Page:Dick Hamilton's Cadet Days.djvu/95

Rh me to some other school. No, I don't either. I'll fight it out here, and I'll win, too, or I'll know the reason why!"

Major Webster, when he returned from the drill, inquired how Dick felt, and received the assurance that the lad was all right.

"We must give you a quieter horse," he said with a smile.

"Oh, no, I can manage him all right," said Dick. "Captain Dutton—er—he and I happened to collide, or it never would have happened."

"Strange, Dutton is an excellent rider," commented the major as he walked away.

A slight headache the next day was all the ill effect that Dick experienced from his tumble. He appeared at chapel, and took part in all the day's duties. For a week or more life went on rather uneventfully at the academy. Dick had a letter from his father, stating that business was likely to keep him abroad longer than he expected.

Dick also got a letter from Henry Darby, giving some news of Hamilton Corners, and telling how Dick's chums missed him. The letter closed with this:

"Grit misses you very much. He doesn't eat hardly anything, and he lies in his kennel all day."

"Poor Grit," said Dick to Paul, and he told of his bulldog. "I wish I could have him here with me."

"Why don't you?" suggested his roommate. "Some of the other cadets are allowed special