Next he had to submit himself to an oculist, who tested Bob's eyes.
"All right?" asked Captain Pringle, who was present during the examination, and told the doctors that Bob was an old friend of his.
"Should be a good shot," replied the oculist. "He's all right."
"Good!" said Captain. "How are your teeth, Nancarrow?"
Bob opened his mouth with a laugh. He was in high spirits.
"They look all right," said Captain Pringle; "but you must be properly examined. A week or two ago hundreds of fellows were taken on without any real examination at all. Only yesterday, when I was down at S——, I was talking with a doctor there, and he told me that a fellow had actually been passed who had a weak spine, and wore instruments to support his back. Of course he was sent home at once, but it shows how, under the new conditions, things were conducted in a loose fashion. However, that's all over now. We are taking only sound men. Here you are."
Bob was quickly dismissed by the dentist, and pronounced "all right."
"I suppose you are ready at once?" asked Pringle.
"Give me a couple of hours to settle up about my chambers, and a few things like that, and I shall be ready, sir."
"Right. Of course there are the papers to sign and all that kind of thing, but that's nothing. Be here at three o'clock this afternoon."