When the word was given the
cadet corps wheeled to the right and marched off in column of
fours, quite a splendid model of military precision.
Somehow the un-uniformed greenhorns managed to turn into
column of fours, though some of the bewildered boys forgot to
which four they belonged and there was some confusion.
Behind the superb cadet corps, toiled along these all but hopeless
candidates and alternates, scores and scores of them--every fellow
of them feeling more awkward than his nearest neighbors in the
line. Badly out of step was this green material. Some of the boys
slouched as they walked along; others shuffled. Their appearance
was enough to dishearten a trained soldier.
But at last all these green ones were marshaled to seats in the great
dining hall at cadet mess. There, in a fine dinner, they forgot,
momentarily, many of the discouragements of the forenoon.
In the afternoon came a lot more of drilling of awkward squads by
other cadet corporals. Greg soon found, under the tender mercies
of another corporal, why Brayton was considered "easy."
These cadet corporals are all members of the yearling class, the
class directly above the plebes.
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