optics, but also to "left face," "right face," "front face," and "about face"—that is, to turn directly to the rear. Then they learned how to "mark time" with their feet, starting with the left foot.
"To-morrow you shall learn how to march," said Corporal King when the drilling was over. "And then each of you will get a gun and go through the manual of arms."
"Will we learn how to shoot?" asked Tom. "I can shoot a little already."
"We have target practice once a month, and during the annual encampment," concluded the corporal.
"I wish that encampment was already at hand!" sighed Sam. He imagined that life under a tent would just suit him.
As soon as the boys "got the run" of the institution they began to feel at home. They made friends rapidly, especially when it became known that Sam was a fine runner and Tom a capital baseball player. There were several baseball teams in the school, and they frequently played matches on Saturday afternoons.
The gymnasium pleased Dick as much as it did his younger brothers, and nearly every day he spent a quarter of an hour or more in the building, using one apparatus or another, for the building was fitted up with rings, parallel bars,
