SOME OF THE BOYS AND THEIR WAYS
The boys were awakened at six o'clock, went into chapel at half past
six, had breakfast at seven, went through a drill from eight to nine and
then went into the general schoolroom and were busy till noon, when they
were dismissed to get ready for dinner.
Nothing was said about the event of the night before but several of the
boys gave Jack sly winks and it was quite evident that there would be no
repetition of the hazing.
When they went out to drill, Dick Percival said to Jack:
"Well, my boy, it seems to me as if you showed just as cool a head last
night as you did in the afternoon when you stood in the road and
directed the two fellows who were rushing down upon you on their bikes.
I would have liked to seen the fun."
"If they had not talked about it I would not have known anything of it,"
replied Jack, "but how did you hear of it?"
"Oh, Billy Manners thought it was too good a joke to keep even if you
did soak him with the contents of the water jug," laughed Dick. "I
don't think he upset it as some of the boys think."
Jack said nothing and the subject was dropped for the time.
Later, Billy Manners himself came to Jack and said, good-naturedly:
"That was one on us, Sheldon, but I don't hold it up against you. I
would like to know how you suspected us, however. Have you been to other
schools where they practised this sort of thing?"
"No, I have never been away to school before but if fellows will talk of
their plans they need not be astonished if somebody overhears."
"True enough!" rejoined Billy, with a chuckle. "I never thought of that.
I supposed we were speaking low, however."
"You spoke in whispers and you can hear a whisper farther than you can
hear a low tone."
"H'm! I never knew that. That's something to remember."
After dinner and before they went back to the school room several of the
boys, Jack among the rest, were standing in front of the main building
when Peter Herring, a big, brawny fellow with a disagreeable face and
manner said brusquely to the new boy:
"I say, Sheldon, who are you anyhow? Who's your father?"
Jack flushed crimson and then turned pale and for a moment seemed
greatly agitated but he quickly gained his composure and said quietly:
"My father is dead."
"Well, what was he then?" pursued the other in the same disagreeable
tone he had before used.
"A gentleman," answered Jack, pointedly, and then turned away and spoke
to Harry and Arthur.
"H'm! you got it that time, Pete!" roared Ernest Merritt, Herring's chum
and a boy with a reputation for bullying and also of toadying to the
richer boys and snubbing the poor ones. "That hit you. Did you hear how
he said 'a gentleman,' my boy? Your father is something dif----"
"Mind your business!" snapped Herring, darting a look at Jack which
boded no good for the latter and then walking away with a sulky air.
"Did you notice how Jack flushed when Herring asked him who his father
was?" asked Harry of Arthur when Jack had left them. "There is some
mystery there."
"I don't see it. Jack would naturally be angry when spoken to in that
tone. Herring is a bully and no gentleman, as Jack indicated."
"That's true enough, but Jack turned red and then white and was
evidently under a considerable agitation. There is some mystery, take my
word for it."
"Well, suppose there is?" rejoined Arthur. "It is certainly no business
of ours and I am not going to meddle with it."
"Well, neither am I," with a little snap, "but I can have my opinion,
can't I?"
"Certainly," and there was nothing more said, the boys being good
friends and though having little differences at times, never quarreled.
While Arthur and Harry were having this conversation Herring said
angrily to Merritt:
"What did you want to say that for? My father is as good as yours. I'll
give it to Sheldon for talking back to me."
"You started it," growled Merritt. "You're always picking on the new
fellows."
"So are you," snapped Herring. "You're a regular bully. Never mind,
though. There is something crooked about Sheldon or his family and I'm
going to find it. I don't associate with tramp berry pickers and the
rest of the boys won't when I find out things."
"Dick Percival goes with him," muttered Merritt, pointing to where the
rich man's son and Jack Sheldon were walking together arm in arm.
"Percival is a swell and his father is richer than yours and a lot
more----"
"A lot more what?" snarled Herring, clenching his fist.
"Respectable!" snapped Merritt, hastily retreating.
"Don't mind what a fellow like Herring says, Jack," said Dick Percival,
kindly, putting his arm in the new boy's. "No one of any account pays
any attention to him. A fellow that can show the nerve you can has
nothing to fear from Pete Herring."
"I am not afraid of him, Dick," Jack answered, "but----" and then he
stopped and went on in silence.
"It's all right," said Dick, at length. "A boy that stands as high
as you do in your classes need not be afraid of Pete Herring's
condemnation. I believe I shall have to hustle or you will be up
to me before I know it."
"That's what I'm here for, to get ahead as fast as I can," laughed the
other, who in his examination that morning had showed that he was by no
means a backward scholar.
The first day of the new term was spent mostly in getting things into
shape for the days that were to come and the regular routine was not as
strictly observed as it would be later, new boys being tried out, new
methods experimented upon and everything being made ready for the fall
and winter.
There were several new boys in addition to Jack Sheldon and one or two
of these were as advanced as he was but the greater part went into the
lower classes and would make the material of which the Academy would be
composed at a later period, Dr. Wise taking them under his particular
care and forming their characters for the future as he put it.
In the course of two or three days the machinery of the school was
running as smoothly as if it had been in operation for a month, the boys
knowing what was expected of them and the professors keeping them
rigidly to their work and attending to their own duties with unflagging
zeal.
Jack took an interest in his work and was stimulated by knowing that
much was expected of him and that there were others who desired to
overtake him in his studies, this very emulation helping him to do his
best.
The greater part of the boys were his friends and he gave little
attention to those who were not, keeping on good terms with them while
not having much to do with them.
As far as he was concerned, however, the boys knew no more of him at the
end of the week than they had known at the beginning and many of them
decided that it was as well to let him remain a mystery until he chose
to further enlighten them.
Without being churlish or obstinate, Jack was reserved and all they
knew, which could have been obtained outside as well as from him was
that he lived in another county, some ten miles distant, that he was the
only child of a worthy widow and that he was paying for his schooling
out of money that he had earned or would earn from his own efforts in
one line or another.
"At any rate if he does have to earn the money to carry him through,"
said Billy Manners to a number of the boys one afternoon when school was
over for the day, "he is not mean and contributes what he can to the
legitimate fun of the Hilltops and does not waste his coin on foolish
things. If he is poor he is not a miser and if he has to work for his
schooling that is his business. If Dick Percival, the acknowledged head
of the school in studies as well as in athletics, can associate with
him and be proud of his company, the rest of us have nothing to say and
I, for my part, certainly have not."
"Neither has any decent fellow among the Hilltops," added Harry,
enthusiastically, and the majority echoed his sentiment, the few that
remained silent and indulged in black looks being unobserved amid the
general acceptance of the new scholar.