“How does this come, colonel?” said he, as he took Mack’s outstretched hand, and shook it cordially. “You’re left, as sure as the world.”
“Left!” repeated Mack. “I don’t know what you mean?”
“Why, I mean that you won’t eat any class dinner to-night,” answered the staff-officer, glancing at his watch. “It is set for seven o’clock, and here it is half-past six already.”
“You mean that it was set for eight o’clock,” the president ventured to suggest, while a very dim conception of the situation began to creep into Mack’s mind.
“No, seven,” insisted the officer, “and that’s the reason I couldn’t attend as I had hoped to do. Your committee didn’t notify me of the change in the time until it was too late for me to make arrangements.”
An expression of the greatest consternation overspread the faces of Mack’s two companions. The latter shut his teeth hard, and spoke with a calmness that surprised himself.
“What kind of a looking crowd was it who notified you of a change in our programme?” he asked.
“Oh, it was a good-looking committee—sharp, bright fellows; and I think, on the whole, that they would compare very favorably with the cadets I see before me,” answered the officer, with a smile. “They got the dinner to the transfer-depot all right, and made a very pretty appearance as they marched through the city, led by our favorite cornet band. But how in the world are you boys going to get to Bordentown? There’s no train before midnight, and the fastest horse in Hamilton could not take you over there in time to—Why, colonel, what’s the trouble?” exclaimed the officer; for Mack had darted away at the top of his speed toward the telegraph office. “I declare I believe it’s a beat.”
“You may well say that,” replied Captain Walker, as he and the president ran after Mack. “If the Sixty-first is sent for to-morrow to quell a riot at the academy you need not be at all surprised.”
“I want to send off a dispatch,” shouted Colonel Mack, as he rushed into the telegraph office, and stamped up and down the floor, swinging his fists in the air. “Hurry up. I’ll write it out afterward.”