“Was, my friend, not is; for he is now a cadet and a gentleman, as all are supposed to be, though now and then we catch a black sheep in the fold, like your roommate, Breslin,” and Byrd Bascomb walked away after delivering this shot, for all knew how sensitive Clemmons was about his former friend, Barney Breslin.
Seeing that his ill-natured remarks about Mark’s splendid victory would meet only with rebuke, Scott Clemmons said:
“Well, I must give in that he is physically my superior; but there are three things I will have a chance to get even with him on.”
“What are they?” asked Herbert Nazro, in an interested manner.
“Swordsmanship, pistol practice and the mental examinations.”
“Well, we will see,” was the reply of Nazro, and as he walked away with Dillingham he said:
“I would not be surprised if Clemmons did carry off the honors of his class at examination, and he has the name of being a dead shot and splendid hand with the sword.”
The boat race was the talk of the cadets for some days, and then the shadows of the final struggle for mental supremacy occupied every mind.
The time was near at hand when the classes were to face the dread ordeal of examination, and the cadets were busy “boning” at every chance they got.
There was a certain reserve force in Mark Merrill which caused his rivals to fear him.