"I shall, anyway--for I've got to!" As he spoke he was thinking of Belle Meade, and of her prospects in life as well as his own.
As the days went by, however, Dave and Dan became more and more dull of spirits.

The grind was a fearful one.

A few very bright youngsters went along all right, but to most of the third classmen graduation began to look a thousand years away.
The football squad was out now and training in deadly earnest.

There were many big games to be played, but most of all the middies longed to tow West Point's Army eleven into the port of defeat.
In their first year Dave and Dan had looked forward longingly to joining the gridiron squad.

They had even practised somewhat.