Now the whole squadron was in motion once more. At the sharp, clear order of the bugle the line halted. At the next peal one man in every four stood at the heads of four horses, while the other three of each four ran quickly forward, in fine though open formation.
"Halt! Kneel! Ready! Aim! At will---_fire_!"
Here was battle, real enough in everything but the fatalities.
Each man on the firing line fired rapidly, several shots to the minute, though real aim was taken every time the bolt was shot forward and before the trigger was pulled. Tiny, almost invisible puffs of smoke issued from the carbine muzzles. Next, an orderly spirited, swift retreat in the face of an imaginary enemy, was made to the horses, which were mounted like a flash, and spurred away. Some horses carried double, for some of the cadets lay limp and useless, impersonating men wounded by the pursuing enemy.
It was all so stirring, so grand, that the plain rang with cheers.
In an hour the drill was over, and the young cavalrymen stood under the showers or disported in the pool. Only for a few minutes, however. The infantry drill followed swiftly, after which these same men must swiftly be immaculate in white ducks and the handsome gray full-dress jackets.
Then followed dress parade, after which came supper, and the first cla.s.smen at West Point were through with the last day of full duty in gray!
CHAPTER XXIII
A WEST POINTER"S LOVE AFFAIR
With beating heart d.i.c.k Prescott presented himself at the hotel that evening, and sent up his card to Mrs. Bentley and the girls.
Greg was with his chum, of course, but Greg was not in a flutter.
He was to escort Belle Meade---an arrangement of chumship, for Belle wore the engagement ring of Dave Darrin, one of Greg"s old High School chums.
For d.i.c.k, this was the night to which he had looked forward during four years. To-night he felt sure of his career; he was to be graduated into the Army, with a position in life fine enough for Laura to grace with him.
It was on this night, that he had determined to find out whether her heart beat for him, or whether it had already been captured by young Mr. Cameron back in the home town.
"And very likely she wouldn"t think of having either of us," smiled d.i.c.k to himself. "It"s easy enough for a girl to be a fellow"s friend, but when it comes to selecting a husband she is quite likely to be more particular."
It was just after dark as the two young couples sauntered away from the hotel on their way to Cullum Hall.
"You young men are now sure of your Army careers," remarked Belle, as the four strolled down the road.
"As absolutely sure as one can ever be of anything," d.i.c.k responded.
"Yes, I feel positive that I am now to be an officer in the Army."
"While poor Dave has just started on a two-year cruise, and must then come back for another examination before he is sure of his commission," sighed Belle.
"The middies don"t get a square deal," said d.i.c.k regretfully.
"When Darrin and Dalzell were graduated, the other day, they should have been commissioned as ensigns before they were ordered to sea. Some day Congress and the people will see the injustice of it all, and the unfairness will be remedied."
How could Prescott possibly know that his commission in the Army was not yet sure?
That same sandy-bearded, bespectacled and stoop-shouldered ex-cadet Jordan was even now eyeing d.i.c.k from a little distance.
"Humph! Prescott feels mighty big at this moment!" growled the young scoundrel. "I wonder how he"ll be feeling at midnight, down in cadet hospital, when the surgeons tell him he has no chance of ever being a sound man again? Confound him! I could almost find it in my heart to kill the fellow, instead of merely maiming him. But maiming will be the keener revenge. All his life hereafter Prescott will be thinking what might have been if he hadn"t met me this night! Shall I leap on him when he"s coming back from the hotel, after the graduation ball? No; for he"d have Holmes with him then. I"ll send in word and call him out from the ball, with a message that an old schoolmate wants to see him on something most urgent. I"ll have Prescott to myself, and all I need is a few seconds. I"m half as powerful again as Prescott is!"
Jordan was not at all lacking in a certain type of ferocious brute courage. As he had just boasted to himself, he was powerful enough to be able to overpower d.i.c.k in a hand-to-hand conflict, yet the scoundrel meant to attack Prescott unawares, without giving the latter a chance to defend himself.
Then, too, the sight of Laura, looking sweeter and more beautiful than she had ever appeared in her life, goaded Jordan on to greater fury.
"That is the very girl I had planned to cut Prescott out with, after he had been kicked from the service, and I was still in the uniform. But it fell out the other way about," gritted Jordan.
"Prescott wears the uniform, and I"ve been dishonorably dropped from the rolls! Prescott, I"ve a double score to settle with you to-night!"
But of all this, of course, Prescott was wholly unaware.
"How much time have we to spare?" queried d.i.c.k, then glancing at his watch. "Ten minutes. Laura, will you stroll around the Hall with me and look down over the cliff at the n.o.ble old Hudson!
This will be one of my last glimpses as a cadet."
Laura a.s.sented. Greg was about to follow, when Belle Meade drew him back.
"Take me inside," she urged. "I am eager to see the decorations."
"But d.i.c.k and Laura?" queried Greg.
"They"re of age and can take care of themselves," smiled Miss Meade.
d.i.c.k Prescott"s heart was beating, now, like a trip-hammer. Even the next day"s graduation, and the entrance into the Army looked insignificant to him compared with the question of his fate that was now seething in his brain and which he must now have settled.
Two or three times he opened his lips to speak, then closed them, as the two young people stood glancing down at the river through the darkness.
"Aren"t you unusually silent, d.i.c.k?" asked Laura.
"Perhaps so," he a.s.sented in a low voice. "I"m scared."
"Scared!"
"Yes; scared cold. I never knew such a fright in my life before."
"Why, what-----"
"Laura, I reckon the brief, direct way of the soldier will be best.
Laura, ever since we were in High School together I have loved you.
Through all the years that have followed, that love has never slumbered for an instant. It has grown stronger with every pa.s.sing week. I-----"
With a little cry Laura Bentley drew back.
"I"m going right through to the end," cried d.i.c.k desperately. "Then you can throw cold water over me---if you must. Laura, I love you, and that love is nearly all of my life! I ask you to become a soldier"s bride---mine!"
"And---and---is that what has scared you?" asked Laura in a very low voice.
"Yes!"
"What a pitiful coward you are, then, to be a candidate for a commission in the Army," laughed Laura Bentley softly.
"But you---you haven"t answered me."
"Why, d.i.c.k, I"ve never had another thought, in six years, than that I loved you!"