CHAPTER I
THE BOYS OF OAK HALL
"Hello, Dave; where are you bound?"
"For the river, Phil. I am going out for a row. Want to come along?"
"That suits me," answered Phil Lawrence, throwing down the astronomy hehad been studying. "But I can't stay out late," he added, reaching forhis cap. "Got two examples in algebra to do. Have you finished up?"
"Yes," answered Dave Porter. "They are not so hard."
"And your Latin?"
"That's done, too."
Phil Lawrence eyed the boy before him admiringly. "Dave, I don't see howyou manage it. You're always on deck for fun, and yet you scarcely missa lesson. Let me into the secret, won't you?"
"That's right, Dave; pull the cover off clean and clear," came from ayouth who had just entered the school dormitory. "If I can get lessonswithout studying----"
"Oh, Roger, you know better than that," burst out Dave Porter, with asmile. "Of course I have to study--just the same as anybody. But when Istudy, I study, and when I play, I play. I've found out that it doesn'tpay to mix the two up--it is best to buckle your mind down to the thingon hand and to nothing else."
"That's the talk," came from a boy resting on one of the beds. "It putsme in mind of a story I once heard about a fellow who fell from the roofof a house to the ground----"
"There goes Shadow again!" cried Roger Morr. "Shadow, will you ever getdone telling chestnuts?"
"This isn't a chestnut, and I haven't told it over twice in my life. Theman fell to the ground past an open window. As he was going down, hegrabbed another man at the window by the hair. The hair--it was awig--came off. 'Say,' yells the man at the window. 'Leave me alone. Ifyou want to fall, 'tend to business, and fall!'" And a smile passedaround among the assembled schoolboys.
"Perhaps Roger would like to come along," continued Dave. "I was goingout for a row, and Phil said he would go, too," he explained.
"That suits me," answered Roger Morr. "It will give us an appetite forsupper."
"What about you, Shadow?" and Dave turned to the youth on the bed.
Maurice Hamilton shook his head slightly. "Not to-day. I am going totake a nap, if I can get it. Remember, I was up half the night."
"So he was," affirmed Phil Lawrence. "But he hasn't said what it wasabout."
"Not much," growled the boy called Shadow. He was very tall and verythin, hence the nickname. Turning over, he pretended to go to sleep.
"There is something wrong about Shadow," said Dave as he and his twocompanions left the school building and hurried for the river at theback of the grounds. "He has not been himself at all to-day."
"I think he has had something to do with that bully, Gus Plum," saidPhil. "I saw them together two days ago, and both were talkingearnestly. I don't know exactly what it was about. But I know Shadow hasbeen very much disturbed ever since."
"Well, the best he can do is to leave Plum alone," returned Dave,decidedly. "I can tell you, fellows, that chap is not to be trusted; youknow that as well as I do."
"Of course we know it," said Roger Morr. "Didn't I warn you against GusPlum before you ever came to Oak Hall? And now that Chip Macklin hasturned over a new leaf and refused to be Plum's toady any longer, thebully is worse than ever. Only yesterday Buster Beggs caught him backof the gym., abusing one of the little fellows. Buster is generally toolazy to rouse up, but he said it made him mad, and he told Plum to stop,or it would be the worse for him, and Plum went off grumbling."
"It's a great pity Plum can't reform, like Macklin. I declare, Chip isgetting to be quite a decent sort, now."
"It's not in Plum to reform," exclaimed Phil Lawrence. "If I were DoctorClay, I'd get rid of him. Why, such a chap can keep a whole school inhot water."
"Somebody said that Plum's father had lost a good bit of his money,"observed Roger Morr. "If that is so, it must be a bitter pill for Gus toswallow."
"Well, I wouldn't taunt him with it, if it's true," replied Dave,quickly.
"Oh, I shan't say a word--although he deserves to have it rubbed in, forthe way he treated you, Dave."
"Yes, that was a jolly shame," commented Phil. "It makes me angry everytime I think of it."
"I am willing to let bygones be bygones," said Dave, with a littlesmile. "As it was, it only showed me who my true friends were, and are.I can afford to get along without the others."
"And especially after we waxed Plum and his crowd at baseball, and thenwon our great victory over the Rockville boys," said Roger. "Oh, butwasn't that a dandy victory! And didn't we have a dandy celebrationafterwards!"
"And do you remember the big cannon cracker we set off in thecourtyard?" Dave's eyes began to twinkle. "I heard afterwards that PopSwingly, the janitor, was scared almost to death. He thought somebodywas trying to blow up the building."
