"by george, he's the freshest plebe that ever struck this place!"
the speaker was bull harris, and he was sitting on the steps of the library building along with half a dozen classmates, excitedly and angrily discussing the fight.
"now i tell you mark mallory's got to be put out of this place in a week," continued the first speaker. "and i don't care how it's done, either, fair or foul."
"that's just what i say, too!" chimed in baby edwards. "he's got to be put out in a week!"
bull harris smiled benignly upon his toadying echo, while the rest of the gang nodded approvingly.
"i'm sure everybody agrees that he's got to be taken down," put in somebody else. "the only trouble is i don't see how on earth it is to be done."
"that's the worst of it!" snarled bull. "that fellow mallory seems to get the best of us everything we try; confound him!"
[pg 163]"i'm sure such a thing has never been known at west point," said another. "just think of it! why, it's the talk of the post, and everybody's laughing at us, and the plebes are getting bolder every minute. one of them actually dared to turn up his nose at me to-day. think of it—at me—a yearling, and he a vile beast!"
"it's perfectly awful," groaned bull. "perfectly awful! imagine a crowd of yearlings allowing themselves to be stopped while hazing a plebe—stopped, mind you, by half as many plebes—and then to make it a thousand times worse to have the fellow they were hazing taken away!"
"and the yearlings all chased back to camp by a half-crazy texan," chimed in another, who hadn't been there and so could afford to mention unpleasant details.
"yet what can we do?" cried baby. "we can't offer to fight him. he's as good as licked billy williams, and bill's the best man we could put up. that mallory's a regular terror."
"mark mallory's got to be taken down."
this suggestion was good, only rather indefinite, which indefiniteness was remarked by one of the crowd, merry vance, the cadet who had interposed the same objection[pg 164] before. merry was a tall, slender youth, with a whitish hue that suggested dissipation, and a fine, scornful curve to his lips that suggested meanness no less clearly.
"it's all very well to say we've got to do him," said he, "but that don't say how. as i said, we can't find a man in our class to whip him fair. and we can't tackle him in a crowd because in the first place he seems to have his own gang, and in the second place none of us dares to touch him. i know i don't, for one."
"pooh!" laughed bull, scornfully. "i'm not afraid of him."
"me either!" chimed in the little baby, doubling up his fists.
"all right," said the other. "only i noticed you both kept good and quiet when he stepped up to loosen indian."
there was an awkward silence for a few minutes after that; bull harris could think of nothing to say, for he knew the charge was true; and as for baby edwards, he never said anything until after his big friend had set him an example.
"we can't get him into any trouble with the authori[pg 165]ties, either," continued vance at last. "in fact, i don't know what we are to do."
"he's simply turned west point's customs topsy-turvy," groaned another. "why, when we were plebes nobody ever dared to think of defying a yearling. and this mallory and his gang are running the place. no one dares to haze a plebe any more."
"talking about that," said gus murray, another yearling who had just strolled up. "talking about that, just see what happened to me not five minutes ago. met one of the confounded beasts—that fellow, by the way, we did up, though it don't seem to have done him the least bit of good—just as b. j. as ever. you know who i mean, the rather handsome chap they call dewey. he went to pass the color guard up at camp just now and he didn't raise his hat. the sentry called him down for it, and then as he went off i said to him: 'you ought to know better than that, plebe.' 'thank you,' says he, and when i told him he should say 'sir' to a higher cadet, what on earth do you suppose he had the impudence to say?"
"what?" inquired the crowd, eagerly.
[pg 166]"said he wouldn't do it because i hadn't said 'sir' to him!"
"what!"
"yes, indeed! did you ever hear of such impudence? why, i'll leave the academy to-morrow if that kind of thing keeps up."
and with that dire threat gus murray seated himself on the steps and relapsed into a glum silence.
"i heard you sat down on that mallory last saturday," observed some one at last.
"that's what i did!" responded murray, brightening up at the mention of a less discouraging incident. "mary adams introduced me to him and i cut him dead. gee, but he was mad!"
"wonder, if he'll try to make you apologize," said bull.
"it would be just like him," put in merry.
the other looked as if he didn't relish the possibility one bit; he turned the conversation quickly.
"wait till he tries it," said he. "in the meantime i'm more interested in the great question, what are we going to do to take him down?"
[pg 167]"can't think of a thing," said vance, flatly. "not a thing!"
"by george!" cried bull. "i'm going to think of something if i die for it."
"i'll shake with you on that," put in murray. "we won't rest till we get a plan."
"let me in too," said vance.
"and me too!" cried baby.
and so it happened that when the informal assembly dissolved for supper it dissolved with but one idea in the mind of every cadet in the party—that mark mallory must be taken down!
a plan came at last, one which was enough to do for any one; and when it came it came from a most unexpected source, none other than the baby, who never before in the memory of bull had dared to say anything original. the baby's sweet little brain, evolving the interesting problem, struck an idea which, so to speak, brought down the house.
"i'll tell you what!" he cried. "i've a scheme!"
"what is it?" inquired bull, incredulously.
"let's soak him on demerits!"
[pg 168]and with a look of delight bull turned and stared at murray.
"by the lord!" he cried, "that's it. we'll soak him on demerits!"
then the precious trio locked arms and did a war on the campus.
"just the thing!" gasped bull, breathlessly. "murray's a corporal and he can do it! whoop!"
"yes!" cried the baby. "and he was put over plebes to-day. will you do it, murray?"
and murray lost no time in vowing that he would; bull harris felt then that at last he was on the road to victory.
it is necessary to explain the system of discipline which prevails at west point. a cadet is allowed to receive only one hundred "demerits" during the first six months of his stay. these demerits are assigned according to a regular and inflexible schedule; thus for being late at roll call, a minor offense, a cadet receives two demerits, while a serious offense, such as disobedience of orders or sitting down on post while on sentry duty, brings ten units of trouble in its wake. these demerits are not given by the instructor or the cadet who notices the of[pg 169]fense; but he enters the charge in a book which is forwarded to headquarters. the report is read out after parade that same day and posted in a certain place the next day; and four days later the superintendent assigns the demerits in all cases where "explanations" have not been received.
the following is an example of an explanation:
"west point, n. y., —— —, 18—. report—bedding not properly folded at police inspection.
"explanation—some one disarranged my bedding after i had piled it. i was at the sink at the time of inspection, and i readjusted the bedding upon my return.
"respectfully submitted,
"—— ——,
"cadet ——, co. ——, —— class.
"to the commandant of cadets."
cadets usually hand in explanations, though the explanations are not always deemed satisfactory.
reports are made by the army officers, and also by cadets themselves, file closers, section marchers and others. it was in this last fact that bull harris and his friend murray saw their chance.
it very seldom happens that a cadet reports another except where the report is deserved; a man who does otherwise soon gets into trouble. but bull and his gang saw[pg 170] no obstacle in that; most of them were always head over heels in demerits themselves, including murray—though he was a "cadet-corporal." being thus, and in consequent danger of expulsion, they were reckless of possible trouble. and besides, bull had sworn to haze that plebe, and he meant to do it.
the plan in brief was simply this: mark mallory must be demerited right and left, everywhere and upon every possible pretext, just or unjust—and that was all. the thing has been done before; there is talk of doing it whenever a colored lad is admitted to the point. and murray was the man to do it, too, because he had just been transferred and put "on duty over plebes." it was only necessary to give one hundred demerits. one hundred demerits is a ticket of leave without further parley or possibility of return.
