As these thoughts passed through the new student’s mind, he entered his dormitory, where he was again confronted by the sergeant, who informed him that he was wanted down stairs. Scarcely comprehending what was said to him, Tom retraced his steps to the hall, and finally found his way into the school-room, where all the students were congregated, engaged in studying their lessons for the morrow. Tom took the seat pointed out to him, and listlessly picking up his arithmetic, he fastened his eyes on the page, (although, in his bewilderment, he did not notice that he held the book upside down,) and again pondered upon what had transpired during his interview with the principal.
“Now, what shall I do?” he soliloquized. “I have tried, many a time during my life, to do a teacher a kindness, but I’ll never do it again as long as I live. The academy may go to ruin for all I care. This isn’t the first time I have been called a tale-bearer for trying to follow the ‘golden rule’—doing as I would be done by. If any one should speak ill of me, in the presence of a friend, wouldn’t I want that friend to come and tell me of it? Of course I would, and I would reward him for it if I could. But the principal don’t look at it in that light. He has his favorites, and he is determined that he won’t hear any thing said against them. He has no honor about him. He’s the meanest man I ever saw and I’ll never try to help him again. And I’ve got to stay here almost five months! O, I can’t be a soldier!”
During the entire hour and a half that the students were required to remain at their books, Tom’s mind was so fully occupied with such thoughts as these, that, when he returned to his dormitory, he knew no more about his lessons than he did when he first entered the school-room. But he was not at all concerned about that, for a more important matter was demanding his attention, and that was the interview that the principal had promised him in the morning. What would the colonel do with him? Tom almost gasped as he asked himself this question, for he thought of the guard-house, with “bread-and-water diet,” and the “two hours extra duty at night, with bricks in his knapsack.” But there was no escaping his punishment, whatever it might be, and Tom, at last, resolved to “stand and take it like a man.” When he awoke in the morning, he repeated this determination, which was accompanied by a wish that the colonel would “be in a hurry about it, and not keep him waiting.” He was not kept long in suspense, however, for just as he finished his breakfast, an orderly informed him that the principal desired his presence in the school-room.
“Aha, Newcombe!” whispered Rich, who at that moment happened to pass through the hall, and who saw, by Tom’s looks, that something was wrong, “you are going to be hauled over the coals, are you? I knew just how it would be when I saw you talking with those Spooneys last night. I guess you’ll pay more attention to a friend’s advice in the future.”
Tom tried hard to muster up courage enough to enable him to pass through the interview in an easy, unconcerned manner, but the attempt was a complete failure; for, when he found himself in the presence of the principal, he trembled and turned pale in spite of himself. To his surprise, however, he was not sentenced to the guard-house, neither was he obliged to perform extra duty, but he listened to a lecture on tale-bearing that made him ashamed of himself. It was a difficult matter, however, to convince Tom that he was in the wrong; and when he left the school-room, he repeated the conclusion at which he had arrived the night before, that the principal was “the meanest man he ever saw.” He congratulated himself on escaping so easily, but it was not long before he almost wished that he had been shut up in the guard-house, so that he might have avoided what followed. First came half an hour’s drill, with muskets, which disgusted Tom, and made him wonder why he had ever been so foolish as to think of becoming a soldier. Then came an hour’s hard study, and, after that, his arithmetic lesson, in which, as was to be expected, he failed completely. This was followed by exercise with the broadswords, during which Tom whispered to the boy who stood next to him, that “Bill Steele threw on a heap of style for one who was nothing but a first lieutenant.” This brought him a caution from the adjutant, who desired Tom to pay more attention to what was going on, and postpone his talking until after drill hours. Taking all things into consideration, Tom thought that he had never before passed such a long and disagreeable day. The discipline was very strict; and, on more than one occasion, Tom was sent to his dormitory to read the rules and regulations, in order that he might know that he had violated some of them. The lessons were long and difficult, the drills tedious and uninteresting; and long before play-time arrived he had repeatedly assured some of his class-mates that he had “seen enough of the military school.” When dress-parade was over, Tom, in no amiable frame of mind, took his seat under one of the trees, where he was soon joined by his three friends.
“Well, Newcombe!” said Rich, “what did the old colonel say to you? Did he give you a blowing up?”
“O, yes he did!” replied the new student. Then, fearing that his companions might inquire into the matter, he added: “Boys, you had better look out! There’s an awful story-teller in the school!”
“Now, that’s just what we told you!” said Miller, who, of course, little imagined that Tom himself was the tale-bearer. “We warned you to keep away from every one wearing a shoulder-strap, but you wouldn’t pay any attention to us. You always were a bull-headed rascal, and I don’t pity you in the least.”
“But we haven’t got any thing against you!” chimed in Rich. “If you will fall in with us, we’ll keep you out of all such difficulties. You see we have been here long enough to know all the ropes, and you won’t lose any thing by taking our advice.”
“I am the unluckiest boy in the whole world,” said Tom. “I’m always getting into trouble. I may as well stick to you now, because I never can be an officer.”