ansy
plants, all in bright bloom. But elsewhere all was brown sand that looked
as if it might blow dust in clouds, but which also, I was glad to see,
looked as if it might absorb all ordinary rains. The street, about midway
of its length, rose a little, then dropped, and straddling this ridge I
found Tent 8, in the best possible position should the weather turn wet.
As I entered, stooping, I peered about the shadowed interior.

The dry floor was ploughed into holes and ridges by the feet of the last
occupants. One man, bearded and grizzled, was sitting on a cot in one
corner, exploring the interior of a big blue canvas bag; a professor or
doctor person, who gave me one keen glance, briefly said "Good day," and
went on with his occupation. A second bed, already neatly set up and
equipped, stood in another corner. Its owner, lithe and keen, a fellow of
about twenty-five, was watching a third, man-sized but boy-faced, who was
struggling with a cot in its chrysalis stage, being apparently quite
unable to unfold it. I knew the lad at a glance, young David Ridgway
Farnham 3d, whose cousin Walter was in my class, to whom I was best man,
as you remember, some five years ago. Now young David has been the
laughing stock of the family, spoiled with riches and an indulgent mamma.
Walter told me that many tutors, on princely salaries, just managed to
get him through Harvard this year. And here he was at Plattsburg!
However, he couldn't know me, so I disposed my things in a corner.

The lithe and keen person seemed lither and keener at second glance. He
was of a splendid blond type, with flashing blue eyes; everything about
him was perfectly straight, his backbone, his nose, his close-cropped
fair hair, the thin-lipped mouth, the drop of his chin, and even the
precipitous fall of his high cheek-bones. He had not noticed me at all,
so intent was he on the struggles of young Farnham. A very efficient
person he seemed, and immediately proved it. For Farnham, with that
appealing helplessness which I remember in him as a charming child (you
know that with his brown eyes, curly hair, and rosy skin he's as handsome
as a girl) looked up at his watcher. He immediately said: "Bend the leg
the other way. Now the next one. Now spread the whole thing out. Now
spring those two cross-pieces into place." But even then, though the cot
had gained a recognizable shape, Farnham was still baffled. His hands
were soft, and so were his muscles. "This way,"