What a glorious furlough it was, while it lasted! All their old schoolmates in the home town, and all the smaller youngsters, listened to the tales Hal and Noll told of the Army. Two or three dozen youngsters then and there formed their resolutions to enlist in the Army as soon as they were old enough. Tip Branders had left town. Where Tip had gone was not known--but Uncle Sam's two young recruits were destined to find out later on. CHAPTER X A SWIFT CALL TO DUTY "SEE that man in the black derby and the brown suit, coming this way, Noll? The one with the iron-gray hair?" "Of course," replied Noll. "Salute him, if we get close enough." "Why?" "He's an officer." "Maybe," half-assented Noll, eyeing the man with iron-gray hair. "There isn't much doubt about it," retorted Hal. "He boarded the train at Kansas City. It's summer, but he's going somewhere up in the hills, for he had an overcoat over one arm when he boarded the train, and that overcoat was an officer's coat. He's in the service, and he isn't any junior officer, either, judging by the color of his hair." "But----" "Sh! Be ready with your salute." The two young recruits, their uniforms looking spick and span, despite their long journey by train, now brought their right hands smartly up to their cap visors as the man with iron-gray hair stepped close. He gave Hal and Noll a prompt, smart acknowledgment of their salute, then suddenly paused, glanced at them, and asked: "My men, how did you know me to be an officer?" "I observed your overcoat, sir, when you boarded the train at Kansas City," Hal answered. "You judged rightly, men," replied the officer, with a smile. "I am Major Davis, Seventeenth Cavalry. And you, as I see by your caps, belong to the Thirty-fourth Infantry." "Yes, sir," Hal answered. "We are joining the first battalion at Fort Clowdry." "Recruits?" "Yes, sir." "I wish you a pleasant life in the Army, men." "Thank you, sir; we feel certain of finding it," Hal replied. Both young soldiers saluted, again, as the major turned to resume his walk. The train had stopped at Pueblo, Colorado, in the middle of the afternoon. It would be but half an hour's delay. Noll had been eager to step out away from the railway station and see as much of Pueblo as was possible. Hal had negatived this idea, through fear that they might be left behind. "And we've not an hour to spare, you know, Noll. This is the last train for us to take if we're to report in season. So we'd better stay close to the conductor." During the forenoon the train had rolled across the mesa or tableland below Pueblo. Hal and Noll, seated in one of the two day coaches of the train, had studied the mesa with longing eyes. Here they caught occasional glimpses of cowboys on ponies, for this mesa is still a favorite cattle region.