went out of
Madame Pangborn's big house with a sense of having undertaken a great
responsibility; and realizing that an up-hill task lay upon his young
shoulders which might test his utmost abilities to carry through.

CHAPTER IV

IN FOR A FROLIC

The high-school boys and girls of Scranton, like those of most other
communities, delighted in getting up occasional entertainments so dear
to the hearts of young people. A straw-ride late in the summer; it
might be a class-spread under difficult conditions on account of the
envy of the other grades at school; and once in a while a jolly barn
dance was engineered by a committee composed of both sexes.

There was just such a pleasant outing arranged for this same Friday
night. Some of the fellows had made up a party to go out several miles
to where a big barn, as yet empty of the anticipated crop of hay,
offered them excellent facilities for a merry hop.

A trio of darky players had been engaged. The leader was quite famous
through that section of country and had played at such affairs for
years. Everybody for miles around knew Daddy Whitehead and the fiddle
from which he could extract the most enticing music boys and girls had
ever danced to; while his assistants, Mose Coffin and Abe Skinner were
fairly good with the violoncello and oboe, making a good combination
capable of playing up-to-date dances, as well as others known to the
fathers and mothers of the present generation.

These affairs were conducted with a due respect to the proprieties. A
middle-aged lady invariably went along in the carryall to chaperone the
young people, although there was a deal of fun going and coming back
home, as well as on the floor of the great barn, with its many lanterns
to serve in lieu of electric lights.

Hugh was going, of course. He and his best chum, Thad Stevens, had a
pretty fair car in which to transport the two girls whom they had
invited as their partners. These same girls were co-eds with Hugh and
Thad on the weekly paper which Scranton High issued, just as many other
schools do. They were named Sue Barnes and Ivy Middleton. Sue was
Hugh's company, while the dark-haired vivacious Ivy seemed to have a
particular attraction for Thad.

By the way, since Thad has thus far not been introduced to the reader,
it might be a good idea to say a few words about him before going any
further with the exciting events that happened on the Friday night of
the barn hop.