Murray was laughing heartily at something just then, and the rest of the crowd seemed to appreciate the joke immensely.
"Ho! ho!" said he. "Just think of it! After I had soaked the confounded plebe for fifty and more, ho! ho! they got suspicious up at headquarters and transferred me, and ho! ho! put M-m-merry Vance on instead, and he, ho! ho! soaked him all the harder!"
And Gus Murray slapped his knee and roared at this truly humorous state of affairs.
"Yes," chimed in Merry Vance. "Yes, I thought when Gus told me he'd been transferred again that we'd lost our chance to skin Mallory for fair. And the very next night up gets the adjutant and reads off the orders putting me on duty over the plebes. Oh, gee! Did you ever hear the like?"
"Never," commented Bull, grinning appreciatively.
"Never," chimed in Baby's little voice. "Positively never!"
"Tell us about it," suggested another. "What did you do?"
"Oh, nothing much," replied Vance. "I went up there at the A. M. inspection, and I just made up my mind to give him twenty demerits, and I did it, that's all. They had spruced up out of sight; but it didn't take me very long to find something wrong, I tell you."
"I gave him the twenty, as you saw; and say, you ought to have seen how sick he looked! Ho! ho!"