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Dick Prescott's Third Year at West Point, a novel by H. Irving Hancock |
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Chapter 23. The Decree Of "Coventry" |
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_ CHAPTER XXIII. THE DECREE OF "COVENTRY" "Prepare to mount! Mount!" Some preliminary commands of drill were executed. Then the serious work of the hour began. Never had Captain Albutt commanded at a better bit of cavalry work than was done this afternoon by members of the first and second classes. The wheelings, the facings and all the manoeuvres at the different gaits were executed with precision and dash. All the movements in troop and squadron were carried out to perfection. To the instructor, it was plain that the most perfect esprit de corps existed. The cadets were acting with a singleness and devotedness of purpose which showed plainly that the perfect trooper was the sole subject of thought in their minds. At least, so the instructor thought, from the results obtained. Even Haynes's face was inexpressive as he rode. Greg was as jaunty as though he had not an unkind thought toward anyone in the world. Cadet Prescott did not betray a sign of any thought save to do his duty perfectly. Yet, every time that his horse was brought close to Haynes's, Prescott had his eyes open for any foul play that might be attempted by the turnback. "If the young men do as splendidly to-morrow before the Board of Visitors," thought Captain Albutt, "I shall feel that my year of work here has been a grand success. Jove, what a born trooper everyone of these young fellows seems to be!" At last the drill was finished. In detachments, the young cadet troopers returned to the road between the administration building and the academic building. Here each detachment dismounted, surrendered its horses to a waiting detail of enlisted cavalrymen, and then marched in to barracks. As soon as the young men had removed their riding leggings, and the dust from their uniforms, most of them descended into the quadrangle. Haynes reached his room just an instant behind Pierson. "See here, Pierson, you cad, what did you-----" "Oh, shut up!" replied Pierson, with a weary sigh. "Don't you speak to me like that, sir!" cried Haynes warningly, as he stepped over to where his roommate was busy with a clothes brush. "I don't want to talk with you at all," retorted Pierson. "You'll talk to me a lot, or you'll answer with your fists!" "Fight with you? Bah!" growled the other man in disgust. "You cad, you deliberately li-----" But Pierson, having put his brush away, turned on his heel and left the room. Haynes paused for an instant, his face white with a new dread. A cadet stands low, indeed, when another cadet will not resent being called a liar by him. "This has kicked up an awful row against me, I guess," muttered the turnback, as he hastily cleaned himself. "I must get down into the quadrangle, mix with the fellows and set myself straight." Full of this purpose, for he was not lacking in a certain quality of nerve and courage, Haynes went down to the quadrangle. "I am afraid a good deal of feeling was aroused this afternoon, Furlong," began the turnback. Then he gulped, clenched his fists and lost color, for Cadet Furlong, without a word, had turned on his heel and walked away. "Griffin, what does Fur-----" Cadet Griffin, too, turned on his heel, passing on. "Dobbs-----" It was Dobbs's turn to show his back and stroll away. "What the deuce has got into them all?" wondered Haynes, though his heart sank, for, much as he wanted to ignore the meaning, it was becoming plain to him. Another cadet was passing along the walk. To him Haynes turned with an appealing face. "Lewis," began the turnback, "I am afraid I shall have to ask you-----" Whatever it was, Lewis did not wait to hear. He looked at Haynes as though he saw nothing there, and joined a little group of cadets beyond. "Confound these puppies!" growled Haynes to himself. "They're all fellows that I hazed when they were plebes, and they haven't forgiven me. I see clearly enough that, if I am to have an explanation, or get a chance to make one, I must do it through the members of my old class." Some distance down the quadrangle stood Brayton and Spurlock, first classmen and captains in the cadet battalion. "They're high-minded, decent fellows," said Haynes to himself. "I will go to them and get this nasty business set straight." Past several groups of cadets stalked Haynes, affecting not to see any of the fellows. But these cadets appeared equally indifferent to being recognized. Brayton and Spurlock were talking in low tones when the turnback approached them. "Brayton," began Haynes, "I want to ask you to do me a bit of a favor." Brayton did not stop his conversation with Spurlock, nor did he show any other sign of having heard the turnback. "Brayton! I beg your pardon!" But the first classman did not turn. "Spurlock," asked Haynes, in a thick voice, "are you in this tommy-rot business, too?" Spurlock, however, seemed equally deaf. "Then see here, both of you-----" insisted Haynes, choking with anger. The two first classmen turned their backs, walking slowly off. There was no chance to doubt the fate that had overtaken him. Haynes had been "sent to Coventry." Henceforth, as long as he remained in the corps of cadets, he was to be "cut." No other cadet could or would speak to him, under the same penalty of also being sent to Coventry. Henceforth the only speech that any cadet would have with him would be a necessary communication on official business. Socially there was no longer any Cadet Haynes at West Point. Once, two years before, Haynes had helped to put this punishment on a plebe, who had soon after quitted the Academy. Then Haynes had thought that sending another to Coventry was, under some circumstances, a fine proceeding. But now the like fate had befallen him! "The fellows don't really mean it. They're excited now, but to-morrow they'll be sorry and call the whole foolishness off," thought the "cut" man, trying hard to swallow the obstinate lump that rose in his throat. In the quadrangle, mostly in groups, were fully two hundred cadets. But not one of these young men would address a word to the exposed turnback. "There's one satisfaction, anyway," thought Haynes savagely, as he walked blindly back toward the door of his own subdivision in barracks, "I can take it all out on the plebes!" Just as he was going up the steps Haynes encountered a plebe coming out. "Here, mister!" growled Haynes. "Swing around with you! At attention, sir! What's your name, mister?" But the plebe did not even