"Do they? Say, young man, when I start to drive a party of them cadets anywhere I don't never know if we're going to arrive. Never can tell when a wheel is coming off, or when my horses will start up, and leave the coach behind. That's why I always use quiet animals. Them cadets has life enough and to spare. Cut up? Say, jest you wait!" "Well, maybe it won't be so bad after I get started, and make the acquaintance of some of the boys," thought Dick. But he little knew what was ahead of him. "Is the academy far out?" asked Dick, for, as the hack was an open one, he could converse with the driver. "About a mile. We'll be there in a jiffy." A "jiffy" must be quite a period of time, or else the driver's estimate of a mile was different from the accepted five thousand two hundred and eighty feet, for dusk changed to darkness before the hackman turned in between two big, stone pillars, and the man announced: "Here we are." "I don't see anything," objected Dick. "It's too dark. But the buildings are right ahead of you." Then the lad was able to make out the dim forms of a number of structures located in a sort of park. "Where's the lake?" asked Dick. "I thought the academy was on a lake." "So it is. That's on the other side. We're sort of coming in from the back, but that's the shortest road from the depot. I'll take you right to Colonel Masterly's quarters. He's the one you want to see, I guess, being as you're a new cadet, and he's the superintendent." "I suppose so," answered Dick. A little later he alighted in front of a large brick structure, and the hackman lifted down his trunk and suitcase. "Do they expect you?" asked the driver. "I think so," replied our hero, hoping that some arrangements had been made for him. A moment later a door opened, and a flood of light streamed out from a broad hall. A man in semi-military uniform appeared. "Who's there?" he asked, and, having spoken he began to whistle a few bars from "Marching Through Georgia," ending up with a bugle call. "Got a cadet for you, Toots," replied the hackman. "A cadet?" and once more the man in the hall whistled a martial air. "That's what I said, Toots. Give me a hand with this trunk, will you, and tell Colonel Masterly that he's going to have company." "My name's Hamilton," began Dick. "I believe my father arranged----" "Oh yes, the colonel told me to look out for you," said the man who looked like a soldier. "Come right in. The colonel will be here directly. I'll take your baggage." "Thank you--er Mr.----" and Dick hesitated, for he did not just know how to address the person in the hall, and wanted to make no mistake in bestowing a military title. "Me? Oh I'm Sam Sander," said the man in the blue suit, apparently surprised that his identity was not known. "Yes, that's Sam," went on the hack driver, with easy familiarity, "but nobody calls him that; do they, Toots?"