school to order. He heard the lessons through, and at noon, the hour he
had named the day before, dismissed all the younger scholars. The
Dennisons and one or two larger boys he ordered to remain. As the
scholars filed out, there was a colloquy between Jacob Dennison and his
younger brother Dave. Dave had the brains of the family, and he was
whispering to Jake. Keith moved his chair and seated himself near the
door. There was a brief muttered conversation among the Dennisons, and
then Jake Dennison rose, put on his hat slowly, and, addressing the
other boys, announced that he didn't know what they were going to do,
but he was "a-gwine home and git ready to go and see the dance up
at Gates's."

He swaggered toward the door, the others following in his wake.

Keith rose from his seat.

"Go back to your places." He spoke so quietly that his voice could
scarcely be heard.

"Go nowhere! You go to h----l!" sneered the big leader, contemptuously.
"'Tain't no use for you to try to stop me--I kin git away with two
like you."

Perhaps, he could have done so, but Keith was too quick for him. He
seized the split-bottomed chair from which he had risen, and whirling it
high above his head, brought it crashing down on his assailant, laying
him flat on the floor. Then, without a second's hesitation, he sprang
toward the others.

"Into your seats instantly!" he shouted, as he raised once more the
damaged, but still formidable, weapon. By an instinct the mutineers fell
into the nearest seats, and Keith turned back to his first opponent,
who was just rising from the floor with a dazed look on his face. A few
drops of blood were trickling down his forehead.

[Illustration: "If you don't go back to your seat, I'll dash your brains
out," said Keith.]

"If you don't go to your seat instantly, I'll dash your brains out,"
said Keith, looking him full in the eye. He still grasped the chair, and
as he tightened his grip on it, the crestfallen bully sank down on the
bench and broke into a whimper about a grown man hitting a boy with
a chair.

Suddenly Keith, in the moment of victory, found himself attacked in the
rear. One of the smaller boys, who had gone out with the rest, hearing
the fight, had rushed back, and, just as Keith drove Jake Dennison to
his seat, sprang on him like a little wild-cat. Turning, Keith seized
and held him.

"What are you doing, Dave Dennison, confound you?" he demanded angrily.

"I'm one of 'em," blubber