e prisoners that they might disobey this order, and
they waited patiently for events to take their course. As far as they
could make out by listening, some others of their classmates were
already undergoing the ordeal of hazing. They could hear water
splashing, suppressed screams and groans, and continual whispering. The
light of the lanterns flickered through the trees, now and then
illuminating the topmost branches. Presently a man came and sat down
near them, and said:

"Don't get impatient. We're nearly ready for you." It was the voice of
one of their two captors.

"May I ask you a question, sir?" said Sam.

"Blaze away," responded the man.

"Was General Gramp hazed at this same place, do you know?"

"Yes," said the man. "In this very same place. And while he was
waiting he sat on that very log over there."

Sam peered with awe into the darkness.

"May I--do you think I might--just sit on it, too?" asked Sam.

"Certainly," said the cadet affably, untying the rope from the tree and
leading Sam over to the log, where he tied him again.

Sam sat down reverently.

"How well preserved the log is," said Sam.

"Yes," said the guard; "of course they wouldn't let it decay. It's a
sort of historical monument. They overhaul it every year. Anyway it's
ironwood."

Sam thought to himself that perhaps some day the log might be noted as
the spot where the great General Jinks sat while awaiting his hazing,
and tears of joy rolled softly down over his freckles. He was still
lost in this emotion when steps were heard approaching and the
lantern-light drew nearer.

"Come, Smith, bring the prisoners in," said the same voice that had
waked Sam in his tent. He looked at the speaker and recognized the
tall, hatchet-faced, crook-nosed Saunders. Two or three cadets
unfastened Sam and Cleary, still, however, leaving their arms bound
behind them, and brought them to the open place under the wall where
Sam had first seen them. Sam now saw nothing; walking in the steps of
Generals Gramp and German, he felt the ecstasy of a Christian martyr.
He would not have exchanged his lot with any one in the world. Cleary,
however, who possessed a rather mundane spirit, took in the scene.
Twenty or thirty cadets were either standing or seated on the ground
round a circle which was illuminated by several dark-lanterns placed
upon the ground. In the center of the circle were a tub of water, some
boards