"Do you think you're going to like the Regular Army as much as you expected!"
"Yes, siree," replied Hal promptly, and with enthusiasm. "Shrimp was hard to swallow, and he would have made this place purgatory to us. But he was caught, red-handed, and we've had a lesson, the first day in the service, that real justice rules always in the Army. The breaking-in as recruits, Noll, is going to be harder than I thought, even if we have such fine men as Brimmer and Davis all the time. But, after we get through that period, and at last know our duties and understand the life, we're going to be mighty glad that we took the oath and enlisted under the Flag."
"It's mighty good to hear you say that," replied Noll Terry almost gratefully. "But I'm afraid we have a fearful lot ahead of us to learn. It will take an awfully long time to learn all we have got to know, I fear."
"A recruit generally stays about three months at the rendezvous," Hal went on. "After that he's drafted to his regiment, sent away to join it, and then he's a real soldier at last."
"With still a lot to learn, though," added Noll.
"Yes," Hal assented. "I imagine that the real soldier always learns as long as he remains in the service."
After a long walk, doubling back and forth over some roads and paths several times, our young rookies found themselves looking at the water by the Jersey end of the island.
"I wonder if we'd be allowed to go over there by the water's edge!" suggested Hal. "It would be fine to sit down there and hear the waves lap up against the shore. I don't want to go in yet, Noll, but I am tired enough to want to sit down."
"Here comes some one in uniform," murmured Noll.
It was a sergeant passing, though one the rookies had not seen before.