The visitors were escorted by Captain Jack to Captain Dale’s quarters. He knew some of the young ladies already, and soon made all of the crowd feel perfectly at home.
“Your friends will show you around our camp, and if you care to do so you may have regular mess with our cadets,” said the old West Pointer, smiling.
“Oh, let’s have a regular mess dinner by all means!” cried Mary. “I’ve always wanted to know how it tasted.”
“Grandest soup you ever struck, Mary,” said Gif.
“Especially if a pinching bug or a worm chances to drop into it,” came from Andy.
“You horrid boy!” cried Martha. “Jack, you ought to box his ears for that.”
The girls were shown over the camp, and even taken down to the rifle ranges, in the meantime being told about the very excellent scores Jack and Fred had made.
It had been arranged that the girls were to be away from Clearwater Hall for two days. They were to spend one day with the boys at Camp Barlight and the following day near Camp Huxwell, where Alice Strobell had an aunt living who had promised to take them all in for the night.
“We’ll come over here early in the morning for you boys,” said Martha, “and then all of us can visit Camp Huxwell together. I’ve already sent word to dad, and Mary has sent word to Uncle Sam, so they will be on the lookout for us.”
“That will be fine!” cried Jack. “I’ve been wanting to see that camp ever since we got here, but, somehow, I couldn’t get away to do it.”