For the tenth time he thrust his hands into his pockets--then as
quickly drew them out again.

All of the young men now gathered in the room were candidates for
cadetships at West Point; candidates who had been appointed by the
Congressmen or Senators of their home districts or states, and who
must now pass satisfactory physical and mental examinations, after
which they would be enrolled as cadets in the United States Military
Academy. Those of the cadets who thus passed the preliminary
examinations, and who maintained good health and good standing in
their classes during the following four years and three months would
then be graduated from the Military Academy and forthwith be appointed
second lieutenants in the Regular Army of the United States.

Hived in this room, awaiting their turn, a spirit of awe had gripped
all these nervous young men.

Some of them dreaded a failure in the coming bodily tests before
the keen-eyed, impartial surgeons of the United States Army.

Probably half of the boys in the room feared that they would fail in
the academic examinations.

Boys? Some of the candidates didn't look the part. They had the
physiques and general appearance, many of them, of men; for a
candidate may be anywhere between the ages of seventeen and
twenty-two years of age.

From all over the country they came. When the new, or plebe class
should finally be assembled and put to work, that class would