"Excellent," nodded the gratified instructor. "That is all, Mr.
Prescott."
As Dick turned to step to his seat he pulled his handkerchief from the breast of his blouse and wiped the chalk from his hands. All unseen by himself a narrow slip of white paper fluttered from underneath his handkerchief to the floor.
"Mr. Prescott," called Captain Abbott, "will you bring me that piece of paper from the floor?"
Dick obeyed without curiosity, then turned again and gained his seat. The instructor, in the meantime, had called upon Mr. Pike. While Pike was reciting, haltingly, Captain Abbott turned over the slip of paper on his desk, glancing at it with "one of his pairs of eyes."
Anyone who had been looking at the instructor at that moment would have noted a slight start and a brief change of color in the captain's face. But he said nothing until all of the cadets had recited and had been marked.
"Mr. Prescott!" the instructor then called Dick rose, standing by his seat.
"Mr. Prescott, did you work out your problem for today unaided?"
"I had a little aid, last night, sir, from Mr. Anstey."
"But you had no aid in the section room today?"
"No, sir," replied Dick, feeling much puzzled.