,
To school we go
To fill our places.
We'll study hard,
And do our best--"

"If Songbird Powell
Will give us a rest!"

finished Tom. "Oh, Songbird, have mercy on us, and don't begin so early."

"You're a good one to preach, Tom," came from Larry. "Started to joke
the moment we met him, didn't he, Hans?"

"Did I?" questioned Tom innocently. "I had forgotten." He turned to
Tubbs. "And how is our friend Philliam Willander to-day?"

"William Philander, if you please, Rover," was the dignified reply. "I
must insist on your getting my name correctly this term."

"All right, Tubby, old boy, it shall be just as you say. I wouldn't
hurt your feelings for a big red apple."

"Then, please don't call me Tubby. You know my real name is William
Philander Tubbs."

"Don't you want Esquire tacked to it, too?"

"That is hardly necessary as yet. But you may write it after my name,
if you have occasion to send me any written communication," continued
Tubbs, with greater dignity than ever.

"Phew! but Tubby is worse than he was before," whispered Sam to Dick.
"They must have been tuning him up at home."

"Tubbs is going to try for a captaincy this term," said Powell, who had
not minded Tom's interruption of his versification in the least.

"Hurrah for Captain Tubbs!" cried Tom. "Captain, allow me to salute
you," and he made a sweeping bow to the deck. Tom spoke so earnestly
that Tubbs was pleased, and instantly forgot their little differences.

"I shall be pleased to become a captain," said the young gentleman. "I
feel I can fill the position with credit to myself and dignity to the
academy. There is military blood in my veins, for a second cousin on my
mother's side was a lieutenant in the Civil War. Besides that, I have
studied military movements at West Point, where I went to see the
cadets drill."

"Do you know how to swab out a cannon?" asked Sam, with a wink at the
others.

"I shouldn't--ah--care for such dirty work," replied William Philander
Tubbs with dignity.

"Or police a camp?"

"Surely you don't think I was ever a policeman?"

"Don't you remember what policing a camp is?" asked George Granbury.

"Upon my honor, I do not."

"It means to clean up the streets, burn up the rubbish, and all that."

"Thank you, but I do not--ah--care to become a street cleaner," returned
Tubbs, with great dignity.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you are not cut out for a corporalship," came
from Tom.

"I di