VII. DICK THINKS HE HAS A CLUE 62 VIII. DICK GETS A FALL 72 IX. WHO FIRED THE GUN 78 X. DICK HAS A FIGHT 85 XI. DICK GIVES A SPREAD 92 XII. AN ANGRY FARMER 100 XIII. A NARROW ESCAPE 108 XIV. CAPTAIN HANDLEE'S VISIT 117 XV. ON THE GRIDIRON 121 XVI. FOR THE PRIZE TROOP 128 XVII. DICK IN TROUBLE 135 XVIII. A DISMAL CHRISTMAS 144 XIX. THE MARKSMAN'S MEDAL 152 XX. DICK DOESN'T TELL 159 XXI. THE FANCY DRESS BALL 170 XXII. THE CHALLENGE 181 XXIII. A WINTER MARCH 190 XXIV. THE RESCUE OF DUTTON 199 XXV. OFF TO CAMP 208 XXVI. THE SHAM BATTLE 215 XXVII. DICK WINS THE CONTEST 228 XXVIII. UNCLE EZRA AT KENTFIELD 235 XXIX. DICK'S GREAT RUN 243 XXX. A BROADSWORD COMBAT 251 XXXI. DICK WRITES A CHECK--CONCLUSION 261 DICK HAMILTON'S CADET DAYS CHAPTER I DICK GETS A TELEGRAM "Hi boys! Here goes for a double summersault!" "Bet you don't do it, Frank." "You watch." "Every time you try it you come down on your back," added another lad of the group of those who were watching one of their companions poised on the end of a spring-board. "Well, this time I'm going to do it just like that circus chap did," and Frank Bender, who had an ambition to become an acrobat, raised his hands above his head and crouched for a spring. "If you do it I'll follow," said another boy, clad in a bright red bathing suit. "Good for you, Dick!" exclaimed Walter Mead. "Don't let Frank stump you." "Here I go!" cried Frank, and, a moment later, he sprang from the spring-board, leaped high into the air, and, turning over twice, came down in true diver style, his hands cleaving the water beneath which he disappeared. "Good!" cried the boys on the shore. "I didn't think he'd do it," remarked "Bricktop" Norton, so called from his shock of red hair. "Me either," added Fred Murdock. "Now it's up to you, Dick." "That's right." Dick Hamilton rose from a log on which he was sitting. He was a tall, clean-cut chap, straight as an arrow, with an easy grace about him, and it needed but a glance to show that he was of athletic build. His red bathing suit, from which protruded bronzed arms and legs, was particularly becoming to him.