Never before in the annals of Rivertown High had such a scene been
witnessed in the chapel, and as the scholars realized that one of their
number was openly defying the man who, for years had guided the
destinies of those studying under him, they were dumfounded.
Mr. Larmore, himself, evidently shared the general astonishment for, as
he heard Dawson's demand, his eyes flashed, he opened his mouth as
though to speak, and then, evidently thinking better of it, closed it
again.
The silence enveloping the chapel was so intense that the fall of a pin
would have sounded loud.
Realizing that such a situation could not be tolerated, the principal at
last exclaimed:
"Dawson, I am surprised that you should assume such an attitude in this
matter.
"For obvious reasons, I cannot enter into an argument with you as to the
source of my information. I will say, however, that I consider my
authority reliable.
"It grieves me more than I can express to think that any of my boys
should so far forget themselves in their sport as to do damage to the
school's property.
"I shall go to my office directly after I have dismissed chapel, and I
shall expect those boys who took part in the breaking of the apparatus
to come to me and confess.
"Chapel is dismissed."
Instantly there was a hum of excited voices as the boys and girls filed
from the assembly room where the chapel exercises were held.
Instead of going to their class rooms, however, the members of the Pi
Eta society filed out of the schoolhouse and gathered about their leader
who had challenged the principal.
"Did any Pi Eta smash the apparatus?" asked Dawson. "If he did, for the
good of the society he must go to Larmore and take his medicine. I want
to be sure of my facts before I take any further action."
But not a boy spoke up.
"I put you on your Pi Eta oath," announced Dawson.
But even this placing them on their most sacred honor had no additional
effect upon the society boys.
Several of the members of the other Greek letter societies gathered
about the Pi Etas--for they realized that a crisis had arisen that
affected all the social organizations of the school--and they wanted to
plan how to meet it.
When, therefore, they learned that none of the society members had been
implicated in the trouble, they cheered loudly.
"The thing to do now, is to find out who told 'Princy'"--which was the
nickname the boys applied to the principal of the school--"that it was
the work of the Pi Etas," said Dawson.
"It strikes me that the best thing to do is for some of us to go in and
have a talk with him," declared Longback, when none of the boys offered
any suggestion as to who the bearer of the information might be.
"Why not let the Pi Etas settle it themselves?" proposed another boy.
"Because it concerns the rest of us just as much as it concerns them--as
a matter of fact I believe it concerns us more; because I'm sure that
not one of the Pi Etas had anything to do with it."
"Yes, and if any of us should go into Princy's office, he and everybody
else in the school, would think we had come to confess," declared Paul.
This argument proved a clincher for the plan of sending a delegation to
call on Mr. Larmore in his office, and without delay the boys expressed
their preferences, the committee finally being composed of Dawson,
Longback, Jerry, Harry and Misery.
The new member of the society objected to serving on the ground that it
wouldn't look well for a boy who had just had the honor of coming into
the Pi Eta to take such a prominent part in its affairs so soon.
"Well, you _must_ come with us," returned Dawson, "and I'll tell you
why. There's no use in mincing matters. Princy and all the other profs
think that as part of your initiation, the rest of us either made you
break the apparatus, or that you did so in a spirit of bravado."
The case having been put to him thus plainly, Harry offered no further
objection to serving on the committee, and without more ado the boys who
had been chosen as delegates mounted the steps preparatory to going to
the office of the principal.
"What is it? School for the rest of us?" called another boy, looking
about at his companions.
"No, let's cut?" cried three or four, while one of them continued:
"It will show Princy and the other Profs that we don't like the deal
he's handing to us."
Readily all the members of the Greek letter societies in the school
agreed to the plan, and without even so much as going into the school
house for their books, they hied themselves to their respective society
rooms.