ce.

"That's so!" said another.

"Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!" shouted a dozen more. "Throw him over! Bill
Poodles is the liar!"

Mr. Parasyte was appalled at this demonstration--a demonstration which
never could have occurred without the provocation of the grossest
injustice. The boys were well disciplined, and the order of the
Institute was generally unexceptionable. Such a flurry had never
before been known, and it was evident that the students intended to
take the law into their own hands. They acted upon the impulse of the
moment, and I judged that at least one half of them were engaged in
the demonstration.

Poodles was a boy of no principle; he was notorious as a liar; and the
boys regarded it as an outrage upon themselves and upon me that he
should be believed, while my story appeared to have no weight
whatever.

Mr. Parasyte trembled, not alone with rage, but with fear. The
startling event then transpiring threatened the peace, if not the very
existence, of the Parkville Liberal Institute. I folded my arms,--for
I felt my dignity,--and endeavored to be calm, though my bosom heaved
and bounded with emotion.

"Boys--young gentlemen, I--" the principal began.

"Throw him over! Put him out!" yelled the students, excited beyond
measure.

"Young gentlemen!" shouted Mr. Parasyte.

"Three cheers for Ernest Thornton!" hoarsely screamed Bob Hale, my
intimate friend and longtime "crony."

They were given with an enthusiasm which bordered on infatuation.

"Will you hear me, students?" cried Mr. Parasyte.

"No!" "No!" "No!" "Throw him over!" "Put him out!"

The scene was almost as unpleasant to me as to the principal, proud as
I was of the devotion of my friends. I did not wish to be vindicated
in such a way, and I was anxious to put a stop to such disorderly
proceedings. I raised my hand in an appealing gesture.

"Fellow-students," said I; and the school-room was quiet.

CHAPTER III.

IN WHICH ERNEST IS EXPELLED FROM THE PARKVILLE LIBERAL INSTITUTE.

"Fellow-students," I continued, when the school-room was still enough
for me to be heard, "I am willing to submit to the rules of the
Institute, and even to the injustice of the principal. For my sake, as
well as for your own, behave like men."

I folded my arms, and was silent again. I felt that it was better to
suffer than to resist, and such an exhibition of rowdyism was not to
my taste. I glanced at Mr. Parasyte, to intimate to him that he could
say