rough 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 al