Moreover, from that night on he ignored both Brightly and Belcher; the men in the ranks noticed that he grew more quick-tempered and morose; the principal and teachers in the school found that he became less careful of his standing.
On the evening following the fight between Brightly and Belcher the following order was published at retreat:--
_Paragraph I._--Cadet Lieutenant Horace E. Brightly, for conduct unbecoming an officer, is hereby suspended from the office of first lieutenant and adjutant of the battalion, for a period of two weeks, the suspension to date from the 29th inst.
_Paragraph II._--Sergeant Major J. R. Finkelton will act as adjutant of the battalion during the period of Lieutenant Brightly's suspension, and all papers pertaining to said office of adjutant will be turned over to him at once.
Brightly promptly gave to the acting adjutant all papers pertaining to the office, which were principally tables showing the merits and demerits credited to each student in the line of conduct.
The system of marking deportment at Riverpark was, in many respects, an excellent one. Every evening, at retreat, one of the older cadets was appointed to act as officer of the day for the following twenty-four hours. It was his duty to make entry in the "officer of the day's book" of such offences as were reported to him by the principal, the teachers, or the cadet-officers, and of such also as came under his own notice in the schoolroom, where he occupied a position at the desk throughout the day.
On Friday evenings it was the duty of the adjutant to go, attended by a clerk, to the office of the principal, and while the clerk read from the book the reports of offences, the principal would assign the number of demerit marks to each, and the adjutant would record them on his list opposite the name of each offender.
He also kept a list of merit marks, a certain number of which cancelled a certain greater number of demerit marks. If the excess of demerit marks reached a certain amount, it made the offender a delinquent for a day; a certain greater amount extended the term of his delinquency to two days, three days, a week, and so on.
The balance against some of the more careless and mischievous boys was always so large as to put them on what was known as perpetual delinquency. Of this last class "Plumpy," as the fat boy was affectionately called by his companions, was a conspicuous and shining example.