"Is that all you have for week days?" he asked.
"Not quite," said Magnus, smiling in spite of himself. "They call me
Magnus, at home."
"Won't do you any good here," said the other, shaking his head. "Name's
got to go down in full, if it was Beelzebub Nebuchadnezzar. You'll be
rechristened for common use."
"Do they always do that?" said Magnus, looking grave.
"Mostly."
Magnus reddened.
"I cannot see what the Faculty have to do with my name," he said. "It's
not their business."
"Not the Faculty, as you call them, at all," said the cadet, "but your
beloved fellow-students. They will take almost as anxious care of you
as will the Com."
"Oh, the other cadets!" said Magnus loftily. "I'll take care of them."
"I would," said the man in grey with dry emphasis. "Not too many at
once. There's quite a few of them."
Magnus sat studying the north view without seeing it.
"But how is this?" he said suddenly. "You say your classmate has gone
on furlough--why aren't you gone too?"
The cadet shrugged his shoulders.
"Some men leave their country for their country's good," he said, "and
some stay in it, same at same. I lost my furlough. But anyhow Crinkem
went ahead of time; folks sick at home. He's always in luck."
"_Lost_ it," Magnus repeated. "How could you?"
"Easy enough, if you run against the Tacs in a tight place. Lose
anything here, except your heart and your appetite."
But to these last words Magnus gave no heed; his whole soul was astir
with this new idea. _Lose his furlough!_ Not go home even at the end
of the two long years!
"Can you do that?" he said. "Is it often done?"
"Not so very. Oh, you can do it, fast enough, if you have a run of bad
luck, as I did."
"I don't believe in luck," Magnus answered him.
"Don't you? Well, you will, when you've been here a month."
And now a party of strollers came by the seat; another much-dressed
young damsel, set in a framework of grey uniforms. As they passed, the
lady bowed; Magnus's friend stood up and doffed his cap, the other
cadets also touching theirs; and again (against his will) Magnus
admired and envied the easy precision of every movement. He wondered
if he could take off his hat with that peculiar swing?--and said no,
to himself, at once. But he would have it before furlough--and how
astonished Cherry would be!
"Been round Flirtation?" demanded his new acquaintance abruptly,
watching the three who went slowly on towards where the path left the
brow of the hill, and ran down among the cedars.
"Round flirtation!"
The cadet laughed.
"You needn't look so scared," he said--"it's only one of our walks. At
least it isn't generally anything else. Come on, and I'll show it to
you. I don't see what Fitch is after with that girl; cutting out poor
little Day. And he can talk a dozen to Day's one. Come along."
So they rose up, and stepped on at a good pace, till they had the
others in full sight again; dropping then into the like easy saunter.
At least it was easy to one, but for Magnus like being in bonds; and he
was constantly getting ahead, checking himself, and falling back.
"I'll teach them how to walk, when I'm once in," he thought. Then aloud:
"We should call this slow doings out West," he said.
"Yes," said his companion. "Generally want to get there, out West, I
suppose?"
"We certainly do."
"All right. Well, those folks don't."
It was such a self-evident fact about the three in front, that Magnus
looked from them to the man at his side, and his eyes flashed with fun.
They both laughed.
"Do none of them ever want to get _anywhere_?" said Magnus.
"Not often--on Flirtation. Spoil the fun, you know."
"Well, you say that is Mr. Fitch, and the other is Mr. Day, then who
are you?" said Magnus.
"To be sure!" said the cadet with a lazy drawl. "I've been wondering
how long a Westerner could get along without asking."
If Magnus grew hot at this implied charge, he had no chance to show it
then. A sudden drum-call, clear and loud, sent its racket through the
still air. The cadet stopped short.
"There!" he said; "that beastly review is to come off, after all."
And without another word, he turned and darted up the hill. In another
minute, Fitch and Day went speeding by, at the same keen, measured
pace, which struck Magnus as unlike anything he had ever seen. A few
bounds brought him up to the green level of the plain, where he could
watch the three, as they hurried along to the grey barracks. Nor those
three alone. From every side, from all directions, the grey and white
came hurrying in. Hurrying--yet always with the same even, regular,
swift step; the foot lifted just so high, the right arm swinging just
so far; and with no seeming effort. Magnus saw one and another of them
take off his cap to some lady as he flew by, but without the least
pause or break. Only two or three very much belated men dropped into a
walk as they neared the barracks. As Rosamund said, "It was too late to
get up early."