MUGGINS IS EXPELLED
Dick learned the story the next morning while the boys were dressing,
and, to Trevor’s pained surprise, subsided onto the hearth-rug, where
he sprawled at length, and gave way to heartless mirth.
“Oh, I dare say _you_ don’t care,” said Trevor with wounded dignity.
“He wasn’t _your_ dog. If he had been”--savagely--“I dare say _I_
should have laughed!” Dick stopped rolling and sat up against the
wood-box.
“But--but, don’t you see, Trevor,” he gurgled, “I’m--I’m not laughing
because you’ve lost Buggins----”
“Muggins,” corrected Trevor coldly.
“I--I mean Muggins. I’m awfully sorry about that, honest injun!
But--but think of Longworth--it must have been Longworth, you
see--think of him rolling over there on the ice, all tangled up with
Bug--Muggins and the chain! Oh, jiminy!” And Dick went off into another
spasm of laughter.
Trevor stared thoughtfully into the flames, trying to summon up the
picture that appeared so delightful to his roommate. After a moment he
smiled faintly.
“Yes, I see; yes, I fancy it was comical. But--but wasn’t it awfully
brave of Muggins?”
“Awfully,” answered Dick with emphasis as he sat up again, dried his
eyes with a towel, and proceeded with his dressing. “Perhaps you’ll
find him again.”
But Trevor shook his head sadly.
“No chance of that. Poor Muggins!”
After chapel that morning Professor Wheeler, the principal, arose.
“One of the professors while returning through the yard late last
evening came across a--a young dog wearing a collar and chain. There
are reasons to believe that the animal belongs to one of you, as the
professor caught sight of a boy running toward a dormitory.”
A murmur of surprise, amusement, and excitement traveled through the
hall. Boys studied each other’s faces questioningly. “He saw you after
all!” whispered Dick. “I don’t see how he could,” whispered Trevor.
“There is a rule,” continued the principal, “forbidding the keeping of
dogs, or any sort of animals, in the academy buildings.” He paused, and
then added grimly: “I will ask the owner of the animal to stand up.”
There was a flutter of excitement; heads turned expectantly for sight
of the unlucky youth. Silence reigned save for the whisperings of the
boys. But no one arose. The principal waited calmly, patiently, for
several minutes.
“Very well,” he said then. “I want every resident of Masters Hall to
come to my office at a quarter of nine, prompt.” He moved down the
steps and the boys flocked from their seats and hurried out of chapel,
laughing, whispering in the throes of a new sensation. Trevor groaned
as he arose.
“I fancy it would have been better if I’d ’fessed up,” he said to Dick.
“Perhaps he’d have let me off easier. What do you think?”
“Blessed if I know. Anyhow, there’s no harm done so far; you have a
right to refuse to incriminate yourself. Only what he wants us at
the office for I can’t see, unless he’s going to ask each one of us
separately. In that case it’s all up with you.”
“In that case I’ll own up, of course,” said Trevor. “But it’s
rather tough getting into another fuss just when I’ve got over that
stage-coach business. Maybe it’ll be probation this time.”
“Oh, I guess not,” answered Dick as they crossed the dining-hall. “And
it isn’t like Wheels to ask the fellows to tell on each other; and
that’s why I can’t understand this office business.”
At the appointed time forty-two youths of various ages and sizes
crowded into the principal’s office in Academy Building. The office
consists in reality of two rooms, an outer and an inner apartment, the
first used by the secretary, the second sacred to Professor Wheeler.
The outer room was crowded when the principal entered, and a gasp of
surprise went up when it was seen that under one arm he carried a
small, wriggling, greatly excited bull puppy, which strove earnestly
to reach his face with an eager pink tongue. The principal appeared to
appreciate the humor of his entrance, for there was a slight twitch
at the corners of his mouth, as though he would have liked to smile.
At sight of Muggins Trevor started and made as though to move forward
and claim his property, but Dick laid a warning hand on his arm, and
he kept his place and watched professor and dog disappear into the
inner office. The forty-two youths--or to be strictly truthful--forty
of them--gazed wonderingly into each other’s faces while titters of
suppressed laughter ran up and down the ranks. Then the principal came
out again still with the squirming puppy in his arms, and the titters
died away abruptly.
“Are we all here?” he asked. “Supposing you form into, say, three
lines across the room here; that’s it; now I can count you. Exactly;
forty-two; a full attendance, I see. Kindly give me your attention for
a moment.” He held up the puppy, a squirming white mass of legs, tail,
and pink tongue. “I have here, as you see, a young dog, of just what
breed, age, and previous condition of servitude I am in doubt. But it
has, as you will observe, a collar of Hillton crimson and a strong
steel chain; possibly we shall be able to identify it by those. Now the
owner, or at least the companion at a late hour last night, of this
animal is known to room in your dormitory. I have called you together
here in order that he may claim his property. I will ask him to do so.”
Each boy viewed his neighbor suspiciously, but none said a word. As
before, the principal waited calmly, patiently, for several moments.
Then:
“Very well. You will perhaps recollect the saying in regard to Mahomet
and the mountain. The mountain having refused to go to Mahomet, Mahomet
very sensibly decided to go to the mountain. In this case, as the owner
refuses to go to the dog, we will see if the dog will go to the owner.”