"Yes, and Job Haskers said if he could catch the fellow who----" Philbroke off short. "Here comes Gus Plum, now," he whispered.
The others looked up, and saw coming toward them across the schoolgrounds a tall, broad-shouldered individual, loudly dressed, and with ashock of uncombed hair and a cap set over on one ear.
"Hello, Plum," said Dave, pleasantly, while his two companions nodded tothe newcomer.
"Hello, yourself," came shortly from Gus Plum. "Hold up a minute," hewent on, planting himself in front of the three.
"What's wanted?" questioned Phil, in a little surprise.
"I want to know if Shadow Hamilton has been saying anything about me toyou," growled the bully of Oak Hall.
"I haven't heard anything," answered Phil, while Dave and Roger shooktheir heads.
"Humph! He had better not!" muttered Plum, with a scowl. "If hedoes----" The bully did not finish.
"I hope there is no more trouble in the air," was Dave's comment.
"There will be trouble, if Hamilton opens his trap. I won't allowanybody in this school to talk about me, and all of you had betterunderstand it," and the bully glared at the others defiantly.
"I am sure I don't know what you are talking about," said Dave. "Ihaven't said anything about you."
"And you haven't heard anything?" inquired Gus Plum, with a look of keenanxiety showing on his coarse face.
"I've heard some roundabout story about your father losing money," saidRoger, before Dave could answer. "If it is true, I am sorry for you,Gus."
"Bah! I don't want your sympathy. Did Hamilton tell you that story?"
"No."
"I suppose you are spreading it right and left, eh? Making me out to bea pauper, like your friend Porter, eh?" continued Gus Plum, workinghimself up into a magnificent condition of ill-humor.
"I am not spreading it right and left," answered Roger, quietly.
"And I am not a pauper, Plum!" exclaimed Dave, with flashing eyes. "Ithought we had settled that difference of opinion long ago. If you aregoing to open it up again----"
"Oh, don't mind what he says, Dave," broke in Phil, catching his chum bythe arm. "You know nobody in the school pays attention to him."
"I won't let any of you run me down!" roared Gus Plum. "Now, just youremember that! If any of you say a word about me or my father, I'll makeit so hot for you that you'll wish you had never been born. My fatherhas lost a little money, but it ain't a flea-bite to what he is worth,and I want everybody in this school to know it."
"And I want you to know that you cannot continue to insult me," blazedout Dave. "I am not as rich as most of the boys here, but----"
"He is just as good as any of us, Plum, remember that," finished Phil."It is an outrage for you to refer to Dave as a pauper."
"Well, didn't he come from the poorhouse, and ain't he a nobody?"sneered the bully.
"He is a better fellow than you will ever be, Plum," said Roger, warmly.He and Phil were both holding Dave back. "Don't listen to him, Dave."
"Yes, but, fellows----" Dave's face was white, and he trembled all over.
"I know it cuts you," whispered Roger. "But Plum is a--a brute. Don'twaste your breath on
him."
"Ho! so I am a brute, am I?" blustered the big bully, clenching hisfists.
"Yes, you are," answered Roger, boldly. "Any fellow with a spark ofgoodness and honor in him would not speak to Dave as you have done. Itsimply shows up your own low-mindedness, Plum."
"Don't you preach!" shouted the bully. "Say another word, andI'll--I'll----"
"We are not afraid of you," said Phil, firmly. "We've told you thatbefore. We intend to leave you alone, and the best thing you can do isto leave us alone."
"Bah! I know you, and you can't fool me! You say one thing to my faceand another behind my back. But don't you dare to say too much; and youcan tell Shadow Hamilton not to say too much, either. If you do--well,there will be war, that's all--and all of you will get what you don'twant!" And with this threat, Gus Plum hurried around a corner of theschool building and out of sight.
"What a cad!" murmured Phil.
"He is worked up; no disputing that," was Roger's comment. "He acts asif he was afraid something was being told that he wished to keep asecret."
The hot blood had rushed to Dave's face, and he was still trembling.
"I wish I had knocked him down," he said in a low tone.
"What good would it have done?" returned Roger. "It would only get youinto trouble with the doctor, and that is just what Plum would like.When it comes to a standing in the class, he knows he hasn't as much tolose as you have. He is almost at the bottom already, while you areclose to the top."
"But, Roger, he said--oh, I can't bear to think about it! I suppose heblabs it to everybody, too, and they will think----"
"Don't give it another thought, Dave," said Phil, soothingly, and heturned his chum toward the river again. "Dismiss Plum and all hismeanness from your mind."
"I wish I could," answered Dave, and his voice had a great deal ofseriousness in it.