“I beg pardon, sir, but are you from the cruising ship now in port?” asked the waiter.
“We are, and we wish the best dinner you can give two fresh young salts,” said Perry.
“I’ll give you a good dinner, sir; but the two gentlemen who were here awhile since, one of them wearing a uniform like yours, left this paper. I just picked it up as you came in.”
Perry took the paper and said, after glancing at it:
“I will deliver it to the gentleman whose name is here, for he is on our ship. Now, my man, we are hungry, so do your best,” and a liberal fee was slipped into the hand of the waiter.
“Oh, thank you, sir; but what wines will you drink?”
The waiter disappeared with a look of surprise upon his face that any one in uniform ate dinner and drank no wine.
“See here, Merrill, I am going to do perhaps a mean thing, but I am curious to know a few things, and I shall question that waiter.”
“What he can tell me about Clemmons and Breslin, for he took an inkstand, paper and pen off this table as we came up, and here is the paper which the waiter picked up--see!”
He held the piece of paper up, and Mark said:
“Then neither of us have a right to read it.”
“Pardon me, but I read it at a glance, and as it is but a few lines I will read it to you, as I am sure it concerns you.”
“In consideration of the sum of six hundred dollars, received from Scott Clemmons, I hereby pledge myself to never cross his path again, and to make no further demand upon him for money.”
“Well, what do you think of that, Merrill?”
“It would seem that Breslin holds some claim upon Clemmons; but it is none of our affair.”
“I believe that the wrong man was dismissed from the academy, that Breslin was simply the tool of Scott Clemmons,” was the startling reply of the young South Carolinian.
Mark fairly started at this, and yet made no response, while Perry continued:
“Now I shall return this paper to Clemmons, and I shall question this waiter to please myself, and then I shall keep my eye upon that young man from Maine, see if I do not, and if he means mischief toward you I will play the same game.”
Whatever he might think of Scott Clemmons’ conduct toward him he did not wish others to suspect him of treachery, and he was really sorry that the paper had been found.