Herring picked himself up, brushed his clothes hastily and cried in angry tones:
“You will have to give me satisfaction for that, Sheldon. You called me a liar and you struck me without provocation. I don’t stand for anything like that I can tell you and——”
“What is this?” a newcomer said and the boys suddenly found the drill master among them. “A fight? I shall have something to say about that. Disperse at once and proceed to the drill ground.”
“Sheldon called me a liar and struck me!” blustered Herring. “I am not going to have——”
“We will hear this case later,” said Colonel Bull, severely. “Do as I command or I shall put you all under arrest.”
Some of the boys smiled at the idea of putting the whole school under arrest but they all moved away and were shortly in regular formation going through their customary morning exercises.
After drill Percival went to Jack and said:
“There is some mystery here, old chap. Won’t you tell me what it is?”
“Not now, Dick,” answered Jack. “Some other time, perhaps, but not now. I have no father as I told you once before.”
“But you know this man that claimed——”