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
