"It would please the Hepburns and Sayles better if we did now," laughed Hal. "But let's forget malice toward others—we've been able to get everything on earth that we've wanted so far. Noll, to-morrow morning, we must pay another visit to Sergeant Wright."
Several times since their return home the Army boys had been to call on Wright, a retired old Army sergeant living in this Jersey town. It was Sergeant Wright who had first inspired the boys with a desire for the Army life.
"We've got several visits to make, and very little time in which to do it," decided Noll.
It is difficult, indeed, to keep the press from learning all that is happening. The next morning the Sphere contained this paragraph:
"Most of our citizens will be glad to learn that Lieutenants Overton and Terry, of the Regular Army, are leaving soon to go to their new station in far-away Texas."
There was nothing libelous in that paragraph. It could be taken either way—as a piece of congratulation or as a covert sneer. So Hal and Noll concluded to let it pass as a joke, and each clipped out the paragraph to show at Fort Butler.
All the good home times ended at last. Divided between pangs of regret and eager thoughts of the new service as line officers, Hal and Noll boarded a train one morning and started west.
The new life, the goal of their youthful dreams, lay before them. What would it bring?