“Aw, no. You’re exempt, of course. We don’t bother with cripples, kids, old ladies nor natural criminals.” This attempt to be witty trailed off weakly.
“Well, my friend here is carrying glass and we can’t tarry now. Any interference with him will result in my turning criminal instanter, and I’m keen to do so. Go on, Gus.”
Gus went on, and Bill, with weapon still in hand, followed after. He turned to call back to the flabbergasted five:
“You can find us in our room any time after to-day. Getting hazed is really great sport, and we won’t pull any guns on you then!”
Hardly half an hour elapsed before there came a knock at the door of the room occupied by Bill and Gus. A moment before, Gus had been down to get a pair of pliers that had dropped out of the window and two wide-eyed lads in the hallway had hailed him:
“That crutch-thumper that rooms with you is in for the G. B.,” one had said and the other had added:
“Say, he must be a blamed fool to carry a gun and pull it here. ‘Prex’ won’t stand for that.”
Bill called a “Come in” in answer to the knock, and no less than President Field and Professor Whitcomb, both looking very stern, entered.
“Brown and Grier, I have heard with real pain and very great surprise, after the letter from Professor Gray highly recommending you two lads, that you have so soon shown utter disregard for the rules, the standing, the decency of our institution by carrying and drawing a deadly weapon, a pistol, and on slight provocation. This is deserving of instant expul——”
“Sure is, Doctor Field, if it were so. But it isn’t. And please, also, do not hold the idea that it was on slight provocation. They were going to haze us, or rather Gus here, Doctor. We had just seen something of this sort, with the result that Fleming, of Chicago, had a ruined suit and panama, a fine watch destroyed, and a lot of money and papers probably lost. We came here to study; our means are limited; if we met with such a disaster our finances wouldn’t stand it and we’d have to go home; that’s all there is to it. Now, I can’t offer you a cigar, Doctor, because you don’t and I don’t smoke, but if I did I’d probably carry them in this case.”