For some weeks he had noticed this tendency toward mischief and toward rebellion against rules of the school, and it worried him. He had had the same experience in former years; but the warmth of the advancing season and the excitement of out-door sports had heretofore served to dissipate disorderly tendencies, and he could only hope that such might now be the case.
Promptly at the hour named Belcher came into the office. A moment later Brightly entered also. They stood respectfully, undergoing with apparent composure the sharp scrutiny of the principal.
“Boys,” said Colonel Silsbee at last, “I did not summon you here to hear excuses for your conduct. There can be no possible excuse for it. It is intended that this school shall be composed of soldiers and gentlemen, and they never descend to such encounters as yours has been. The instinct that impels one man in the heat of passion to strike another is a brutal instinct, and in my school it must be kept down. I intend to subject each of you to severe punishment; but lest I should do either of you an injustice, I desire to hear from you an account of the trouble, and of the causes which led to it. Belcher, you may give me your statement.”
The lad addressed advanced a step and laid his hand on the table.
“It began,” he said, “this afternoon at drill. Lieutenant Brightly was in command of our platoon. I wasn’t able to do the wheelings properly; it wasn’t my fault, either. But Brightly insulted me, and called me an idiot; and he wasn’t satisfied with that, but he rushed at me and struck me a blow with his sword. To-night, in the drill-hall, I asked him why he did it. He answered me impertinently, and I called him a bully. Then he struck me, and the fight began. You came in in time to see the end of it.”
“If you had a grievance against Lieutenant Brightly, why did you not report it at headquarters, that an examination might have been made and justice done? Why did you take the matter into your own hands?”
“Well, I—I thought I had a right to. Brede told me I had a right to, Captain Brede. He said an officer was no better than a private out of ranks. He said I ought to thrash Brightly for what he had done.”
A look of surprise and pain came upon Colonel Silsbee’s face,—of surprise, that Belcher should thus try to lay the blame of his conduct on another; of pain, that the ranking cadet-officer in his school should have given such advice.
“Captain Brede was greatly mistaken,” he said quietly. “Lieutenant Brightly, let us hear your account of this affair.”
“Belcher has given a pretty correct version of it,” responded Brightly, “except that of course he has colored the facts to make in his favor. I have nothing further to say.”