"Armies are seldom large enough for each man to have another man detailed to look after him," said Mr. Wayne drily.
Magnus made no answer. He paced up and down the long station house by his friend's side, swinging his little handbag with an air that was not all of enjoyment.
"It's a hard place, then, isn't it?"
"There are no easy places in this world, so far as I know," answered Mr. Wayne. "Not for men who wish to get on. There are a few where you can stand still. West Point is not one of those. Back or forward you must go, there. But there is no hardest place on earth that 'work and pray' will not carry a man gloriously through."
"Well, mother has taught me the one, and I guess I'll soon pick up the other," said Magnus. "I'm not afraid of work, if I am rather lazy."
"Magnus," said his friend suddenly, "when you get to West Point I want you to make friends with the flag."
"All right," said the boy, laughing. "Do they fly the flag all the time? That is glorious!"
"They fly it all the time, in all weathers; from the small storm flag in a gale, to the bunting thirty-six feet long, on a holiday. What would you think, if they hauled the flag down every time someone came by who did not like it?"
"I should say, 'Shoot the man who touched the halyards'!" said Magnus.
"Suppose the passerby was from a powerful nation that we feared to offend?"