dn't say a corporalship, Tom, I said--"

"Excuse me, I meant a sergeantship."

"No, I said--"

"Make it a second lieutenantship, then, Tubby. Anything to be friends,
you know."

"I said--"

"Oh, bother, if you want to be a major-general, go ahead. Nobody will
stop you."

"Hurrah, Major-General Tubbs!" cried Sam. "That sounds well, doesn't
it, fellows?"

"We'll have to present him with a tin-plated sword," came from one of
the crowd.

"And a pair of yellow worsted epaulets," added another.

And then Songbird Powell began to sing softly:

"Rub a dub, dub!
Here comes General Tubb!
He'll make you bow to the ground!
You must stop ev'ry lark,
And toe the chalk mark,
As soon as he comes around."

"There you are, Tubby; think of Songbird composing a poem in your
honor," cried Tom. "You ought to present him with a leather medal."

"I--I don't like such--er--such doggerel," cried William Philander Tubbs
angrily. "I think--"

"Well, I never!" ejaculated Tom, in pretended astonishment. "And
Songbird worked so hard over it, too! Thus doth genius receive its
reward. Songbird, if I were you, I'd give up writing poems, and go turn
railroad president, track-walker, or something like that."

"You boys are simply horrid, don't you know!" cried Tubbs, and, pushing
his way through the crowd, he walked to the other end of the boat.

"Being away from school hasn't done Tubby any good," was Fred
Garrison's remark. "He thinks he's the High Tum-Tum, and no mistake."

"Don't fret, he'll be taken down before the term is over," came from
Larry Colby.

"That's true," added another pupil, who had been taken down himself two
terms before. "And when he hits his level he'll be just as good as any
of us."

The time on the steamer passed quickly enough, and after several stops
along the lake, the Golden Star turned in at the Cedarville landing,
and all of the Putnam Hall cadets went ashore.

CHAPTER VII

SOMETHING ABOUT THE MILITARY ACADEMY

As my old readers know, Cedarville was only a small country village, so
the arrival and departure of the steamer was a matter of importance to
the inhabitants.

The boys, consequently, found the little dock crowded with sightseers
and more than one face looked familiar to them.

"There are the Rover boys," said one man, quite loudly. "Everybody
knows 'em."

"We are growing notorious, it would seem," whispered Dick to Sam.

Back of the dock stoo