“We ought to haze him!” declared Harry.
“I’m afraid you won’t get a chance to do that,” Tom said. “The only thing for me to do is to keep as much out of his way as possible. And that isn’t going to be easy. This is certainly fierce!” and he drooped his aching shoulders to ease them from the long strain.
“Cheer up! There’s a little relief in sight,” Harry said.
“What’s that?” Tom asked.
“Orders have been published saying we’re to go to camp. It will be different there, at least.”
“Good!” Tom cried, animation showing on his face. “It’s getting too hot in barracks.”
The new cadets had had three weeks of almost constant drilling, in setting-up exercises, marching, and the manual of arms; and now came a change. Each lad received four pairs of white duck trousers, in anticipation of camp life, at least that number being necessary to enable them to look neat, for the white material soiled quickly, and neatness is one of the fundamental requirements at West Point.
Up to now the new cadets had not mingled in the least with the upper classmen. There would be no association for the following year, it being the policy at the Military Academy to keep the first-year men separated from the second, third and fourth year classes. But though there would be no mingling there would be more or less association in camp with the third and fourth year men. The second class was on furlough, there being but one during the four years’ course, coming at the conclusion of the second year.
Divided into companies, according to the height of the men, Tom and his friends were marched over to camp, where the white tents, in precise rows, nestled under the shade of the maple trees near the banks of the historic Hudson. The “plebes” had been looking toward it for some time with longing eyes, but it was a place they were forbidden to approach until sent there to spend part of the summer receiving instruction.
With brooms, buckets, bedding and personal property, the new cadets tramped over the cavalry plain toward the rows of cool and inviting-looking tents. Naturally the arrival of the “plebes” attracted the attention of the upper classmen, who indulged in all manner of good-natured gibes against the unfortunates. This went on until the new lads were divided off into different companies.