The principal looked at him steadily. "Would you care to act in that capacity?"
Dax felt that he was getting redder than ever. "Have you had a doctor examine Mallison for ... for the effects of narcotics?" he said. "Where are these policemen you said you spoke to? Shouldn't they be informed of your suspicions, instead of holding a kind of star chamber inquisition? It's ... it's medieval!"
Mr. Lightstone glared at him in astonishment.
Dax had a sudden thought. "The chemistry lab is right over my class room," he said. "Why couldn't the packet have fallen from there?"
"What would they be doing with heroin?"
"But we don't know yet that—"
The principal interrupted him and swept his arm in a gesture of all-inclusive condemnation. "We will in good time! But if you have never seen guilt before, you see it now!" He looked at the startled young faces with abhorrence. "Look at them!"
Dax had a curious and violent revulsion, although he hadn't followed the line of reasoning in Lightstone's last remark. In fact, he realized that he hadn't really heard the words. But the principal's angry face made his hackles rise.
The principal had a menacing look. He was the most dangerous looking thing he had ever seen. A convulsive shudder went through all of Dax's muscles, and he leapt—straight across Mrs. Lightstone's lap, who fell over backwards, screaming. Everyone was making loud, garbled noises, and he was on top of Lightstone, scratching and biting.