"Fired!" added Greg, with a look of satisfaction. "There's no
getting around the truth of the old superstition, fellows!"
The "old superstition" to which Holmes referred is one intensely
believed in the cadet corps. While there is nothing whatever to
prevent a sneak from being admitted to the United States Military
Academy, the cadets believe firmly that a dishonorable fellow is
bound to be caught, before he graduates, and that he will be
kicked promptly out of the service by one means or another.
"Has the fellow gone yet?" inquired Spurlock.
"He'll slip away while the rest of us are away at dress parade,
I guess," responded Pierson. "Haynes is in cit. clothes already,
and is just fussing around a bit."
"He must feel fine!" muttered Brayton musingly. "I could almost
say `poor fellow.'"
"So could I," agreed Prescott, with a good deal of feeling. "It
would break my heart to be compelled to leave the corps, except
at graduation, so I can imagine how any other fellow must feel."
"Oh, well, he'd never be happy in the Army, anyway," replied Spurlock.
"Out in the Army the other officers can take care of a dishonorable
comrade even more effectively than we do."
"What made Haynes fess out, I wonder?" pondered Brayton aloud.
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