“I am sure I am going to win,” put in William Philander Tubbs.  “I am perfect in every kind of a drill.”

“Good for Buttertub, the perfect man!” sang out Tom.  “Billy, you ought to have your picture done in oil, to hang alongside of Washington’s, in the library.”

“Don’t you dare to call me Buttertub, or Billy either, you rude thing!” snorted Tubbs, and walked away in outraged dignity.

“Dot examinations vos dickle me alretty,” said Hans.  “Vot I don’t know apoud dem military tictacs you don’t know, ain’t it.  I vill pe by der top of der class so kvick as neffer vos, you pet yourself!” And he nodded his head as if he meant every word of it.

Dick Rover said but little on the subject, but he meant to win if he possibly could, and so did Tom.  Sam felt he was as yet too young to become anything but a sergeant, so he did not enter the competition with much vigor.

Lew Flapp was not a particularly bright pupil, but there was one thing, outside of bag punching, that he could do well, and that was to drill.  He took to military tactics naturally, and knew nearly every rule that the book of instructions contained.

“It’s going to be an easy matter to get into the chosen twenty,” the tall boy told himself.  “But after that, will the cadets elect me to one of those positions?” He wanted to be major of the battalion, but doubted if he could muster up sufficient friends to elect him.

The examination in military matters came off on the afternoon of the following Wednesday and on Thursday morning.  Captain Putnam was very thorough in the work, and made the pupils do certain things over and over again, and write the answers to long lists of questions.

“It has given me great pleasure to conduct this examination,” he said, on the day following.  “It shows that the average in military knowledge is much higher than it was last term.  The following are the pupils who have passed, given in the order of merit.”  And then he read the list of names.  Lew Flapp came first, Dick Rover next, Larry Colby third, George Granbury fourth, and the others, including Tom and Fred Garrison, followed.  Neither William Philander Tubbs nor Hans Mueller were mentioned.

“I dink me dere vos a mistake py dot,” said the German boy.  “Or else I vos know so much der captain didn’t vont nobody to know apout it,” and this raised a laugh.

“It’s an outrage!” declared Tubbs.  “An outrage!  I shall request my parents to withdraw me from the institution.”  And he wrote a letter home that very night.  But his parents refused to grant his request.  Probably they knew of his shortcomings, and thought a few terms at Putnam Hall would do him good.

Lew Flapp was much pleased over the fact that he headed the list of those who had passed, and nobody could blame him for this.  But he immediately made himself more obnoxious than ever by going around among the cadets and declaring that he was the only one to be elected to the office of major.