"This doesn't appear to be a very lively place; not as much so as I expected," remarked the young millionaire as he got into the vehicle.

"Oh, bless your heart, sir, you just wait until next week," said the man. "Then this town will sit up and take notice. This is our off season, when the military school is closed. But when the boys arrive--wow! Say, then's when you got to look out. My! Oh my! But it's fierce!"

"Do they--do they cut up much?" asked d.i.c.k, secretly glad that he was to have a hand in it if the students did.

"Do they? Say, young man, when I start to drive a party of them cadets anywhere I don't never know if we're going to arrive. Never can tell when a wheel is coming off, or when my horses will start up, and leave the coach behind. That's why I always use quiet animals. Them cadets has life enough and to spare. Cut up? Say, jest you wait!"

"Well, maybe it won't be so bad after I get started, and make the acquaintance of some of the boys," thought d.i.c.k.

But he little knew what was ahead of him.

"Is the academy far out?" asked d.i.c.k, for, as the hack was an open one, he could converse with the driver.

"About a mile. We'll be there in a jiffy."

A "jiffy" must be quite a period of time, or else the driver's estimate of a mile was different from the accepted five thousand two hundred and eighty feet, for dusk changed to darkness before the hackman turned in between two big, stone pillars, and the man announced:

"Here we are."

"I don't see anything," objected d.i.c.k.

"It's too dark. But the buildings are right ahead of you."

Then the lad was able to make out the dim forms of a number of structures located in a sort of park.

"Where's the lake?" asked d.i.c.k. "I thought the academy was on a lake."

"So it is. That's on the other side. We're sort of coming in from the back, but that's the shortest road from the depot. I'll take you right to Colonel Masterly's quarters. He's the one you want to see, I guess, being as you're a new cadet, and he's the superintendent."

"I suppose so," answered d.i.c.k.

A little later he alighted in front of a large brick structure, and the hackman lifted down his trunk and suitcase.

"Do they expect you?" asked the driver.

"I think so," replied our hero, hoping that some arrangements had been made for him.

A moment later a door opened, and a flood of light streamed out from a broad hall. A man in semi-military uniform appeared.

"Who's there?" he asked, and, having spoken he began to whistle a few bars from "Marching Through Georgia," ending up with a bugle call.

"Got a cadet for you, Toots," replied the hackman.

"A cadet?" and once more the man in the hall whistled a martial air.

"That's what I said, Toots. Give me a hand with this trunk, will you, and tell Colonel Masterly that he's going to have company."

"My name's Hamilton," began d.i.c.k. "I believe my father arranged----"

"Oh yes, the colonel told me to look out for you," said the man who looked like a soldier. "Come right in. The colonel will be here directly. I'll take your baggage."

"Thank you--er Mr.----" and d.i.c.k hesitated, for he did not just know how to address the person in the hall, and wanted to make no mistake in bestowing a military t.i.tle.

"Me? Oh I'm Sam Sander," said the man in the blue suit, apparently surprised that his ident.i.ty was not known.

"Yes, that's Sam," went on the hack driver, with easy familiarity, "but n.o.body calls him that; do they, Toots?"

The other, who was helping to carry in d.i.c.k's trunk did not answer.

Instead he whistled the bugle call for "Taps," or lights out.

"Do they, Toots?" repeated the hack driver.

"Do they what?" inquired the soldier, who seemed to be rather absent minded.

"Do they call you anything but Toots?"

"Nope. That's what they call me. I don't mind. I've almost forgotten what my real name is. Toots is good enough I expect."

"He's a queer chap," whispered the hackman to d.i.c.k, as our hero paid him. "Queer, but all right. He's a sort of general helper around the grounds. Well, good night. I'll see you again maybe, when some of the other lads begin to arrive. And then won't there be lively times! Wow!

My! Oh my! But them students certainly know how to have fun!"

The hackman appeared to relish the prospect, and d.i.c.k could hear him chuckling to himself as he drove off in the darkness.

"Right this way, Mr. Hamilton," said Toots, which name we shall adopt for him. "I will find the colonel for you----"

He stopped suddenly, straightened up, in spite of the suitcase which he was carrying, and gave a stiff military salute.

"Mr. Hamilton has arrived, sir," he said, and at that d.i.c.k caught sight of a tall thin man, with an iron gray moustache and imperial, coming down the broad, well-lighted hall.

"Ah, Hamilton, glad to see you," said the soldierly-looking gentleman, extending his hand. "I'm Colonel Masterly. You are a little early, but I understand the case. Have you had dinner?"

d.i.c.k had not, and said so.

"Then you can dine with me," went on Colonel Masterly. "Sam, take Mr.

Hamilton's baggage to the room I told you to get ready for him. I'll quarter you here for the present," he added, "until the boys arrive, and then you will have a roommate. How is your father?"

"Quite well," replied d.i.c.k, and then he followed the superintendent into a reception room. There two other military-looking men sat reading books. They looked up at the entrance of d.i.c.k and the colonel, who introduced them to the new student as Major Henry Rockford, commandant of the academy, and Major Franklin Webster, U. S. A., retired, who was in charge of military tactics at the school.

"That's the man of whom I must inquire about Captain Handlee's missing son," thought d.i.c.k, as the two instructors shook hands with him. "But I guess I'll wait a few days."

Dinner was rather a formal affair, and our hero did not in the least enjoy it. The three men talked of matters connected with the prospective opening of the school, occasionally addressing a question to d.i.c.k, or making some general remark.

The academy more than came up to d.i.c.k's expectations when he saw it the next morning. The school was made up of several buildings, consisting of a main barracks, which was where he had spent the night, and which contained the executive offices and cla.s.s rooms, two other barracks, a gymnasium, a large mess hall, a riding hall, a small hospital and other structures.

They were grouped on a large plain, that lay at the foot of quite a mountain range, but, what pleased d.i.c.k more than anything else, was a large lake that came right to the edge of the academy grounds. It was a beautiful sheet of water, and, from the appearance of a large boathouse near at hand, d.i.c.k guessed rightly that the cadet-students spent considerable time rowing and sailing.

After breakfast, under the guidance of Toots, who was detailed by Colonel Masterly for that purpose, d.i.c.k was taken on a tour of the grounds. He was particularly pleased with the big stable, which contained a fine lot of horses.

"Are those for the cadets to use?" he asked Toots.