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As we had arrived late, so he kept us late, and thus any thoughts of a walk back to Carneston House or a leisurelyfor us, very annoyed that he, too, would be late for his meal He would not let us run but formed us up and marched us back to our quarters Before he dismissed us to take our books upstairs, he inforlee, that we had all failed our first inspection of quarters A list had been left for us and we should correct our deficiencies before going to the dining hall After this, our inspection of quarters would take place everybefore we left for breakfast

I was shocked by the length of the list Our floor had not been swept and mopped, our as dirty and the sill dusty Our clothing was to be hung in our closets with all buttons fastened, facing to the left This, I supposed, explained why each of our closets was now e heaped on the floor outside it Natred’s bedding was dumped on the floor beside his bunk; evidently it had not been spread up as tidily as required Our lamp should have been refilled with oil, its chimney wiped and the wick trimmed The list even specified the order in which our books were to be placed on our shelves

We hurried through our tasks Some we shared I swept, Nate mopped, and Kort cleaned theand sill while Spink took care of the oil laed on our shelves, we departed as a group, , out of their rooms Trist’s room had drawn care of the co the firewood and kindling as well as sweeping, dusting, and setting the chairs at precise intervals around the study tables Trent had tothe extra clothing he had tried to store under his bunk We clattered down the stairs in a herd, but before we had even e at us to hurry up, he didn’t relish having to wait for fools

We were not quite the last patrol to enter the mess hall The patrol of new nobles’ sons from Skeltzin Hall looked as harassed as we felt as they followed us in As we gathered around our table, Corporal Dent cautioned us yet again about our manners I do not think any of us really heard him Our attention was fixed on the thick slices of roast pork, the large bowl ofstrips of bacon in the e pot of butter, and several carafes of coffee also awaited us I do not recall if there was any conversation at thatthat more food or coffee be passed We all ate, as my father would have phrased it, "like troopers," and left not a crumb or a scrap on any platter By the end of our ly of a nap It was not to be Instead, there was a brisk ather our books and supplies for Engineering and Drawing

These two subjects were taught as one by the same instructor I immediately liked him the best of any of our teachers He was certainly the eldest of our instructors, a tall e had whittled down to bones and tendons He still had the proud posture of an excellent horseman Captain Maarned us that he did not think we could learn these topics best from a book, but must apply the concepts immediately if they were to be fixed in ourassortraphy of famous battle sites, ancient ballista, pontoons, carts, and earthworks of all sorts He did not force us to sit still through a long lecture, but invited us to leave our seats and explore his collection, assigning us to sketch three itelad on Spink’s behalf that Captain Maw had a large collection of ed us to , no compass, rule, nor even any variety of leads These Maw furnished to hi that careless former students who had left them behind had scarcely appreciated theeted s of various catapults and ballista I ell satisfied withand had designed a bridge for a steep-banked strearossed in the drawing tools as if he were a boy with new toys, spent the entire period atteraphical battle scenes Yet I noticed that at the end of class, e each submitted our final works, Captain Mawonly, "I can see you are inexperienced, yet enthusias man If you need additional assistance, come and see me in my office after hours" After his huement meant much to Spink and certainly warmed my heart toward Captain Maw