pause. He did not avert his head, but he took no pains to look at Haynes, merely passing the turnback and gaining the quadrangle below. Now the utter despair of his position came over Haynes. How suddenly it had come! And even Haynes, with his four years at West Point, could hardly realize how the Coventry had been pronounced and carried out in so very few minutes after release from cavalry drill. Tears of rage and humiliation in his eyes, Haynes stumbled to his room. Once inside he shunned the window, but stumbled to his chair at the study table, and sank down, his face buried in his arms. "Oh, I'll make somebody suffer for this!" he growled. Out in the quadrangle, now that the turnback was gone, the main theme of conversation was the discovery and exposure of the afternoon. Pierson was requested to repeat his statement to a large group of first and second classmen. "I don't believe a man could get a pin stuck into the toe of his boot accidentally, in the way that Haynes had his pin arranged," declared Brayton. "Has one of you fellows a pin to lend me?" A pin being passed, Brayton sat down on a convenient step and tried to adjust the pin between the sole and the upper of the toe of his boot. "I can force it in a little way," admitted Brayton, "but see how the pin wobbles. It would fall out if I moved my foot hard. Some of the rest of you try it." Other cadets repeated the experiment. "I'll tell you, fellows," said Spurlock at last; "a fellow couldn't accidentally get a pin in that position, and hold it firm there. But I know that, after repeated trying, and working to fit the pin, I could finally get matters so that I could quickly fit a pin that would hold in place and be effective." "Of course," nodded Lewis. "It can be done, but only by design." "And that was the very way that Prescott's horse was enraged, so that old ramrod got his awful tumble!" exclaimed Greg bitterly. "You believe, now, that the whole thing was a dirty, deliberate trick, don't you?" asked Spurlock of Prescott. "I am pretty sure it must have been," nodded Dick. "Then," declared Brayton, "the whole thing is something for you second classmen to settle among yourselves. In the first place, it is your own class affair. In the next place, we men of the first class are practically out of the Military Academy already. It will do the first class no good to take any action, because we shall not be here to carry out any decree." "You can advise us, though," suggested Holmes. "And we'll do so gladly," nodded Brayton. "Then do we need to hold a class meeting, and vote to make the Coventry permanent?" "Hardly, I should say," replied Brayton. "You've already started the cut, and it can be continued without any regular action---unless Haynes should have the cheek to try to brazen it out. If he does insist on staying here at the Military Academy, you can easily take up the matter during the summer encampment." "It would seem rather strange for me to call a class meeting, when the whole affair concerns me," suggested Dick. "Oh, you don't need to call the meeting, old ramrod," advised Spurlock. "A self-appointed committee of the class can call the meeting. You can open the meeting, of course, Prescott, and then you can call any other member of the class to take the chair." "I wonder if it will be necessary to drum the fellow out of the class formally?" asked Anstey. "Only time can show you that," replied Brayton. "Better just wait and see what action the fellow Haynes will take for himself. He may have the sense to resign." Resign? That word was not in Haynes's own dictionary of conduct. After his first few moments of despair, on gaining his room, the turnback had risen from his chair, his face showing a courage and resolution worthy of a better cause. "Those idiots may think they have 'got' me," he muttered, shaking his fist toward the quadrangle. "One of these days they'll know me better! I'll make life miserable for some of those pups yet!" Just before it was time for the call to dress parade Pierson came hurrying into the room to hasten into his full-dress uniform. Haynes, already dressed with scrupulous care, looked curiously at his roommate. But Pierson did not appear to see him. Haynes stepped over to the window, drumming listlessly on the sill. At length he turned around. "Pierson," he asked, "have the fellows sent me to Coventry?" "You don't need to ask that," replied the other coldly. "Is it because of Prescott?" "Yes. And now, will you stop bothering me with the sound of your voice?" "Pierson, you know, when a fellow is cut by the corps, his roommate is not required to avoid conversation with the unlucky one." "I know that," replied Pierson coldly. "But I've had all I want of you and from you. Except when it is absolutely necessary I shall not answer or address you hereafter." "How long am I to stay in Coventry?" Pierson acted as though he did not bear. "Has formal action been taken, or is this just a flash of prejudice, Pierson?" No answer. "Humph!" The call to form and march on to the parade ground was sounding. Snatching up his rifle, Haynes stepped out and joined the others. Haynes did not receive even as much as a cold glance. "I'm less than a bit of mud to them!" thought the turnback bitterly. "These fellows would step around a patch of mud, just to avoid dirtying their shoes." It was a relief to hear the command to fall in. Haynes felt still better when the battalion stepped away at its rhythmic step. He did not have to look at any of his contemptuous comrades now, nor did he need a word from them. Somehow, though in a daze, the turnback got through dress parade without reproof from any of the watchful cadet officers. Then, almost immediately after dress parade, came the hardest ordeal of all. Once more, this time in fatigue uniform, the turnback had to fall in at supper formation. With the rest he marched away to cadet mess ball, found his place at table and occupied it. During the meal merry conversation ran riot around the tables. Haynes was the only man among the gray-clad cadets who was left absolutely alone. After supper, while Pierson lounged outside, Haynes went back to his room. Pacing the floor in his deep misery and agitation, he took this vow to himself: "I won't let myself be driven from the Military Academy! No matter what these idiots try to do to me---no matter what indignities they may heap upon me, I'll keep silent and fight my way through the Military Academy! I will receive my commission, and go into the Army. But that fellow Prescott shall never become an officer in the Army, no matter what I have to risk to stop him!" _ |
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