and!" Captain Sankey exclaimed. "Is it possible?"

"It is quite possible and quite true; he has been treating us shamefully
for the last ten days; he has been always a cruel brute all along,
though I never wanted to make a fuss about it, but it has been getting
worse and worse. Ten days ago some one killed his cat, and I am almost
sure it was none of the boys, but he chose to believe it was, and
because he couldn't find out who, he has punished the whole school, and
all our play hours have been taken up with lessons ever since, and he
said he would keep on so till he found out who did it, if it was months.

"So at last we could not stand it any longer, and we all agreed that we
wouldn't do the extra tasks, and that we would stick together when we
told him so. He rushed at me with his cane, and gave me one with all
his might, and I threw an inkstand at him, and it caught him on the
shoulder, and he says it has broken it, and that he would send for a
constable. So I told him to do so if he dared, and here I am."

"This is a very serious business, Ned," his father said gravely. "In
the first place, there is something like a rebellion in the school,
of which, I suppose, you were one of the leaders or he would not have
singled you out. In the second place, you threw a missile at him, which
has broken his shoulder, and might have killed him had it struck him on
the head. I have warned you, my boy, over and over again against giving
way to that passionate temper of yours, and have told you that it would
lead you into serious trouble."

"I can't help it, sir," Ned said doggedly. "I've put up with a
tremendous lot there, and have said nothing about it, because I did not
wish to give you trouble; but when it came to downright tyranny like
this I would rather be killed than put up with it. I warned him fairly
that if he struck me I would throw the inkstand at him, and he brought
it on himself."

Captain Sankey seeing that in his son's present state of mind talking
would be useless to him, ordered him to remain in his study till his
return, and putting on his hat went toward the school. Ned's temper
had always been a source of anxiety to him. The boy was, no doubt, of a
passionate nature, but had he had the advantage of a proper supervision
and care when he was a child the tendency might have been overcome.
Unfortunately this had not been the case. His mother had left the
children entirely to the care of ayahs, he himself had b