er the fancy--or the
suspicion--seizes him.

Such an inspection need by no means extend through the whole of
cadet barracks. It may, for that matter, be only to one subdivision,
or even to a single floor or room of one subdivision. Yet record
must be kept of such inspections, and of any offenses against
discipline that may be discovered by such a flying visit.

A scrap of paper on the floor, a match end on a study table, any
article of furniture or clothing out of its proper place, or any
undress or untidiness on the part of a cadet, constitutes a breach of
discipline, and must be reported and atoned for. Naturally, a case
of hazing would be a most serious "delinquency," as breaches of
discipline are termed.

Just what Captain Vesey, O.C., on this day, expected to discover
through the present flying inspection will never be known. If he
had tried Dick's door first. [Transcriber's note: missing text?]

But he didn't.

However, there was no chance whatever for Yearlings Pratt and
Judson to retreat unseen. The door across the hall had been left
open, and the tac. would be sure to detect their sudden departure.

Dick Prescott's first movement was to pounce upon his disordered
bedding, swiftly folding over the mattress, and laying the bed
clothing in the prescribed manner.

Then he tiptoed up to the dismayed Judson, whispering in that
yearling's ear as he knowingly winked at Pratt:

"If I'm not too abominably b.j., sir, won't you please come to my
table and help me bone math?"

It looked like a saving inspiration. As Dick slipped into his chair
he signed to Bert Dodge to stand at one end of the table. Judson
snatched up one of Dick's mathematical textbooks, opening to one
of the first pages at random. Dick turned sideways in his chair,
glancing up at the yearling with a rapt expression.

Yearling Pratt slipped into Greg's chair. Holmes and Anstey stood
on either side of him. Pratt began rapidly to sketch out a problem
that he chanced to remember from plebe year math.

Almost instantly the door swung open. Not one of the cadets
happened to be looking in that direction. As Captain Vesey, the
tac., white-gloved, stepped into the room he was just in time to
hear Cadet Judson say:

"Perhaps if you were to work out a formula in algebra, mister, you
would find the idea even more clear. But I think you understand it
now."

"Yes, sir, thank you," replied Cadet Prescott.

"This is the way I would explain the proble