"Order has got to be maintained in this school," he said finally, as he faced them. "If we did not have order, the whole institution would go to pieces. That is my first point. My second is that two Wrongs have never yet made a Right, and instead of taking matters into your own hands, as you did, after having trouble with Professor Lemm, you should have come to me and told me what was wrong.
"I shall take this matter up later, after I have had an opportunity to make further inquiries concerning your conduct. In the meantime, you may go to breakfast, and then to your classes;" and thus he dismissed them.
Of course, as soon as the boys were by themselves, they began to discuss the situation from every possible angle. Several wanted to know how it was that the master of the Hall had learned that Jack and Walt were guilty.
"Somebody sent Colonel Colby a note about us. I saw it on his desk," answered Jack.
"Yes, and Asa Lemm had another note just like it," added Walt. "Some sneak in this school must have watched us, and then sent the notes."
Much to the cadets' relief, they did not see Asa Lemm in the messroom. Nor did the language teacher show himself during the morning session.
"Perhaps he's having another talk with Colonel Colby," suggested Fred.
The youngest Rover was right. The unreasonable teacher was closeted with the master of the Hall for over an hour, and during that time much of what had been told by the cadets was threshed over. Asa Lemm was as unreasonable as ever, and finally Colonel Colby lost all patience with him.
"I am afraid, Professor Lemm, that you are not suited to be a teacher in this institution," he said. "Your actions here show that you are very irritable and unreasonable. After you left this office, I questioned all of those cadets closely, and all had practically the same story to tell; namely, that you had required more than was fair of them in your classes, and that, on the slightest pretext, you had punished them by making them stay in and do extra lessons. I went into many of the details, and I am convinced that in a good proportion of the cases the students were right and you were wrong. Now, I regret this very much, because I realize that——"
"Sir, I don't want to be talked to in this fashion!" cried Asa Lemm, bridling up. "I was not in the wrong at all. Those boys are regular imps! They don't know how to treat a teacher decently! I won't stand for their nonsense! I want them severely punished, or else——"