the boys in eagleheight school made up their minds before the first fortnight of max grenoble's stay among them was over that he had no spirit. the truth was, they didn't exactly understand him. they began when he first came to exercise upon him their usual arts of torture,—the initiation ceremonies for all new boys,—and found him practically a non-resistant. they could not, indeed, be quite sure that they even succeeded in vexing him: he was so imperturbable. at last hal somers, goaded to a degree of exasperation by the quiet calmness of the new boy, struck him, with the outcry,—
"there, boys, see how this suits the quaker."
it was a sound, ringing blow; but max only laughed a laugh which had a good deal of scorn in it, and said,—
[pg 69]
"that's very little to take." then regarding hal curiously, "i looked for a tougher blow than that. to see you, somers, one would think you had a good deal of strength in your arms; but a bad cause is always weak."
hal would have liked then to "pitch into him" with whatever of strength he had; but i think he was afraid. so he only turned on his heel, muttered something about a fellow not worth fighting with, and walked away. from that time those who did not vote max grenoble a coward pronounced him a mystery. he did not look at all as if he were wanting in spirit. he was a great strong saxon of a fellow, with the head of a young greek, covered with thick, short golden curls. i wish i could photograph him for you: he was such an embodiment of fresh, vigorous life, with his clear, fearless blue eyes, his short, smiling upper lip, his well-cut features. he was just the fellow to be popular, if only he had not been misunderstood in the first place, and especially if he had not happened to incur hal somers's enmity.
hal had been there two years, and was a [pg 70]positive force in the school. he had a large capacity in several other directions besides mischief. he had been the best scholar at eagleheight before max came to dispute his laurels with him; a favorite, therefore, with the teachers, who always passed over his escapades, which were not few, as lightly as they could. in fact he was a sort of ringleader of the faster boys, and he found time, in spite of his never failing in class, to plan out and head the execution of most of the jollifications which were the terror of the quiet villagers around eagleheight. he seldom had any of his offences positively brought home and proven, it is true, and the faculty of the institution liked him too well to condemn him on suspicion, or even to try very hard to strengthen suspicion into certainty.
they, the aforesaid faculty, were not at all too ready to give max grenoble his due when he first came. he was not, like hal, of their own training. he had come to them from a rival school, and they were secretly ill pleased to find in him a dangerous competitor with their best scholar. but before six months were over they were[pg 71] obliged to recognize his claims, and had even come to heartily like him. and, indeed, he was a fellow, as edmund sparkler would have said, with no nonsense about him, and likely to make his own way anywhere.
whenever he had the opportunity to show his skill he was found to excel in all athletic sports; but this was not often, for the boys rather shunned him, and if there were enough for an undertaking without him he was usually left out of it. he had one friend, however,—a poor little weakling of a fellow, named molyneux bell, who had been friendless before max came. hal somers and his roystering set had always shoved poor little "miss molly," as they called young bell, to the wall; and it opened paradise to him when great, strong, bright, cheery max grenoble took him under his protecting wing. he gave as much as he received too; for max had a strongly affectionate nature, and would have found himself desolate enough without some one to be fond of. only "miss molly" knew the secret of his friend's non-resistance. one day max had carried him in his arms[pg 72] across a stream they came to in one of their walks, and set him gently down on the other side. molyneux looked up gratefully.
"what great strong arms you have, max! why, you carry me as gently as a cradle. i believe you could whip hal somers himself, just as easy as nothing. honest, now, don't you think you could? o, i wish you would! the boys wouldn't dare then to call us 'miss molly and her sister.'"
max laughed heartily.
"i shouldn't be much afraid to try it," he said. "the truth is, i have been awfully tempted to pitch in, sometimes. but last year i made up my mind that the bible meant what it said when it forbade us to return evil for evil and railing for railing. it comes tough on human nature, though, boy human nature at any rate; but there'd be no merit if there was no struggle, and we're put here to fight with the old man in us, as my father calls it."
"but if you'd tell 'em why you never knock a fellow down when he sauces you."
[pg 73]
max's face crimsoned like a girl's.
"don't you understand that a fellow couldn't tell such things? at least, i couldn't. i should feel like the pharisee in the bible."
at the end of the school year there was to be a competitive examination. the credits for conduct and for recitations were to be taken into account, and the boy who stood highest on the books, and passed the best examination also, was to be the head boy of the school for the next year. from the first the field was abandoned to two competitors,—hal somers and max grenoble. all hal's emulation was aroused. he would succeed. he even forsook his old ways, and for weeks together engaged in nothing that was contraband. he had really fine abilities. he learned some things more readily than max himself, and he felt that all his prestige depended on his securing this leadership. max took the matter more coolly, but still he worked with all diligence. and so, till within ten days of the examination, they were neck and neck.
just then there came a dark night,—a warm, tempting june night,—when the moon was old,[pg 74] and only the stars shone, like very far-away lamps indeed, through the dusk. a friend of hal somers was night monitor, and doubtless the temptation afforded by such apparent security was too much for mischief-loving hal. it chanced that max grenoble had received permission from one of the tutors to go to the neighboring village of an errand, and this fact was known only to his own room-mate, molyneux bell. about half-past nine he was returning, and for greater speed crossed a lot belonging to the president of the institution, which saved him an extra quarter of a mile of road. half way across the lot he met hal somers with three other boys behind him, face to face. hal carried a small lantern, and a great pair of shears such as are used to shear sheep. the light from the lantern struck upon the shears with a glitter which led max to notice them. in the hands of one of hal's followers he saw the long, silvery tail of a white horse, and another carried a bunch of hair of a similar hue, evidently the mane of the same animal.
