Scott Clemmons did not even walk to the gangway with his visitor.

He saw him depart, and then walked aft to where a group of cadets stood.

He knew he would have to face the music, so he decided to meet the onslaught at once.

“I say, Clemmons, who was your seedy friend?” asked one.

“What a loud suit he wears.”

“Yes, he is as striped as a zebra.”

“But the stripes run up and down.”

“True, and it makes a heap of difference to a man which way he wears his stripes.”

“If I recognized the gentleman aright his home should be an institution where the stripes should run round him,” said Perry.

“You are right, Perry; for, as you all know, doubtless, the fellow was my old chum, Barney Breslin,” remarked Clemmons.

“Why did he not give you the letters he had for you?”

“What letters?”

“He answered the hail of the officer of the deck with the remark that he had most important letters for you.”

“Indeed! he said nothing to me about them. In truth, that was a mere excuse to get aboard, for he came to borrow money.”

“Ah! he had cheek to come here, and to get any money was worse.”

“You don’t owe him any money, do you, Clemmons?” innocently said one of the cadets.

“Owe him? I only wish I had what he owes me; but he came and asked me for a loan, and I guess he has gone to the bad utterly, for his father has cast him off, he told me.”

“I didn’t see you lend him any.”

“No, and I told him never to cross my path again,” and with this Clemmons returned to his work in the captain’s cabin.

Later a number of midshipmen were given leave ashore, and Scott Clemmons was among them. So, too, were Mark Merrill and Bemis Perry.

The latter two went off for a sight-seeing expedition alone, and a group of cadets also started on a “voyage of discovery” together.

But Scott Clemmons separated from all the others, saying that he had friends to visit, and punctually at eight o’clock he entered the Astor House, the place of his appointment with Barney Breslin.

New York is a large city, but yet people who are friends will run upon each other there in a most unaccountable manner. Two cadets were seated in the gentlemen’s parlor and saw Clemmons when he came along the hall.

A moment after they saw him joined by Barney Breslin, and the two, after some parley, entered the dining room together.

“Well, that looks friendly, Merrill.”

“It certainly does, Perry,” was the answer.

The appointment had been as faithfully kept by Barney Breslin as by Scott Clemmons.

“Well, I have come,” said the latter.

“You are wise,” was the reply.

“What is it, now that I am here?”

“I am hungry, and cannot talk upon an empty stomach. Come, let us have some dinner, and over it we can come to some understanding.”

Clemmons frowned, but replied:

“Do I understand that this is an invitation for me to dine with you?”

“On the contrary, I am to dine with you, for I have not a dollar to my name.”

“Well, as this is to be our last meeting, Breslin, I will honor you.”

They entered the dining room together, and a good dinner with wine was ordered.

“Now, what do you wish to say, Breslin?” asked Scott Clemmons, an hour after the dinner had been dispatched, Breslin eating with a degree of relish that showed he was, indeed, hungry, while Clemmons ate sparingly, seeming nervous and ill at ease.

“I wish to go West and grow up with the country, or go to South America and get a berth there, and I need just one thousand dollars to go with,” said Breslin, rendered bolder by the wine he had drank.

“Won’t your father give it to you?”

“Not a dollar.”

“Then I cannot see how you’ll get there.”

“I can.”

“How?”

“You will give it to me,” was the almost threatening response.

“You were never more mistaken in your life.”

“Am I?”

“You are.”

“Then there is no need of further talk, for I can work my way to B——, and hold an interview with your father, who I believe will think it a small sum to stand between his son and——”

“He will not give you a cent.”

“Then I shall work my way back to Baltimore, tramp it, or beat the railroad, to Annapolis and see the commandant of the Naval Academy, and when I have had my interview with him somebody will find that they have made a mistake—that is all,” and Breslin arose to go.

“Hold, Breslin, and be reasonable. Now I know you can make charges which you could not sustain; but I wish to avoid a suspicion, and I’ll give you all the money I have, but I cannot raise a thousand dollars.”

“How much have you?”

“Well, both of my parents have been liberal, as I was going upon a foreign cruise, and I have some six hundred dollars.”

“I’ll take it, so hand it over.”

“You are to give me a written pledge never to cross my path again.”

“Of course.”

Pen, ink and paper were sent for, the written pledge was given, the money handed over, and paying the shot for the dinner, the two left the hotel to come face to face upon Mark Merrill and Bemis Perry, who were just about to enter and have dinner together, having taken another stroll after seeing Clemmons and his companion enter the dining room, as they did not wish to be seen by them.