On Guard: Mark Mallory's Celebration e-bog

Excerpt: "e;"e;A letter for me, did you say?"e; The speaker was a tall, handsome lad, a plebe at the West Point Military Academy. At the moment he was gazing inquiringly out of the tent door at a small orderly. The boy handed him an envelope, and the other glanced at it. "e;Cadet Mark Mallory, West Point, N. Y.,"e; was the address. "e;I guess that's for me,"e; he said. "e;Thank you. Hello in there, Texas! Here's a letter from Wicks Merritt."e; This last remark was addressed to another cadet in the tent. "e;Texas,"e; officially known as Jeremiah Powers, a tall, rather stoop-shouldered youth, with a bronzed skin and a pair of shining grey eyes, appeared in the doorway and watched his friend with interest while he read. "e;What does he say, Mark?"e; he inquired, when the latter finished. "e;Lots,"e; responded Mark. "e;Lots that'll interest our crowd. They ought to be through sprucing up by this time, so bring 'em over here and I'll read it."e; "e;Sprucing up"e; is West Point for the morning house-cleaning in the summer camp. A half hour is allowed to it immediately after breakfast, and it is followed by "e;the A. M. inspection."e; In response to Mark's suggestion, Texas slipped over to the tent in back of theirs in "e;B Company"e; Street, and called its three occupants. They came over and joined those in Mark's tent; and then Mark took out the letter he had just received. "e;I've got something here,"e; said he, "e;that I think ought to interest all of us. I guess I'll have time to read it before inspection. We are a secret society, aren't we?"e; "e;That's what we are,"e; assented the other six."e;But what's that got to do with it?"e; added Texas."e;