"Well, if they're not dressing for something," calculated Mrs.
Bentley, "you may be sure they're moving about looking as elegant
as ever and making themselves highly agreeable in a social way."

Ye gods of war! At that very moment Dick, in field uniform,
and dripping profusely under the hot sun, was carrying a long
succession of planks, each nearly as long and heavy as he could
manage, to other cadets who waited to nail them in place on a
pontoon bridge out over an arm of the Hudson. Greg Holmes was
one of four young men toiling at the rope by which they were
endeavoring to drag a mountain howitzer into position up a steep
slope near Crow's Nest, while Anstey, studying field fortification,
was digging in a trench with all his might and main.




CHAPTER X

THE CURE FOR PLEBE ANIMAL SPIRITS


So the weeks slipped by.

Up at five in the morning, busy most of the time until six in
the evening, the cadets of the first, third and fourth classes
found ample time to enjoy themselves between dark and taps, at
10.30, except when guard duty or something else interfered.

Much of the "idle" time through the day was spent in short naps,