"None whatever, sir."

"At one stage, Air. Prescott, you hesitated, waited, then asked
permission to erase? After that erasure you went on with hardly
a break to the end of the blackboard work."

"Yes, sir."

"And, at the time you hesitated, before securing leave to erase, you
did not consult any aid in your work?"

"No, sir."

"This piece of paper," continued Captain Abbott, lifting the slip,
"fell from your handkerchief when you drew it out, just as you
left the blackboard. That was why I asked you to bring it to
me, Mr. Prescott. This paper contains all the salient features
of your demonstration. Can you explain this fact, Mr. Prescott?"

The astounded yearling felt as though his brain were reeling.
He went hot and cold, all in a flash.

In the same moment the other men of the section sat as though
stunned. All lying, deceit and fraud are so utterly detested
at West Point that to a cadet it is incomprehensible how a comrade
can be guilty of such an offence.

It seemed to Prescott like an age ere he could master his voice.

"I never saw that paper, sir, before you asked me to pick it up!"