Reveille came at six o’clock, followed half an hour later by breakfast. At one o’clock dinner was served, and supper came after retreat parade. Of course the candidates had no part in the parade.
“Oh, six o’clock isn’t so bad—not in summer,” Tom said. He had often risen earlier than that in winter to do a job of snow-shoveling to earn money at home.
“Well, it’s early for me,” remarked Clarence Hawkesbury, with a supercilious grin. “And this dipper is—beastly!” he exclaimed, as he looked at the one made from half a cocoanut shell that had been issued to him. “I’m going to buy a collapsible cup,” he declared.
“Better not,” advised some one who knew. “Everything we’re allowed to have is strictly arranged for, and if you’re caught with anything contraband—good-night!”
“They won’t catch me!” Clarence said.
Tom hoped Clarence wouldn’t have a chance to be caught, since if Clarence remained it meant that our hero would have failed. And that he fiercely made up his mind not to do.
The candidates, with their new belongings, now passed on to their rooms. Tom was quartered with Sam Leland and a lad named Harry Houston. He liked them both from the first.
“And now to get ready for the exams,” commented Tom, when they found themselves in their room.
CHAPTER VIII
A SLIDE FOR LIFE
Tom, who had, with the other two candidates, dragged the bedding and other things to the room they were to share in common, at least for a time, looked at his companions. They hardly knew what to do next, for they had received so many orders and instructions that their minds were in a whirl.