




Contents


         I. GLASSFELL, DRAKE AND STONEWELL             9
        II. THE COMMANDANT OF MIDSHIPMEN              22
       III. A HAPPY SURPRISE                          36
        IV. ACADEMY LIFE BEGINS                       46
         V. A MYSTERIOUS CRY                          61
        VI. THE GATES FORWARD PASS                    77
       VII. THE WEST POINT GAME                       88
      VIII. "THE MAN WORE A SLOUCH HAT"              101
        IX. ROBERT GETS BAD NEWS                     111
         X. ROBERT GETS GOOD NEWS                    124
        XI. "THREE GROANS FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT"    133
       XII. ROBERT MAKES A DISCOVERY                 142
      XIII. HARRY BLUNT IS REBUFFED                  155
       XIV. A MYSTERY SOLVED                         166
        XV. STONEWELL RECEIVES A LETTER              181
       XVI. BLIGH MAKES A FRIEND                     194
      XVII. AN ILL-FAVORED, RED-BEARDED ROGUE        205
     XVIII. AN OLD <DW52> MAN IS IN TROUBLE         217
       XIX. THE KIDNAPPERS                           227
        XX. SIX-POUNDER TARGET PRACTICE              237
       XXI. A GOOD SHOT WITH THE SIX-POUNDER         255
      XXII. GRICE APPEARS AGAIN                      265
     XXIII. ROBERT RESIGNS                           275
      XXIV. IT WAS STONEWELL                         287
       XXV. JOHN 15:13                               298
      XXVI. COMMANDER DALTON BECOMES ANGRY           305
     XXVII. ROBERT FINALLY ANSWERS                   320
    XXVIII. "BLIGH, BLIGH, BLIGH!"                   334
      XXIX. THE END OF A LONG DAY                    343
       XXX. GRADUATION                               350




Illustrations


                                                PAGE
    HE GLANCED AT THE WRITTEN ORDER   _Frontispiece_
    AROUND THE END                                68
    THE STRANGER THREW OFF HIS HAT               152
    HE HALF AROSE FROM HIS SEAT                  200
    HE SAW TWO DARK FIGURES                      272
    "THAT WILL DO, GENTLEMEN"                    296
    IT MUST HAVE BEEN A VERY PRETTY SPEECH       355




An Annapolis First Classman




CHAPTER I

GLASSFELL, DRAKE AND STONEWELL


"Hello, Stone! Hello, Bob! By George, but I'm glad to see you!"

"Hello, Glass, you old sinner, I can just imagine you've led those dear
old aunts of yours a lively life the last two weeks."

"You'll win, Stone, but you ought to get them to tell you about it; ha,
ha, ha! the dear old ladies never dropped once."

Explosively enthusiastic greetings were exchanged between three stalwart
young men in the Union Station, Chicago, on the twentieth of September,
of the year nineteen hundred and something. Passers-by noticed them and
smiled, and in approving accents said, "College boys!" All three were
tall, broad-shouldered, bronzed in face, and possessed a lithesomeness
of movement that betokened health and strength.

Glassfell, Drake and Stonewell were midshipmen on leave from the United
States Naval Academy. It was evident that they had met in the Union
Station by appointment. Glassfell had just arrived from Wisconsin, and
Drake and Stonewell were to leave in two hours for Annapolis.

"You two chaps are martyrs!" exclaimed Glassfell; "here you are giving
up ten days of glorious leave just to go and train for the football
team. Now here I am, cheer leader, head yeller, or whatever you call me,
far more important than either of you, you'll admit, and I'm not due at
Annapolis until October first."

"'Daily News,' last edition," droned a newsboy near by.

"Don't bother me, boy; Chicago news doesn't interest me. Some new
sandbagging on Wabash Avenue, I suppose, and nothing else. Get out."

"A fine cruise, wasn't it, Glass?" remarked Robert Drake. "By George!
I'd had some troubles on my previous cruises, but this went like
clockwork; not a single thing happened to worry me, and I certainly had
troubles enough on my plebe and youngster cruises."

"You did indeed, Bob," remarked Stonewell, "but you'll have to admit you
were fortunate in the wind up. Now Glass, here----"

"'Daily News,' last edition," was shouted close to their ears.

"Stuff that boy. Put a corn-cob down his throat," said Glassfell with an
amused glance at the persistent newsboy. "Say, fellows, wasn't that a
good one I worked on old 'I mean to say'? Ha, ha, ha!"

"Which one, Glass?" asked Robert Drake.

"Oh, the best one, the time I hoisted up two red balls to the masthead
when he was on watch in charge of the deck, during drill period. And
didn't the captain give him the mischief?"

An outburst of wild hilarious laughter greeted this reminiscence, as
evidently a very humorous episode was recalled. In seagoing language two
red balls means that the