"
"Perhaps the strict discipline irked you, too," Miss Meade hinted.
"The strict discipline will be part of the whole professional
life ahead of me," Darrin responded. "As to discipline, it's
even harder on some ships, where the old man is a stickler for
having things done just so."
"The old man?" questioned Belle.
"The 'old man' is the captain of a warship."
"It doesn't sound respectful."
"Yet it has always been the name given to the ship's captain,
and I don't suppose it will be changed in another hundred years.
How does it feel, Danny boy, going away for good?"
"Am I really going away for good?" grinned Dalzell. "I thought
it was only a dream."
"Well, here's Odenton. You'll be in Baltimore after another little
while, and then it will all seem more real."
"Nothing but Gridley will look real to me on this trip," muttered
Dan. "Really, I'm growing sick for a good look at the old home
town."
"I wish you could put in the whole summer at home, Dan," sighed
his mother. "But, of course, I know that you can't."
"No, mother; I'll have time to walk up and down the home streets
two or three times, and then orders will come from the Navy Department
to report aboard the ship to which I'm to be assigned. Mother,
if you want to keep a boy at home you shouldn't allow him to go
to a place where he's taught that nothing on earth matters but
the Navy!"
Later in the afternoon the train pulled in at Baltimore.
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