"hal somers!"
[pg 75]
he spoke in his first moment of surprise, without consideration; but there came no answer. the lantern was blown out in a moment, and the boys made the best of their way toward eagleheight. as max walked on more slowly he heard a pitiful neigh, and following the sound, he found president king's pet horse, utterly denuded of mane and tail. it was a joke carried a little too far even for hal somers's effrontery, he thought to himself. if there was any thing outside of his school that president king loved and prided himself on more than another, it was snowflake. he gave her something of the fond care a family man bestows upon his children. every afternoon she was the companion of his solitude, to whom he talked, with a sort of grave humor of his own, as he took his constitutional upon her back. he would not be likely to have much toleration for the young rascals who had shorn her of all her glory. max went on, reported himself to professor vane, from whom he had obtained his leave of absence, and went to bed without hinting what he had seen, even to his room-mate.
[pg 76]
the next morning when the school went to chapel, there was a sense of thunder in the air. president king had seen his favorite, as those who were guilty did not need to be told, after one look at his lowering face. he conducted the devotions with more than his usual solemnity, and then detained the school a little longer.
he uttered a few withering sentences, setting forth what had been done, and commenting satirically upon the invention, the gentlemanliness, the good sense of young men whose brains could originate nothing more brilliant or entertaining than the disfigurement of an unlucky quadruped, and an annoyance and insult to a teacher who had at least this claim upon their respect, that their parents had put them under his charge. then he gave them the opportunity to confess their folly, assuring them that confession was good for the soul, and adding that he should take it as a favor if any one who knew any thing of the affair, whether personally concerned in it or not, would give him all the information in his power. it was not the practice at eagleheight to ask any [pg 77]individual boy whether or not he had been guilty. it was one of president king's notions that to ask such a question of any one who had not manliness enough to confess his fault voluntarily was only leading him into temptation, offering safety as a premium for lying.
as the fellows filed out of chapel, hal somers said to his chum,—
"it's all up with me about the leadership. of course grenoble will tell, especially now the prex makes a merit of it."
"fool if he wouldn't," was the reply, "after the way we fellows have all treated him, too."
all day hal was in hourly expectation of being sent for to an interview solemn and awful in the president's room. but the hours went on and no summons came. about four o'clock he saw max grenoble go into the dreaded chamber of audience. now, he thought, all would come out. of course max had gone to tell all he knew. would he be suspended, or expelled, he wondered, or would the prex be satisfied with giving him black marks enough to put the leadership altogether beyond his[pg 78] reach? then a plan came to him. the president's room was on the lower floor, and over one of its windows grew a grape vine large enough to conceal him from observation. he would go there and listen. that it was a very mean thing to do he knew as well as any body, but temptation was too strong for him, and giving one look to make sure that he was not observed he hid himself away under the open window. the first words he heard were in the voice of the president:
"as soon as vane told me you were out last evening, it occurred to me that you would know who was at the bottom of the affair, and it seems you do."
"yes, sir," firmly and quietly.
"then there can be no possible doubt that it is your duty to tell."
"it cannot be my duty, sir, to be a sneak. this secret came into my hands by accident. if i had been monitor for the evening, it would, of course, be my duty to make it known. not having been in any such capacity, i think were i to turn telltale i should be no gentleman."
[pg 79]
"it's a new order of things when fifty must come to fifteen to be told what it is to be a gentleman," the president said, hotly. "perhaps you don't know, sir, that if you persist in your resolution you lose all hope of the leadership? you will be considered an accessory in the crime, and you will lose as many credit marks as would be taken from the ringleader were he detected."
"i can afford to lose those better than my own self-respect," max said, stoutly, and then added, "i think you would have done the same, president king, when you were at my age."
hal waited to hear no more, but edged cautiously from his place of concealment. he thought he was not above profiting by max's generosity. he tried to think max was a fool, but there was an inner voice in his heart which whispered that there was something sublime in such folly, and, try as he might, this inner voice would not altogether be silenced.
the days went on swiftly. max kept his scholarship up to the highest standard, but the twenty credit marks taken from his list put all hope of his attaining the leadership out of the question.
[pg 80]
it was the very night before the examination when president king answered a tap on his door with his well known, resonant "come in." his visitor was hal somers.
the next morning, after prayers, the president said, very quietly,—
"young gentlemen, before the examination commences i have to detain you long enough to perform a simple act of justice. i acquit max grenoble of all complicity in the misdemeanor committed on the night of the 14th of june; the entire burden of the same having been assumed by henry somers, in behalf of himself, william graves, george saunders, and john morse. and as this confession was voluntary, i shall visit upon the offenders no severer penalty than the loss of all their credit marks for the last quarter."
poor little molyneux bell forgot time and place, and threw his handkerchief into the air with one glad shout:—
"i knew max would come out right at last; i knew he would."
so max went back the next year to eagleheight,[pg 81] as the head boy; and under his leadership a new state of affairs was brought about. he led them not only in class, and in athletic exercises, but in all true manliness. they had found out at length that he had plenty of "pluck and grit," even though he might not emulate sayers or heenan. one of his warmest friends was hal somers, in whose character enough nobility was latent to recognize at last the sterling worth even of his rival.
