eleven o’clock
I wanted to show them that though my grandfather was gone , his example and his wishes still inspired me . And though I was not a studious cadet , I was a smart soldier , and my demerits , when they came , were for smoking in my room or for breaking some other such silly rule , and never for slouching through the manual or coming on parade with my belts twisted . And at the end of the second year I had been promoted from corporal to be a cadet first sergeant , so that I was fourth in command over a company of seventy . Although this gave me the advantage of a light after `` taps '' until eleven o'clock , my day was so taken up with roll-calls , riding and evening drills and parade , that I never seemed to find time to cram my mechanics and chemistry , of which latter I could never see any possible benefit . How a knowledge of what acid will turn blue litmus-paper red is going to help an officer to find fodder for his troop horses , or inspire him to lead a forlorn hope , was then , and still is , beyond my youthful comprehension . But these studies were down on the roster , and whether I thought well of them or not I was marked on them and judged accordingly . But I can not claim that it was owing to them or my failure to understand them that my dismissal came , for , in spite of the absence of 3 's in my markings and the abundance of 2 's , I was still a soldierly cadet , and in spite of the fact that I was a stupid student , I made an excellent drill-master .