"
It was a very orderly and dignified lot of cadets who filed aboard
the cadet section of the train to leave for home. Once the train
was well on its way out of Philadelphia, however, the pent-up
enthusiasm of the happy sons of the Army broke loose, nor did
the tactical officers with them make any effort to restrain the
merry enthusiasm.
Some of the cadets went from car to car, in search of more excitement.
Dick Prescott soon became so tired of hero-worship that he slipped
along through the rear car a few feet at a time until, at last,
unobserved, he managed to make his way out on to the rear platform.
Unobserved, that is, by all save one. Turnback Haynes, who had
been watching Dick with a sort of wild fascination, noted Dick's
latest move.
The train, which had been traveling at high speed, now slowed down
to some twenty-five miles an hour in order to pass over a river.
While the attention of all the rest was turned toward the front
end of the car, Haynes, with lowered eyes and half-slinking manner,
made his way toward the rear of the car.
Peering through the glass in the door, the turnback could make
out Cadet Prescott standing outside. Dick's back was toward the
door.
A diabolical light flashed in Haynes's eyes for a moment.
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