Professor deposited the puppy on the floor. Forty-two--or, to be
again truthful, forty--youths viewed the animal with apprehension. It
was all very clever, of course, and no doubt had a flavor of humor,
but--but supposing that silly dog got it into his head that _they_
were his owner! How could they prove that they weren’t? How produce a
satisfactory _alibi_? They stirred uneasily, and frowned at the puppy.
The puppy, meanwhile, sat down and industriously scratched his neck.
But after that a spirit of adventure seized him, and he cast an
inquiring glance over the breathless assembly. Then he moved forward
and sniffed tentatively at the damp boots of Todd, who stood in the
middle of the front line. Todd held his breath and turned pale. But
Muggins evidently didn’t fancy wet leather, for he moved off down
the line, sniffing here and there, but without enthusiasm. Once he
paused and cocked an interrogatory brown eye up at Williams. And it was
Williams’s turn to wish himself away. He frowned darkly, threateningly,
and Muggins, scenting animosity, turned tail. Williams heaved a sigh of
relief.
Muggins now crawled laboriously between the feet of the next youth,
and found himself confronted by a second rank of motionless, silent,
and unsympathetic persons. He began to feel nervous. He stopped and,
pointing his blunt nose toward heaven, howled long and dismally. Some
one laughed, and the spell of terror was broken. Even Professor Wheeler
smiled, while Muggins, delighted at the evidence of companionship,
wagged his tail and began his search anew. Dick and Trevor stood, backs
to the wall, in the last of the three lines. Trevor watched the puppy,
scowling ferociously. The suspense was awful. He never for an instant
doubted that sooner or later Nemesis in the shape of Muggins would find
him out. Meanwhile he frowned, clenched his fists, and waited for his
doom. His doom when it came came speedily.
Muggins had apparently lost interest in the proceedings, and had begun
to whine softly, when suddenly he stopped dead short, and putting his
head aloft, twitched the wrinkled end of his pink nose and sniffed
suspiciously. One ear went up at an animated angle, and he put his
little bullet-shaped head on one side. Professor Wheeler moved softly
forward to a point where he could better watch events, and Trevor,
after one annihilating glance at the puppy, stared straight before
him. Muggins squirmed through the second rank, showing signs of strong
excitement. And then--
Then there was a yelp of triumph, of delight, and Muggins was leaping
deliriously at Trevor, giving vent to his joy in short explosive barks
and gurgling yelps.
“I won’t keep you any longer,” said the principal. “If any of you are
late at recitations, you may explain that it was my fault. I will ask
Nesbitt to remain for a few minutes.”
And with grins of relief and amusement the forty-one boys crowded
forth, leaving Trevor standing there alone, very red in the face, and
with the puppy clasped close in his arms. Then the principal and Trevor
and Muggins adjourned to the inner room. And there, while Muggins lay
curled contentedly against the boy’s breast--simply because he couldn’t
be induced to stay anywhere else--Trevor, rather haltingly, explained.
“And you had the dog in your study ever since Saturday?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But how--I can’t understand why no one discovered it. Didn’t the
‘goody’ see it there?”
“No, sir.” And Trevor explained his manner of keeping that worthy
person in ignorance. And once or twice during the recital, although
Trevor really didn’t do the narrative half justice, the professor
concealed his smiles with difficulty. And then, when there was nothing
more to be said on Trevor’s side, the principal sat silent for several
moments, gazing out of the window. And Trevor took heart.
“Well, the whole case seems to have been one of sudden infatuation
between a boy and a dog,” said Professor Wheeler at last, “rather than
a preconceived plan to create mischief or transgress the rules. Under
the circumstances---- But, of course, you understand that the dog can
not remain in the grounds?”
“I suppose not, sir.” And the principal smiled at the lad’s dolorous
tones.
“No; now I would suggest that you take him to the village and find
some one there to look after him for you; I think you can do it; you
might try Watson’s stables, back of the Eagle. Then you can see the dog
occasionally, though you must promise never to bring him onto school
grounds.”
“Yes, sir; thank you, sir.”
“And I think that that will be punishment enough for the case. You may
go, Nesbitt. And you may leave the puppy here, if you like, until you
have an opportunity to go to the village.”
“Thank you very much, sir,” answered Trevor gratefully.
“By the way, it’s a bulldog, isn’t it?” asked the principal. “Yes, I
thought so; that head, you know; very intelligent creature, to be sure.”
And then Trevor placed Muggins on the principal’s big leather couch,
with never a doubt but that that was the most appropriate place for
him, and sneaked to the door. And when he hurried down the steps of
Academy Building, shrill and faint came to his ears the wailing of
Muggins.
After dinner, accompanied by Dick, he conveyed the puppy to the village
and arranged for his board and room--the latter a comfortable soap-box
in the office--at Watson’s livery-stable. And after a heartrending
parting the two boys returned to the academy and two o’clock
recitations.
“Do you think he’ll be happy there?” asked Trevor wistfully.
“Sure to be,” Dick assured him. “He’ll be as happy as--as a bull pup!”
The following afternoon Carl Cray burst excitedly into the study, where
the two were deep in the morrow’s lessons.
“It’s come!” he cried triumphantly. “She’s here!”
“Who’s come?” asked Dick blankly.
“What’s here?” echoed Trevor.
“Why, the ice-yacht--The Sleet!”