delicacy of your position, and we can attend to it all right.
Besides, all we have to do, anyway, is to ascertain how the class
feels on the matter."

"Don't let it be lost sight of, though," begged Jordan, almost
betraying his over anxiety, "that it is a serious matter of class
dignity and honor."

"We won't, old man," promised Durville, as the visitors rose.

As soon as he was alone---for his tentmate was away on a cavalry
drill, Jordan rose, his eyes flashing with triumph.

"Dick Prescott, I believe I have you where I want you! What a
rage you'll be in, if you get the 'silence'! 'Whom the gods would
destroy they first make mad,'" Jordan went on, under his breath,
wholly unaware that he had parodied the meaning of that famous
quotation. "You'll rage with anger, Prescott. You'll do the
very things that will warrant the class in giving you the long
'cut.'"

The "silence" is a form of rebuke that the cadet corps, once in
many years, administers to one of the many Army officers who are
stationed over them. When the cadet corps decides to give an
officer the "silence," the proceeding is a unique one.

Whenever an officer under this ban approaches a group of cadets
they cease talking, and remain silent as long as he is near them.
They salute the officer; they make any official communications
that may be required, and do so in a faultlessly respectful manner;
they answer any questions addressed to them by the officer under
ban. But they will not talk, while he is within hearing, on anything
except matters of duty.

An officer under the ban of the "silence" may approach a gathering
of a hundred or more cadets, all talking animatedly until they
perceive his approach. Then, all in an instant, they become mute.
The officer may remain in their neighborhood for an hour, yet,
save upon an official matter, no cadet will speak until the officer
has moved on.

This "silence" may be given an officer for a stated number of
days, or it may be made permanent. It has sometimes happened
that an officer has been forced to ask a transfer from West Point
to some other Army station, simply because he could not endure
the "silence."

Very rarely, indeed, the silence is given to a cadet; it is more
especially applicable if he be a cadet officer who is in the habit
of reporting his fellow classmen for what they may consider
insufficient breaches of discipline.

The "cut" or "Coventry" is reserved for the cadet whom it is int