buke, his second, at sight of the halted trio, to
shout with delight. Before he could gather his wits the matter was
settled for him, for all. The adjutant, amazed, dropped his paper and
uplifted his eyes, for his voice was stilled by a stentorian shout from
an inner table and the simultaneous rush of a light-footed fellow who
almost swept Pops off his crutches as his arms flung about him.
"Cyclone" Holt, a big-lunged Kentuckian, had bounded to his chair with
a yell of "Hurray! 'Badger' and '_Ki_ote!'" and all order was gone in
an instant. Up as one man sprang the startled battalion. Had Holt gone
mad? Had Frazier a fit? For answer came cheers from those nearest the
door, cheers that spread like wildfire from table to table, and all in
a second every young soldier was swinging a napkin and shouting like
mad--some leaping on chairs, some even mounting the tables, a scene
such as the mess-hall never witnessed before. Vain the effort of some
one to guide the cheering (they had not then learned an academy yell),
and for once in its day the corps went wild, every man for himself.
They yelled at Geordie, blushing and dishevelled from Benny's embrace.
They yelled at Connell, standing modestly by, with his set lips
twitching, his eyes filling fast. They yelled at their colonel, now
smilingly backing away. They yelled for three minutes without ever a
stop, until some fellow, versed in town-meeting methods, began yelling
for "Speech!" and that started others, and "Speech!" was the word
ringing all over the hall, and that was more than enough to start
Geordie. Speak he could not and would not. He could only stand smiling
and shaking his head, until he saw they would not be denied; and then,
at last, the lad who had faced and downed popular prejudice all through
his cadet life, who had faced foes at the Point and foes on the
plains--faced them with dauntless front and determined will--who had
stood like a rock at the front of the enemy, trembled now like a leaf
in the sight of his friends, and so, for the first time, shrank back
and fled. Just as on the day of his graduation, our Geordie turned from
the tumult of comrade acclaim and sought his mother's side. Con darted
after him, and the big door closed on the chums of cadet days, on the
"Badger" and "Coyote"--on Connell and "Corporal Pops."

THE END

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