"What's your rank now, Tom? Grand commander, or general, or captain, or what!"
Tom, too angry to reply, abruptly left the midshipmen, and walked into the office. They would have followed him, but he slammed the door in their faces and locked it. As it was early in the morning, none of the clerks had yet made their appearance, and Tom had the office to himself. His first duty was to sweep out--a task he never executed without crying; for his idea was, that every time he performed any work with his hands, he was disgracing himself. After he left the midshipmen, he shed a few tears, and grumbled a good deal. "Thank goodness, this is the last time I shall ever sweep out this office," said he to himself. "To-morrow morning, at this time, I shall be within sight of the ocean, and far away from Johnny Harding, and Harry Green, and all the rest of the fellows who are continually bothering me about that yacht. I'll be my own master then, and if I ever touch a broom or duster again, I'll know the reason why. Of course, the vessel must be kept clean while we are on our cruise, but I am the captain, and I can make the others do the work. When we reach our island, somebody will have to sweep out the cave and tent; but I won't do it, for I'll be governor of the band by that time. I'll help plant the rice and wheat, and shoot goats, and keep a lookout for Indians, and have an eye on all that is going on, for, of course, that is the duty of the governor; but I'll work when I please, and play when I feel like it; and there'll be nobody to say to me--? 'Thomas, you'll wear a poor man's clothes the longest day you live!'"
As was always the case with Tom, when about to engage in any of his grand schemes, he lived in a state of intense excitement all that day. He was constantly harassed by the fear, which sometimes almost amounted to a conviction, that something would happen to defeat the enterprise. The fisher-boy might succeed in making his escape; or Mr. Grimes, who, he knew, was closely watching Sam Barton, might discover something; or the guard of the yacht might be too strong for them, and he and the rest of the band might be captured, and taken to the academy as prisoners of war; or the principal, or some of the students, might call upon Mr. Newcombe and inform him that his son had another idea; in short, there were a thousand ways in which the affair might get noised abroad. Tom was especially uneasy whenever any body spoke of Bob Jennings. No one suspected that he knew any thing about him, but, as he and the fisher-boy had been seen together a good deal of late, two or three of the clerks inquired what he had done with his "friend and partner," and Tom drawled out in reply--