In an instant Prescott was down out of saddle, holding his own splendidly disciplined mount by the bridle while he bent over his class-mate.
Dodge lay on the tan-bark, his uniform awry and dirty, and his face blanched with fear of the horse.
"Are you much hurt, Dodge?" asked Dick.
"No, confound you!" muttered Bert under his breath.
As if to prove his lack of injury, he sat up, then rose to his feet.
"Mount, Mr. Prescott, and join the line," noting all with quick eyes. "Mr. Dodge, recapture your horse, mount and fall in."
That was the discipline of the tan-bark. If a cadet falls from a horse and has no bones broken, or no other desperate injury, he must wait until his horse comes around, catch it and mount again. If the horse be excited and fractious, all the more reason why the cadet should capture the beast and mount instantly. A horse must always be taught that a cavalryman is his master.
The riderless brute had fallen in at the tail of the line now, behind Cadet Corporal Haslins, and was going along peaceably enough—-until Bert Dodge made a lunge for the bridle. Then the beast shied, and got past.
"Run after your horse, Mr. Dodge; catch him and mount him," called Captain Hall, fuming that this episode should steal away drill time from the other more capable young horsemen.
"Mr. Dodge," rapped out the cavalry instructor sharply, after Bert had made two more efforts to get hold of the bridle, "are you waiting for a groom to bring your horse to you?"