It was not long ere a yearling sentry, with bayonet fixed and gun resting over his right shoulder, came pacing toward the first classman.
Recognizing a cadet officer, the yearling sentry halted, holding his piece at "present arms."
"Walk your post," Dick directed, after having returned the salute.
Had Prescott been a cadet private the sentry would have questioned him as to his reasons for being out after taps. But with a cadet captain it was different. Though Prescott was not cadet officer of the day, he was privileged to have official reasons for being out without making an accounting to the sentry.
Slowly the yearling sentry paced down to the further end of his post. Then he came back again. Having saluted Prescott recently, he did not pause now, but kept on past the cadet officer standing there in the shadow.
As the sentry's footsteps again sounded softer in the distance,
Prescott suddenly became aware of something not far away from him.
It was a little glow of fire, at an elevation of something less than six feet from the ground, over beside a bush.
This glow of fire looked exactly as though it came from a lighted cigar.
If the cigar were held by a civilian, it was a matter that needed looking into.
Cadets, if they wish, may smoke at certain times and within certain limits. But nothing in the regulations permits a cadet to go outside the guard lines after taps to smoke.