"Sh! Be ready with your salute."
The two young recruits, their uniforms looking spick and span, despite their long journey by train, now brought their right hands smartly up to their cap visors as the man with iron-gray hair stepped close.
He gave Hal and Noll a prompt, smart acknowledgment of their salute, then suddenly paused, glanced at them, and asked:
"My men, how did you know me to be an officer?"
"I observed your overcoat, sir, when you boarded the train at Kansas City," Hal answered.
"You judged rightly, men," replied the officer, with a smile. "I am Major Davis, Seventeenth Cavalry. And you, as I see by your caps, belong to the Thirty-fourth Infantry."
"Yes, sir," Hal answered. "We are joining the first battalion at Fort Clowdry."
"Recruits?"
"Yes, sir."
"I wish you a pleasant life in the Army, men."