mysteries of the academic examinations, which he had heard were
uncommonly [Transcriber's note: word missing].




CHAPTER III

THE "LUCKY" ONES TAKE UP THE NEW LIFE


Candidate Prescott did not take the best examination by
any means, but he got through without discredit in any branch.

A number of these candidates had spent the last year or so at some
"prep." school that made a specialty of preparing young men for
West Point and Annapolis.

Greg did fairly in English, quite well in history, geography and
arithmetic; in algebra, through sheer nervousness, young Holmes
barely escaped going short.

Nearly twoscore of the candidates failed utterly. These went
sorrowing home, giving their alternates a chance to enter the corps
in their places.

Soon after the results had been declared, the young men who had
passed went over to headquarters. There they signed a statement to
the effect that they entered the Military Academy with the consent
of their parents or guardians, and bound themselves to serve in the