"What!" cried Williams. "You don"t mean it! Why, he"ll be out in a week.
Say, Fischer, that"s outrageous!"
"Perfectly outrageous!" vowed the officer.
And Williams brought his hand down on his knee with a bang.
"By George!" he cried, "I"m going around to see him about it!"
With which words he sprang down the stairs and, leaving the cadet officer to gaze at him in surprise, hurried up the street to barracks.
Squad drill was just that moment over; without wasting any time about it, Williams hurried into the building and made his way to Mallory"s room. He found the plebe, and got right to work to say what he had to say.
"Mr. Mallory," he began, "I"ve come up in the first place to shake hands with you, and to say there"s no hard feeling."
"Thank you," said Mark, and his heart went with the grip of his hand.
"You made a good fight, splendid!" continued the yearling. "And some day I"ll be proud to be your friend."
"I"m afraid," returned Mark, with a sad smile, "that I"ll not be here that long."
"That"s the second thing I"ve come to see you about," vowed Williams.
"Mr. Mallory, I want you to understand that the decent men of this cla.s.s don"t approve of the work that Mur--er, I suppose you know who"s back of it. And I tell you right now that I"m going to stop it if it"s the last act I ever do on this earth!"
"I"m afraid it won"t do much good," responded the other, shaking his head. "I could never pa.s.s six months without getting fifteen demerits."
"It"s a shame!" cried the other. "And you have worked for your appointment, too."
"I have worked," exclaimed Mark, something choking his voice that sounded suspiciously near a sob, "worked for it as I have never worked for anything in my life. It has been the darling ambition of my heart to come here. And I came--and now--and now----"
He stopped, for he could think of no more to say. Williams stood and regarded him in silence for some moments, and then he took him by the hand again.
"Mr. Mallory," said he, "just as sure as I"m alive this thing shall stop! Keep up heart now, and we"ll make a fight for it! While there"s life there"s hope, they say--and, by Heaven, you shan"t be expelled!"
The following evening, when the reports were read, Mark"s list of demerits had reached a total of ninety-five.
The excitement among plebes and cadets alike was intense, and it was known far and wide that Mark Mallory, the "B. J." plebe, stood at last "in the shadow of dismissal."
CHAPTER XXIV.
A LETTER.
"MY DEAR FISCHER: I promised to drop you a line just to let you know how I"m getting along, though it does take a tremendous pile of energy to write a letter on a hot afternoon like this. I"m sure I shall go to sleep in the middle of it, and naturally, too, for even writing to you is enough to bore anybody. I can almost imagine you leaning over to whack at me in return for that compliment.
"Well, I am home on furlough; and I don"t know whether I wish I were back or not, for I fear that you will have cut me out on all the girls, especially since you are a high and mighty first captain this year.
Speaking of girls, you just ought to be here. The girls at West Point are _blase_ on cadets, for they see so many; but here a West Point officer is c.o.c.k of the walk, and I have to fight a jealous rival once a week."
Cadet Captain Fischer dropped the letter at this stage of it and lay back and laughed.
"Wicks Merritt"s evidently forgotten I was on furlough once myself," he said. "He"s telling me all about how it goes."
"What"s he got to say?" inquired Williams, the speaker"s tentmate, looking up from the gun he was cleaning.
"Oh, nothing much; only a lot of nonsense--jollying as usual. Wicks always is."
And then Fischer picked up the letter again, and went on.
The two were seated near the door of a tent in "Company A Street," at Camp McPherson. Fischer was lying in front of the tent "door," which was open to admit the morning breeze that swept across the parade ground.
His friend sat over in an opposite corner and rubbed away.
There was silence of some minutes, broken only by the sound of the polishing and the rustling of Fischer"s paper. And then the latter spoke again.
"Oh, say!" said he. "Here"s something that"ll interest you, Billy.
Something about your friend Mallory."
"Fire away," said Williams.
""By the way, when you answer this let me know something about my pet and _protege_, future football captain of the West Point eleven. The last time I heard from where you are, Mark Mallory was raising Cain. I heard that he was a B. J. plebe for fair; that he"d set to work to make war on the yearlings, and had put them to rout in style; also, incidentally, that he was scheduled to fight Billy Williams, the yearling"s pet athlete. Tell Billy I hope the plebe does him; tell him I say that if Mallory once whacks him on the head with that right arm of his he"ll see more stars from the lick than the Lick telescope can show----""
"Billy" broke in just then with a dismal groan.
"I don"t know whether that"s because of the pun," laughed Fischer, "or because of your recollection of the blow. However, I"ll proceed.
""Now, I don"t care how much you fellows haze my Mallory; he"s tough and he can stand it. He"ll probably give you t.i.t for tat every time, anyhow. But I do want to say this--watch out that n.o.body tries any foul play on him, skins him on demerits or reports him unfairly. Do me a favor and keep your eye out for that. Watch particularly Bull Harris, who is, I think, the meanest sneak in the yearling cla.s.s, and also his chum, Gus Murray.
""I know it for a fact that Mallory caught Bull in a very dirty act about a month ago and knocked spots out of him for it. I can"t tell you what the act was; but Bull has sworn vengeance and he"ll probably try to get it, so watch for me. If you let Mallory get into trouble, mind what I say, I"ll never forgive you as long as you live. I"ll cut you out with Bessie Smith, who, they say, is your fair one at present. Mallory is a treasure, and when you know him as well as I you"ll think so, too.""
Cadet Captain Fischer dropped the letter, sat up, and stared at Williams; and Williams stared back. There was disgust on the faces of both.
"By George!" cried the latter at last, striking his gunstock in the ground. "By George! we"ve let "em do it already!"
And after that there was a silence of several unpleasant minutes, during which each was diligently thinking over the situation.
"He"s a fine fellow, anyway," continued Williams. "And we were a pack of fools to let that Bull Harris gang soak him as we did. They"ve gone to work and given him ninety-five demerits in a week on trumped-up charges.
And it"s perfectly outrageous, that"s what it is! The plebe"s confoundedly fresh, of course, but he"s a gentleman for all that, and he don"t deserve one-quarter of the demerits he"s gotten. The decent fellows in the cla.s.s ought to be ashamed of themselves."
"That"s what I say! He only has to get five demerits more and then he"s fired for good."
"Which means," put in the officer, "that"s he"s sure to be fired by next week."
"Exactly! And then what will Wicks say? I went over to barracks to see Mallory about it yesterday; he"s nearly heart-broken, for he"s worked like a horse to get here, and now he"s ruined--practically expelled.
Yet, what can we do?"
"Can"t he hand in explanations and get the demerits excused?" suggested Fischer.