Andy kept a stiff upper lip, though he felt that the world was slipping away from him.
A picture of an unloving home, a stern, hard mistress who would make use of this, his final disgrace, as a continual club and menace to all his future peace of mind, fairly appalled him.
He arose to his feet, swinging his strapped up books to and fro airily, but there was a dismal catch in his voice as he turned to the teacher's desk, and said:
"Mr. Darrow, I guess I would rather take the whipping."
"Too late," pronounced the relentless schoolmaster in icy tones.
And then, as Andy reached the door amid the gruesome silence and awe of his sympathetic comrades, Mr. Darrow added the final dreadful words:
"You are expelled."
CHAPTER II
HOOP-LA!
Andy Wildwood passed out of the village schoolhouse an anxious and desolate boy.