Sam felt he was as yet too young to become anything but a sergeant, so he did not enter the competition with much vigor.
Lew Flapp was not a particularly bright pupil, but there was one thing, outside of bag punching, that he could do well, and that was to drill.
He took to military tactics naturally, and knew nearly every rule that the book of instructions contained.
"It's going to be an easy matter to get into the chosen twenty," the tall boy told himself.

"But after that, will the cadets elect me to one of those positions ?" He wanted to be major of the battalion, but doubted if he could muster up sufficient friends to elect him.
The examination in military matters came off on the afternoon of the following Wednesday and on Thursday morning.

Captain Putnam was very thorough in the work, and made the pupils do certain things over and over again, and write the answers to long lists of questions.
"It has given me great pleasure to conduct this examination," he said, on the day following.

"It shows that the average in military knowledge is much higher than it was last term.

The following are the pupils who have passed, given in the order of merit." And then he read the list of names.