A bath, a change of linen, and supper made Tom feel much better, and then came a long evening spent on the hotel porch where were many other lads, all eager for what lay before them—eager and anxious, most of them; some so much so that they went about with books in their hands, gluing their eyes to the pages every now and then. They were “cramming for exams,” and no greater torture can be devised for a young fellow.
Some of the boys told of having gone up to have a look at West Point that day, they having been at Highland Falls for some time, preparing for the ordeal. Some were even being tutored at a special preparatory school in the neighborhood.
“The farther you fellows keep away from West Point until it’s time for you to report, the better,” said one lad who seemed to know whereof he spoke. “Don’t give those cadets a chance to get one in on you, which they’re sure to do if they see you nosing around up at the barracks before it’s time. Stay away until it’s time to report.”
This Tom and some of his friends resolved to do. However, they could not refrain the next morning from going a short distance toward the group of gray stone buildings that make up the United States Military Academy. In the distance they could see the cadets passing to and fro, some of them drilling; and Tom, at least, felt a thrill of anticipation.
“Oh, if I can only get in!” he sighed.
“That’s right!” remarked Leland. “It sure is a great place.”
The next day Tom, and the other candidates, left the Highland Falls hotel to report to the superintendent of the Academy, which was the real beginning of the examination that meant so much to them. At last they were to have a taste of life at West Point, though for some of them it might last only the few days intervening between their official entrance and the rigid tests.
On the way to West Point Tom caught a glimpse of Clarence Hawkesbury in company with some flashily dressed youths. They were riding in a sort of public coach, and Clarence waved his hand to Tom, as though the best of feeling existed between them.
“I wonder where the superintendent’s office is?” remarked one of the youths with Tom. “I don’t suppose we dare speak to any of those high and mighty cadets to ask.”
“Not if we see any one else,” Tom said. And on their way they met a soldier—not a cadet—who directed them to the headquarters building, in which was located the office of the adjutant to whom they were to report in person.