“You will do,” laughed David. “Here’s hoping we both get in. We’ll see something of each other if we do. I’ve got to write a note to my mother; see you later.” “Sure, sure!” said Ryan, beaming. “I camp in the smoker. So long!” He watched David leave the car. “Well, Red, we like that bozo, don’t we?” he told himself. “True blue, if I can read a man, and a gentleman born. As my mother says, the mark of character shows on a man, no matter how many overcoats he wears.” Later, in the club car, David found Cram reading a magazine. He walked up to him. “You forgot to return my time-table, I think,” he said. “Time-table? Oh, yes, here it is. I did take it, didn’t I? Sorry, and thanks.” “That’s all right,” said David, turning. “Wait!” Cram exclaimed. “Sit down. I’d like to talk to you. I am wondering if you are going to Ayre.” “I think it is marked on my time-table,” returned David. “I noticed it. It doesn’t happen that you are going down for the examinations at Goodlow’s, does it?” “On account of my name being the same as an aviator?” laughed David. “As a matter of fact, I am going for the exams.” Cram shook his head. “That’s almost too bad,” he said. “You’ve come a long way, but I’m afraid you won’t have the ghost of a chance, unless you brought a lot of credentials, letters from your teachers, and congressmen, and senators, and so on. No? Well, they tell me it is going to take a lot of pull to get in, a darned lot of pull. You see, these people want to interest influence and money, and they are going to give first chance to the applicants who can do ’em the most good that way.” “That’s too bad,” said David, without showing any particular anxiety. “I can’t show a letter from a single senator. I had an idea that this was strictly a personal merit proposition.” “Personal merit hasn’t a show these days, my boy.” “What pull have you got?” asked David. Cram put a hand on David’s knee. “Boy, I have a suitcase stuffed full of credentials. I have enough to paper a room! No need to worry over my chances.” “That’s fine,” said David heartily. “I will have to depend on school reports, and such things.” He nodded, and walked away. He was depressed in spite of himself. The cocksure arrogance of Cram was funny, yet it stuck in David’s mind. He was glad to wander into the smoker and talk to Ryan, who greeted him joyfully. He repeated his conversation with Cram. “Aw, he makes me sick!” scoffed Ryan. “He may make the grade, at that, though. He got to be quite a shark at his books, and he’s had a small plane, so he can talk smooth and easy. Yeah, he may pass. Lots of ways he’s not so bad. My brother Mike likes him.” “You have a brother?” asked David. “Six,” said Ryan. “Have you any?” “Six? Gosh! No; I have two sisters.”