“Then that part of what I told the officer was straight.  Now, Eph, when we saw that first cadet come along, didn’t I suggest to you to ask him about hazing?”

“Ye-es,” admitted Somers, thoughtfully.

“Then, didn’t the cadet midshipmen offer to show us all about hazing pranks, and didn’t they do it?”

“Well, rather,” muttered Eph.

“Now, young man, that’s all I told the officer, except that we enjoyed our entertainment greatly.”

“Did we enjoy it, though?” demanded Eph Somers, bridling up.

“I did,” replied Jack, “and I spoke for myself.  I enjoyed it as I would enjoy almost any new experience.”

“So did I,” added Hal, warmly.  “It was rough—­mighty rough—­but now I know what an Annapolis hazing is like, and I’m glad I do.”

“Well, I want to tell you I didn’t enjoy it,” blazed Eph.  “It was a mighty cheeky—­”

“Then why did you let the officer imagine you enjoyed it?” taunted Jack.

While Hal put in, slyly: 

“Eph, you’re too quick to talk about others fibbing.  From the evidence just put in, it’s evident that you’re the only one of the three who fibbed any.  Won’t you please walk on the ether side of the road?  I never did like to travel with liars.”

“Oh, you go to Jericho!” flared Eph.  But, as he walked along, he blinked a good deal, and did some hard thinking.

“I’ll tell you,” broke out Jack, suddenly, “who thanks us even more than the cadets them selves do.”

“Who?” queried Hal.

“That officer who caught the crowd at it.”

“Do you think he cared?”

“Of course he did,” said Jack, positively.

“He’d rather have gone hungry for a couple of days than have to report that bunch for hazing.”

“Then why was he so infernally stiff with the young men?”

“He had to be; that’s the answer.  That officer, like every other officer of the Navy detailed here, is sworn to do his full duty.  So he has to enforce the regulations.  But don’t you suppose, fellows, that officer was hazed, and did some hazing on his own account, when he was a cadet midshipman here years ago?  Of course!  And that’s why the officer didn’t question us any more closely than he did.  He was afraid he might stumble on something that would oblige him to report the whole crowd for hazing. He didn’t want to do it.  That officer, I’m certain, knew that, if he questioned us too closely, he’d find a lot more beneath the surface that he simply didn’t want to dig up.”

“Would you have told the truth, if he had questioned you searchingly, and pinned you right down?” demanded Eph Somers.

“Of course I would,” Jack replied, soberly.  “I’m no liar.  But I feel deeply grateful to that officer for not being keener.”

Before nine o’clock the next morning news of the night’s doings back of barracks had spread through the entire corps of cadet midshipmen.