"Some smarter boy may win it away from you," Danny Grin retorted.

"He'll have to hustle, then," Dick rejoined, his eyes flashing.

"But suppose you do lose the nomination and can't go to West
Point---what will you do then?"

"I have plans, in case I can't get to West Point," Prescott answered
quietly. "However, as yet I won't admit the defeat of my West
Point ambition."

"I'd try for West Point myself, if it weren't for Dick being in
the way," Greg declared. "But I never could get past Dick in
an exam."

"If you want it, come on and try," begged Dick. "Our Congressman
gives the nomination to the boy in the district who can stand
up best under an exam. Go in and try for it, Greg! Work like
a horse when high school opens. You might get it."

"And take it away from you?" blurted Holmes.

"If you can get it from me, you ought to do it, Holmesy. The
best men are needed in every walk of life. I'll promise, in
advance, not to be 'sore' if you can win it away from me."

"Yes! I'd try all winter," scoffed Greg, "and then in the end
some sad-eyed fellow from a back-country village would bob up
and win it away from us both."