d.i.c.k Hamilton's Cadet Days.

by Howard R. Garis.

PREFACE.

MY DEAR BOYS:

When I had finished the first volume of this series, telling of the doings of d.i.c.k Hamilton, the young millionaire, I was in some doubt as to just how you would like it. I hoped that you would be pleased with it, and interested in d.i.c.k and his chums, and what they did, but I could not be sure of it.

That you did care for it, I am now a.s.sured, and I am glad to be able to give you the second volume, relating some of d.i.c.k's experiences while at a leading military school.

You will recall that, after he had come into possession of his great fortune, by fulfilling certain conditions of his mother's will, there were still other things for him to do; matters that his mother had planned before her death. One of these was to make sure that her son would get a good military training.

d.i.c.k went to Kentfield Academy, but, to his surprise, he met with a very cold reception from the other cadets. Ray Dutton, not understanding that, in spite of our hero's wealth, he was a fine chap, influenced the other students against d.i.c.k, and, for a time, the young millionaire was very lonely in the big school. But he resolved to fight his own battles, and become popular in spite of his wealth.

Uncle Ezra brought him bad news, but it was the means of great good luck for d.i.c.k, though Grit, the bulldog, seemed to regard the crabbed old man as his master's enemy, and chased him from the school.

All this you will find set down in the present volume, and also an account of how d.i.c.k was instrumental in locating a long missing soldier, and how, when the society house of the Sacred Pig burned down, without any insurance being in force, d.i.c.k, with his wealth, came to the aid of the surprised cadets.

Yours sincerely, HOWARD R. GARIS.

d.i.c.k HAMILTON'S CADET DAYS

CHAPTER I

d.i.c.k GETS A TELEGRAM

"Hi boys! Here goes for a double summersault!"

"Bet you don't do it, Frank."

"You watch."

"Every time you try it you come down on your back," added another lad of the group of those who were watching one of their companions poised on the end of a spring-board.

"Well, this time I'm going to do it just like that circus chap did," and Frank Bender, who had an ambition to become an acrobat, raised his hands above his head and crouched for a spring.

"If you do it I'll follow," said another boy, clad in a bright red bathing suit.

"Good for you, d.i.c.k!" exclaimed Walter Mead. "Don't let Frank stump you."

"Here I go!" cried Frank, and, a moment later, he sprang from the spring-board, leaped high into the air, and, turning over twice, came down in true diver style, his hands cleaving the water beneath which he disappeared.

"Good!" cried the boys on the sh.o.r.e.

"I didn't think he'd do it," remarked "Bricktop" Norton, so called from his shock of red hair.

"Me either," added Fred Murdock. "Now it's up to you, d.i.c.k."

"That's right."

d.i.c.k Hamilton rose from a log on which he was sitting. He was a tall, clean-cut chap, straight as an arrow, with an easy grace about him, and it needed but a glance to show that he was of athletic build. His red bathing suit, from which protruded bronzed arms and legs, was particularly becoming to him.

"There--let's--see--you--do--that!" spluttered Frank, as he came up, some distance from where he had gone down. He shook his head to rid his eyes and ears of water, and struck out for sh.o.r.e.

"Stay there!" called d.i.c.k. "I'll swim out farther than you did."

"d.i.c.k's cutting out some work for himself," remarked Bricktop, in a low tone to Bill Johnson. "Frank's a dandy swimmer."

"Yes, but d.i.c.k Hamilton usually does what he sets out to do," replied Bill. "There he goes."

d.i.c.k walked to the end of the spring-board. He teetered up and down on it two or three times, testing the balance of the long plank. Then he took a few steps backward, poised for an instant, and ran forward.

"There he goes!" called Walter.

Like a rubber ball d.i.c.k Hamilton arose in the air. He curled himself up into a lump as he leaped, and then, to the surprise of his companions, he turned over not twice, but three times ere he struck the water, which closed up over his feet as they disappeared.

"Well--wouldn't that sizzle your side combs!" cried Bricktop. "Three times!"

"A triple!" added Walter Mead. "Whoever would think d.i.c.k could do it!"

"Aw, he's been practicing," called Frank, as he circled about in the water, watching for d.i.c.k to come up. "He's been doing it on the sly, and he's kept quiet about it."

"Just like d.i.c.k," added Bill. "He isn't satisfied to do ordinary stunts."

"Well, he's done a good one this time," said Fred Murdock. "Say, isn't he staying under a long time?"

There was no sight of the millionaire youth.

"Maybe he hit his head on a rock," suggested Bricktop, in some alarm.

"That's so," went on Fred. "This place isn't any too deep, and he came down hard."

"Maybe we'd better go in after him," remarked Walter.

"Dive down!" called Bill to Frank.

The boys were becoming frightened. Not a ripple, save the little waves made by Frank, as he stood upright, treading water, disturbed the expanse of the swimming hole. There was no sign of d.i.c.k Hamilton. Frank prepared for a dive, when, suddenly, at some distance from sh.o.r.e something shot up through the water. It was the hand and arm of a boy.

An instant later his head and shoulders popped into view.

"There he is!" cried Walter.