three o'clock
After that , the last dress parade in which the present first classmen would ever take part as cadets . Oh , it was a stirring picture , full of all the dash , the precision and glamour of the soldier 's life ! The pity of it all was that every red-blooded American boy could not be there to see it all . Just before three o'clock every man of the first class turned out through the north sallyport in the full equipment of a cavalryman . Here they halted before barracks . Dick caught sight of four figures standing hardly more than across the road . A swift glance at the time , and Prescott stepped over the road .