sually quiet Noll Terry unexpectedly.

"What's wrong, old fellow?" asked Hal quickly.

"Nothing! Everything's right, and we're soldiers at last!" cried Noll,
his eyes shining.

"At least, we shall be to-morrow, if all goes well," rejoined Hal.

"Oh, nonsense! Everything is going to go right, now. It can't go any
other way."

As he spoke, Noll turned to cross Broadway at the next corner.

Hal made a pounce forward, seizing his comrade by an arm. Then he backed
like a flash, dragging Noll back to the sidewalk with him. Even at that
a moving automobile brushed Noll's clothes, leaving a layer of dirt on
them.

"Things will go wrong, if you don't watch where you're going," cried Hal
rather excitedly. "Noll, Noll, don't try to walk on clouds, but remember
you're on Broadway."

"Let's get off of Broadway, then," begged young Terry. "I'm so tickled
that I want a chance to enjoy my thoughts."

"We'll cross and go down Broadway, then," Hal proposed. "I have the
address of a hotel with rates low enough to suit our treasury, and it's
some blocks below here."

"Say," muttered Noll, "of all the things I ever heard of! Think of Tip
Branders wanting to serve the Flag!"

The boys talked of this puzzle, mainly, until they reached their street
and crossed once more to go to the hotel. They registered, went to their
room, and here Noll put in the next twenty minutes in making his clothes
look presentable again.

"If you've got that done, let's go downstairs," proposed happy Hal. "I'm
hungry enough to scare the bill of fare clear off the table."

As they descended into the lobby Hal suddenly touched Noll's arm and
stood still.

"I guess Tip is going to stay right with us," whispered Overton in his
chum's ear. "That's Tip's mother over there in the chair. She and her
son must be stopping at this hotel."

"They surely are," nodded Noll, "for there's Tip himself just coming
in."

Neither mother nor son noted the presence of the chums near by.

Tip hurried up to his mother, a grin on his not very handsome face.

"Well, old lady," was that son's greeting, "I've gone and done it."

"You don't mean that you've gotten into any trouble, do you, Tip?" asked
his mother apprehensively.

"Trouble--nothing!" retorted Tip eloquently. "Naw! I've been around to
the rookie shed and got passed as a soldier in the Regular Army."

"What?" gasped his mother paling.

"Now, that ain't nothing so fierce," almost growled Tip. "But there i