CHAPTER XVI
A HOT MEETING
"The meeting will come to order!"
Teeter was in the chair, looking over a talking, shifting, excited crowdof lads gathered in the school gymnasium. He had assumed the office, andno one had disputed him.
"The meeting will come to order!" he cried again.
"Order! Order!" begged George Bland and Peaches. "We can't do anythinglike this."
"What are we going to do?" asked Tommy Barton.
"Try and fix things so we can win ball games," answered Tom Davis.
Joe did not say much. He realized that this was, in a measure, a meetingto aid him, and he felt it would be best to keep quiet. His friends werelooking out for his interests.
"Order! Order!" begged Teeter again, and after many repetitions, andbangings of his gavel, he succeeded in producing some semblance ofquietness.
"You all know what we're here for," went on Teeter.
"No, we don't; tell us!" shouted some one.
"We're here in the first place to make a protest against the way HiramShell and Luke Fodick managed the baseball team to-day," went on Teeter,"and then we'll consider what can be done to make things better. Weought to have won against Morningside to-day, and----"
"That's the stuff!"
"That's the way to talk!"
"Hit 'em again!"
These were a few of the cries that greeted Teeter's announcement. He wasvery much in earnest.
"This isn't a regular session of the athletic committee at all," heresumed. "It's a protest meeting, and it's going to be sort of free andeasy. Any fellow that wants to can speak his mind. I take it you allagree with me that we ought to do something."
"That's right!" came in a chorus.
"And we ought to protest against Hiram's high-handed method. What aboutthat?"
"That's right, too," responded several. Joe looked over the crowd. Asfar as he could see it was composed in the main of lads who were onlyprobationary members of the school society--lads without voting power.
Neither Hiram nor Luke was present, and Joe could not see any of theirparticular crowd. He was mistaken in thinking that Hiram had no friendsthere, however, for no sooner had Teeter asked the last question thanJake Weston arose and asked in rather sneering tones:
"Do you call this giving a fellow a square deal?"
"What do you mean?" inquired Teeter. The room was quiet enough now.
"I mean just this," went on the lad who was perhaps the closest of allon the nine to Hiram save Luke. "I mean that Hiram Shell isn't here todefend himself, and you're saying all sorts of mean things against him."
"We intend to have him here--if he'll come," spoke Teeter significantly."Luke, too. We want them to hear what we say about them."
"You're trying to disrupt the team!" yelled Jake, who had lost histemper.
"I am not! I'm trying to do anything to better the team. We ought tohave won that game to-day, and you know it."
"I know that I played my best!" shouted Jake, "and if you accuse meof----"
"Nobody's accusing you," put in Peaches.
Several lads were on their feet, all seeking to be heard. Teeter wasvainly rapping with his gavel. It looked for a few moments as if therewould be several fights, for lads were shaking their fists in eachother's faces.
"Why don't you give Hiram a show?" demanded Jake. "Let him know thismeeting is being held."
"I sent word to him, but he didn't come," called Teeter, above the din.
"Well, he's here now!" interrupted a sudden voice, and Hiram Shellfairly jumped into the room, followed by Luke and a score of theirparticular friends. "I just heard of this snap session, and I want toknow what it's about. How dare you fellows hold a meeting of theathletic committee when I didn't call it?"
"Say, you drop that kind of talk!" fairly yelled Teeter. "This isn't ameeting of the athletic committee!"
"Come on down off that platform!" demanded the bully striding toward thechairman _pro tem_. "What right have you got there?"
"Just as much right as you have, and I'm going to stick! This is just ameeting of the fellows of Excelsior Hall, and I've got just as muchright to preside as you have."
Perhaps it was the gavel which Teeter clenched in his hand, perhaps itwas the fearless manner in which he faced Hiram, or perhaps it was theway in which Joe, Tom, Peaches and several of the larger studentscrowded up around Teeter, like a bodyguard, that caused Hiram to pausein his progress toward the chairman.
Whatever it was, it proved effective and probably prevented a seriousclash, for Hiram was in the mood to have struck Teeter, who surely wouldhave retaliated.
"Well, what's it all about?" asked the bully, after a pause. "What doyou fellows want, anyhow?"
"We want the ball team managed differently," retorted Teeter.
"That's right!" came from a score of ringing voices.
Hiram turned a bit pale. It was the first time he had ever witnessed anorganized revolt against his authority.
"Aren't you fellows satisfied with the way I manage things?" the bullysneered.
"No, and not with the way Luke Fodick captains the team," went on thenow fully aroused Teeter. "There's got to be a change."
"Aw, you're sore because some of your friends can't play!" cut in JakeWeston.
"Not at all," spoke Teeter. "Everyone knows we should have won to-day,and what a miserable exhibition of baseball we gave! It was rotten, andwe want to protest. We're willing to let you continue as manager, Hiram,and have Luke for captain, only we fellows want to have more of a say inhow the team is run."
"Why, you fellows haven't any rights!" cried Hiram. "A lot of you areonly probationary members, anyhow, and can't vote."
"They don't need to vote," declared Teeter. "It isn't a question ofvoting. We're students at Excelsior--all of us--and we have a right tosay what we think. We think things ought to be done differently."
"That's right--we're with him," was shouted in such a volume of energythat it clearly showed to Hiram that, even though he held the balance ofpower in the committee proper, yet he did not in the whole school, andit was to the whole school that the team would have to look for support.It was a crisis in the affairs of Excelsior Hall.