“What!” roared Alf, savagely. “Would you dare question the authority of the Chief Assassin?”
“I would,” replied Joe, firmly. “What’s your game?”
Alf looked helplessly at Tom and Dan. “Did you ever hear of such effrontery, such ingratitude, such—such— Honest, now, did you?”
Dan sadly acknowledged that he never had. Tom grunted.
“Here I invite him to become a member of the finest, most high-toned little band of cutthroats in the country,” said Alf, “and now he refuses to allow himself to be initiated. Ha, I have it!” He viewed Joe darkly. “It was a scheme to penetrate to our meeting-place and learn our secrets! You are a brave man, Joe Chambers, to put yourself in our power!”
“Come on, Joe, be a sport,” begged Dan. “What do you care if you get killed?”
“And think what it would mean to the school, Joe,” added Tom. “We’d be spared those editorials in The Scholiast!”
“Yes, be a good fellow, Joe. Just one tiny little initiation,” said Alf. “It won’t take five minutes; honest, it won’t. Look at Thompson there, brave and calm. My word, how brave and calm!”
“Oh, all right,” laughed Joe. “Go ahead with your tomfoolery. What do you want me to do?”