The formal chapel service over, Mr. Larmore closed the Bible with decided emphasis, and then, taking off his gla.s.ses and wiping them nervously, he leaned over the little reading table and gazed at the hushed students before him.

"I'm sorry, very sorry, to tell you all that there were depredations committed last night in the physical laboratory belonging to the school.

"Several pieces of valuable experimental apparatus were destroyed.

"I believe that you all have too much understanding to make it necessary for me to dwell upon the heinousness of such acts.

"The incident, bad as it is of itself, is particularly unfortunate in view of the fact that there was, as I understand, an initiation in one of the Greek letter societies last night!"

The significance of the princ.i.p.al's words were so unmistakable that, as they were uttered, a gasp of shocked surprise ran through the benches of the students.

Not one among them was there who did not know that Harry had been the boy who was initiated, and, as if drawn by an irresistible impulse, they turned their gaze upon him.

Again clearing his throat, Mr. Larmore started to speak, when a boy rose from the seats occupied by the seniors.

"My name is Thomas Dawson. You know me, Mr. Larmore. So do the other people of Rivertown and the scholars of the high school.

"I had the honor to be elected a member of the Pi Eta during my freshman year, and, in the memory of what the society stands for in scholarship and in manliness, in high ideals of school life, I resent most emphatically the imputations in your remarks cast upon the initiation into the Pi Eta society last night!"

Never before had such a defiance to the princ.i.p.al of the school been made, and as the boys and girls who pursued their studies within its brick walls heard it, they were seized with an amazement even greater than at the words of the princ.i.p.al.

But the cup of their surprise was not yet filled.

Pausing a moment after his statement, that the dramatic effect of his utterance might be the greater, Dawson exclaimed:

"In the name of the members of the Pi Eta society of Rivertown High School, I demand to know the authority for your statement that it was any of our members who caused the breaking of the apparatus?"

CHAPTER XIV-THE BOYS APPOINT A COMMITTEE

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 princ.i.p.al at last exclaimed:

"Dawson, I am surprised that you should a.s.sume such an att.i.tude 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 a.s.sembly room where the chapel exercises were held.

Instead of going to their cla.s.s rooms, however, the members of the Pi Eta society filed out of the schoolhouse and gathered about their leader who had challenged the princ.i.p.al.

"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 princ.i.p.al 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 princ.i.p.al.

"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.

CHAPTER XV-MR. LARMORE ISSUES AN ULTIMATUM