The reader may perhaps wish to be spared the details of the preparation. Suffice it to say that those heavily bound unfortunates were stretched out upon the ground, that their backs were bared, and then that the four brawniest of the desperate cadets took four pieces of rope in their hands and stepped forward. It was estimated that when they stepped back those four plebes would be in a more docile mood than previously.
A dead silence had fallen upon the group; it had increased in numbers every moment, for other cadets had stolen out to see what was being done. And just then every one of them was leaning forward anxiously, staring at Mallory, for nobody cared anything much about the other three, whether they were attended to or not. It was Mallory, the coward, against whom all the hatred was; Mallory, whom the biggest man had been deputed to attend to. All the other “executioners” were waiting, leaning forward anxiously to see how Mallory took it.
The cadet who held the rope seized it in a firm grip, and swung it about his head. A moment later it came down through the air with a whirr. It struck the white flesh of the helpless plebe with a thud that made the crowd shudder. A broad red streak seemed to leap into view, and the victim quivered all over. The cadet raised the lash once more and once more brought it down; and again an instant later.
The end of it came soon, fortunately; and it came without waiting the wish of the “hazers.”
Once before that game had been tried on Mallory, then by the infuriated yearlings. An alarm from camp had interrupted it at an earlier stage. And that happened again. This time there broke upon the stillness of the midnight air the sharp report of a gun. It came from nearby, too, and it brought no end of confusion with it, confusion that will be told of later.
As to the hazers, they glanced at each other in consternation. That gun would awaken the camp! And they would be discovered! There was not a second to lose!
In a trice the four plebes were cut loose, left to get back to their tent as best they could; and a few moments later a mob of hurrying figures dashed past the sentry and into Camp McPherson, which they found in an uproar. The hazing of Mallory was over for that night beyond a doubt.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A TEST OF COURAGE.
The story of the sacred geese that saved the city of Rome is known to every schoolboy. Not so long ago the classic Parson, of the Banded Seven, told of a spider who saved the life of Bruce the Scot, by building a web over the entrance of the log he hid in. As life-savers, dogs and even horses are famous, too, but it is left to the historian of these pages to tell of how a rescue was effected by a mouse.