"It depends on what it is," answered John.
"If they would examine you about the old Meeker House and running tin tubes from the kitchen into the front room and a few other things like that maybe you would pass."[1]
"That's all right," spoke up George promptly. "I know something about what a fellow has to do before he passes the West Point examinations anyway and that's more than some fellows I know can say."
"What do you know that we don't?" inquired John.
"How old does a fellow have to be to enter West Point?" demanded George.
"I don't know," replied John somewhat foolishly. "I suppose he has to be about eighteen, at least I suppose a fellow eighteen could enter."
"Could he enter if he was twenty-one?" inquired George.
"He could," spoke up Grant. "A fellow has to be between seventeen and twenty-two years of age before he can take the preliminary examinations. But there's another qualification almost as necessary," he added. "He has got to be free from infirmities."
"No hope for Pop then," said John solemnly. "He has too many infirmities."
"What, for example?" demanded George.