"Steady!" was Ralph's answer. "It seems to me that if you had not been where you have no right to be, you would not have got locked in; and now that you are here, you must wait my pleasure as to going out."
This was beginning school life with a vengeance, but Ralph believed in settling things once and for all, and his indignation was hot as he saw what these half dozen lads had been doing.
But Horace Elgert was not a boy to be spoken to like that, and he came striding up to Ralph to take the key by force.
"I will soon settle you," he began, and he aimed a blow at this impertinent new boy's head, only somehow the blow did not get there. Ralph adroitly stepped aside, and the Honourable Horace Elgert stumbled to the ground violently.
"A fight! A fight!" cried the rest; but Ralph smiled and shook his head.
"Oh, no, my friends. I have something better to do, and this is not the place for fighting."
They were staggered. They could not understand this coolness and, moreover, they had all heard about Ralph having tackled the bull, and the story had grown somewhat. They stood considerably in awe of this boy from the Western plains, and they began to wish that they were anywhere else than in his study.
Horace Elgert got up, his face white with passion but he made no more attempts to take the key from Ralph.
"You are right," he said, in suppressed tones; "this is not the place to fight. Open the door, and we will soon settle things."