Dick Prescottss Fourth Year at West Point | Page 8

silent as long as he is near them. They salute
the officer; they make any official communications that may be
required, and do so in a faultlessly respectful manner; they answer any
questions addressed to them by the officer under ban. But they will not
talk, while he is within hearing, on anything except matters of duty.
An officer under the ban of the "silence" may approach a gathering of a
hundred or more cadets, all talking animatedly until they perceive his
approach. Then, all in an instant, they become mute. The officer may
remain in their neighborhood for an hour, yet, save upon an official
matter, no cadet will speak until the officer has moved on.
This "silence" may be given an officer for a stated number of days, or it
may be made permanent. It has sometimes happened that an officer has
been forced to ask a transfer from West Point to some other Army
station, simply because he could not endure the "silence."
Very rarely, indeed, the silence is given to a cadet; it is more especially
applicable if he be a cadet officer who is in the habit of reporting his
fellow classmen for what they may consider insufficient breaches of
discipline.
The "cut" or "Coventry" is reserved for the cadet whom it is intended to
drive from the Army altogether. If a man at West Point is "sent to
Coventry" by the whole corps, or as a result of class action, he will
never be able to form friendships in the Army again, no matter how
long he remains in the Army, or how hard he tries to fight the sentence
down.

Cadet Jordan, as will have been noted, professed to be satisfied if the
class voted a week's "silence" to Dick Prescott, for Jordan believed that
by this time the tantalized young cadet captain could be provoked into
actions that would bring the imposition of the "long silence" of
permanent Coventry.
At the end of the busy cadet day, when the two cadet battalions stood in
formal array at dress parade, Cadet Adjutant Filson published the day's
orders.
One of these orders mentioned Jordan's confinement to the company
street, and added the further infliction of "punishment tours" to be
walked every Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.
"Oh, well," thought the culprit, savagely, "as I walk I can plan newer
and newer things. I'll go into the Army, and you, Prescott, may become
a freight clerk on a jerk-water railroad."
Unknown to either Jordan or Prescott at that moment, other
storm-clouds were gathering swiftly over the head of the popular young
cadet captain.

CHAPTER III
CATCHING A MAN FOR BREACH OF "CON."
Lieutenant Denton was the tac. who served as O.C. during this tour of
twenty-four hours.
A "tac.," as has been explained in earlier volumes, is a Regular Army
officer who is on duty in the department of tactics. All of the tacs. are
subordinates of the commandant of cadets, the latter officer being in
charge of the discipline and tactical training of cadets. Each tac. is, in
turn, for a period of twenty-four hours, officer in charge, or "O.C."
During the summer encampment of the cadets, the O.C. occupies a tent
at headquarters, and is in command, under the commandant, of the

camp.
It was in the evening, immediately after the return of the corps from
supper, when Lieutenant Denton had sent for Cadet Captain Prescott.
"Mr. Prescott," began the O.C., "there has been some trouble, lately, as
you undoubtedly know, with plebes running the guard after taps. Now,
our plebes are men very new to the West Point discipline, and they do
not appreciate the seriousness of their conduct. Until the young men
have had a little more training, we wish, if possible, to save them from
the consequences of their lighter misdeeds. Of course, if a cadet, plebe
or otherwise, is actually found outside the guard line after taps, then we
cannot excuse his conduct. This is where the ounce of prevention
comes in. Mr. Prescott, I wish you would be up and around the camp
between taps and midnight to-night. Keep yourself in the background a
bit, and see if you can stop any plebes who may be prowling before
they have had a chance to get outside the guard lines. If you intercept
any plebes while they are still within camp limits, demand of them their
reasons for being out of their tents. If the reasons are not entirely
satisfactory, turn them over to the cadet officer of the day. Any plebe so
stopped and turned over to the cadet officer of the day will be
disciplined, of course, but his punishment will be much lighter than if
he were actually caught outside the guard lines. You understand your
instructions, Mr.