“Yes—sir!” he answered loudly.
“That’s better!” was the mollified retort. “Don’t forget that sir! I’m glad some of you know which is your left foot. Now then, step out!”
They managed it a little better now, though doubtless they were awkward enough.
“Eyes—front!” snapped out the corporal, as some one ventured to look about. “Eyes—front!”
In due time the awkward squad was marched to one of the barrack divisions, where the cadet officers, in charge of the candidates, had their headquarters. There the corporal reported Tom and the others to a cadet lieutenant who recorded them and assigned them to quarters—three to a room.
Tom had thought that he and the others would be examined before getting this far at West Point, but it seemed he did not know all the routine yet. At least, he was to have a real taste of life before knowing whether or not he would be allowed to remain.
The ordeal of being recorded by the lieutenant was much more trying than in the case of the adjutant. Some of the boys forgot the all-important “sir,” and were sharply rebuked. But in the end they learned how to answer properly, and to give when they were asked where they were from, the name of their state, and not the name of their town or city.
“Don’t forget your ‘misters’ and ‘sirs,’” advised the lieutenant as a parting shot, when Tom and the other luckless candidates marched off to the Cadet Store to draw their first supplies—their housekeeping utensils as it were—for they were to do their own work for a time. Each candidate received from the Cadet Store a quantity of bedding, a pillow, a mattress, a broom, a pail and a chair, in addition to a dipper. These were to be used while they were candidates, and could be kept if they passed the examinations. If they failed they would have to turn them in again, and from the hundred dollars deposited would be deducted the board for the time they had been at West Point.
Tom’s mother had sent this sum on in advance, a fact of which our hero was aware, though he did not know the source whence the money came.
“Whew! This is some early rising!” exclaimed Sam Leland as he examined the printed list of “calls” that had been given to them after they had secured their equipment.