“You have done nothing to anger him?”
“I have seldom spoken to him, sir.”
“Did it ever strike you that he was one of your persecutors when the demerits rolled up against you in the earlier part of the year?”
“I have no evidence that he was.”
“And in what way have you wronged Clemmons?”
“I prefer not to speak of what occurred prior to my coming to the academy, sir.”
“You admit that there was trouble between you?”
“Yes, sir, we had some trouble one day.”
“I desire to hear your statement of it.”
“It was of little moment, sir; but one day I went up from my home to B—— to sell a toy ship I had made, to get money needed for my mother, who was ill. Clemmons and a few of his mates, in a spirit of amusement, set upon me, and my ship was broken. This angered me, and I used my fists, and we were arrested.”