At last the drill was finished. In detachments, the young cadet troopers returned to the road between the administration building and the academic building.
Here each detachment dismounted, surrendered its horses to a waiting detail of enlisted cavalrymen, and then marched in to barracks.
As soon as the young men had removed their riding leggings, and the dust from their uniforms, most of them descended into the quadrangle.
Haynes reached his room just an instant behind Pierson.
"See here, Pierson, you cad, what did you——-"
"Oh, shut up!" replied Pierson, with a weary sigh.
"Don't you speak to me like that, sir!" cried Haynes warningly, as he stepped over to where his roommate was busy with a clothes brush.
"I don't want to talk with you at all," retorted Pierson.
"You'll talk to me a lot, or you'll answer with your fists!"
"Fight with you? Bah!" growled the other man in disgust.