"You----" "Oh, that's all right, David, little giant," returned Dalzell with an attempt at cheeriness.

"You mean well, but a fellow isn't reported deficient unless he's so far behind that the Board has his case settled in advance.

From all I can hear it isn't once in a camel's age that a fellow so reported, and ordered before the Board, gets off with anything less than a hard, wet bilge.

What I'm thinking of now is, what am I going to pick up as a career when I go home from here as a failure." If it hadn't been for the pride he felt in still having the uniform on, Dalzell might not have been able to check the tears that tried to flow.
"Come on," commanded Dave, leaping up, "we'll run up to the deck above, and see if we can't find Mr.Freeman in." "What good will that do ?" demanded Dan.

"Freeman is a first classman, but he hasn't any particular drag with the Board." "It won't do any harm, anyway, for us to have a talk with an older classman," argued Dave.