“Return to barracks and get into your uniforms for inspection,” was the order the boys received, and they were glad to do it. There were some, like Ned, who sent their civilian clothes home to be used as parents saw fit, and there was a general opinion, coinciding with Jerry’s, that they would be of little use to the owners themselves after their army service, for the young men would, indeed, be of different physical appearance and size. “Well, how do I look?” asked Ned, as he and his two chums finished dressing in the barracks. “It fits you sort of quick,” answered Jerry. The new uniform was, in truth, a trifle loose. “Yours fits the same way,” laughed Ned. “I guess I’ll do a double stunt of exercise to fill out quicker.” “Bob looks good in his,” commented the tall motor boy. “It’s because he’s so fat. When he loses some of his flesh he’ll look as though he was wearing a meal sack.” “Watch your own step,” said Bob, with a laugh. “I’m satisfied.” There were jokes and jests among the recruits about the appearance of one another, and when Pug Kennedy walked out on the way to drill, to which the squad was summoned, Jerry called to him: “You’ve got your hat cord on backwards, old man.” It was not that Jerry felt any particular liking for Michael Kennedy, to give him his real name, but the tall lad did not want any member of his squad to look unmilitary, nor did he want a reprimand to be directed toward Pug, as it might reflect on his companions. But Pug Kennedy was still in an ungracious mood, it seemed, for he answered Jerry’s well-meant remark with: “Mind your own business! It’s my hat cord.” “True enough,” agreed Jerry, good-naturedly; “but it may not be long, if you wear it that way.” “Um!” grunted Pug, as he went out. But Ned took notice that, as soon as he was out of sight around the corner of the barracks, the bully put the cord on differently. It was a light blue cord, and indicated to those who knew the regulations, that the man under the hat belonged to the infantry, or foot-soldier, branch of the army. The cavalry wear yellow cords on their hats; and the artillery, red. The engineers have a red and white mixed cord; the signal corps, orange and white; the medical corps, maroon; and the quartermaster corps, buff. In addition there are certain ornaments on the collars of the coats to distinguish the different branches of the service. The infantry wear crossed rifles, the cavalry crossed sabers, the field artillery crossed cannon, the engineers a castle, like the castle in a set of chessmen, the signal corps crossed flags with a torch between, the quartermaster corps wheel with a pen and sword crossed and an eagle surmounting, while the members of the medical corps wear something that looks like an upright bar with wings at the top and two snakes twining around it. This is a caduceus, and is a form of the staff usually associated with the god Mercury. The word comes from the Doric and means to proclaim, literally a herald.