go, aisle by aisle. And I want no whispering or unnecessary delay."

Before the last of the boys had found a hook for his cap, clang! went
the gong again and a piano some distance away sounded a lively march.

"Stand!" said Miss Mason. "Margaret, you may lead the line. Come
here." Meg stood quietly.

"Margaret Blossom!" and this time Miss Mason's voice sounded
impatient. "Is the child dreaming? You're holding back the whole
room."

Meg blushed and came forward hastily. To tell the truth, she had not
realized that Miss Mason was speaking to her--the unfamiliar
"Margaret" bewildered her.

"Take your place here," commanded Miss Mason, pushing her gently into
a place in the doorway. "And when you see the last child leave that
room opposite, wheel in after her and follow to the auditorium."

Meg looked around for Bobby. He was near the end of the long line that
had formed around the sides of the room, and when he caught his
sister's eye he grinned and nodded encouragingly to her.

"You'll do all right," he seemed to say.

CHAPTER IV

THE DEAD SNAKE

A little girl in a checked gingham dress was at the end of the line of
children who marched out from the room across the hall, and, obedient
to a look from Miss Mason, Meg followed her. Down the corridor, up
three steps and into a round, light room they marched, the piano
tinkling steadily. Meg saw now that it was on the platform, and,
goodness! the player was a small girl who didn't look much older than
Meg herself.

"Do you take music lessons?" whispered a girl next to Meg, as they
turned down a row of seats facing the platform and other children
rapidly filled up the rows back of them. "You do? Well, when you get
in the third grade you'll have to play for 'em to march. Miss Wright
makes all the third and fourth graders who can play anything learn an
assembly march."

Meg was glad that she was only in the first grade, and yet she thought
that it must be exciting to sit at a piano away up on a high
platform and play for the whole school. She wondered if, by practicing
faithfully, she could learn an assembly march by the time she reached
the third grade.

The girl at the piano played a crashing chord, and the children
dropped into their seats with a concerted fervor that shook the walls.
Miss Wright, the gray-haired vice-principal Meg had seen in her room
talking to Miss Mason, opened the large Bible that lay on the desk,
and, facing the children, read