the more they thought over that scheme the better they liked it; the more they imagined bull harris, pompous and self-conscious, spouting his magnificent periods and then brought to an ignominious and ridiculous conclusion, the more they chuckled with glee. they felt no prickings of conscience in the matter, for bull was not a personage to inspire such. his devices had been cowardly and desperate; only last night he had been on the point of lashing mark with a rope when the latter was helplessly tied to a tree. with such a man ordinary standards of fairness did not hold good.

the only trouble with the "scheme" was its general indefiniteness. and that the seven recognized. it was all very well to say you were going to "bust up" bull harris' speech. but how? it would not do to guy him, or to use any device of which the authors might be found out. it was quite a problem.

texas suggested an alarm of fire, which was outvoted as dangerous, likely to produce a panic. some one else wondered how about kidnaping bull and tying him up. this suggestion was put on file as being possible, to be[pg 23] consulted in case no better appeared, which bid fair just then to be the case.

mark and his friends marched down to dinner without any further ideas appearing. the plebes still marched separate from the rest of the corps, though they were allowed to share the privilege of the spirited band which enlivened the proceedings. they still sat at separate tables, too, which made most of them feel very much outcast indeed.

the command "break ranks," after the march from mess hall again, marked the beginning of that holiday during which the seven had vowed to do so much. and still nobody had seemed to hit upon any suitable plan for the discomfiture of bull harris.

"we've got to hurry up about it, too," mark declared. "for, if there's any fixing up to be done, we ought to be doing it now."

"where's the thing to be, anyway?" inquired dewey.

"in the big gymnasium building, they say," was the answer. "they'll probably cover the floor with seats. but i don't think we can do anything inside the place. i think we ought to kick up some sort of rumpus outside."

and with this advice the seven heads got to work again.

ideas come slowly when you want them badly. it would seem that with those seven minds busy on the same[pg 24] subject something should have resulted. but it didn't. the seven strolled away from camp and wandered about the grounds cudgeling their brains and calling themselves names for their stupidity. and still no plan came forward.

they strolled down to the gymnasium building in hopes that proximity to the scene itself would prove efficacious. they stared at the vestibule and the windows blankly, wondering what the place might be like inside, wondering if there would be much of a crowd, wondering if bull would have much of a speech—wondering about everything except the matter in hand.

"plague take it all!" they muttered. "let's walk out professor's row and find some quiet place to sit down. perhaps we can think better sitting."

professor's row is a street that bounds the parade ground on the west. it is cool and shady, with benches and camp chairs on the lawn. but there were plenty of people to occupy the seats, and so the seven found no place there to cogitate.

they had not gotten much farther before all ideas of plots and orations were driven from mark's head a-flying. they were passing a group of people standing on the opposite side of the street, and suddenly one of them, a girl, hurried away from the others, and cried out:

"mr. mallory! oh, mr. mallory!"

[pg 25]mark turned the moment he heard the voice, and, when he saw who it was, he promptly excused himself from his friends and crossed the street. the six strolled on, smiling and winking knowingly at one another.

"hope he'll remember what wicks merritt said, b'gee!" laughed dewey.

mark had no time to remember anything much. he was too busy, watching the vision that was hurrying to meet him.

grace fuller certainly was a beautiful girl, beyond a doubt. she was a blonde of the fairest type; her complexion was matchless, and set off by a wealth of wavy golden hair. she was dressed in white, and made a picture that left no room to wonder why "half the cadets in the place were wild over her."

"i'm glad i swam out to save her," was the thought in mark's mind.

a moment later he took the small white hand that was held out to him.

"mr. mallory," said the girl, gazing at him earnestly, "i shall not wait for any one to introduce you to me. i must tell you that i appreciate your bravery."

mark bowed and thanked her; he could think of nothing more to say.

"they just let me out of the hospital to-day," she continued, "and i made up my mind that the very first thing[pg 26] i was going to do was to tell you what i thought of your courageous action on my behalf. i want to know you better, mr. mallory."

she said it in a plain and simple way that mark liked, and he told her that nothing would please him more.

"i would ask you to take a walk with me now," said grace, "but for all those cadets who are with me. i don't think they'd relish that, you being a fourth class man."

"i don't think they would," responded mark, with a queer smile which the girl did not fail to notice.

"i don't care!" she exclaimed, suddenly. "they can get mad if they want to. i think a great deal more of some plebes than i do of yearlings. excuse me just a moment."

and then, to mark's infinite glee, this beautiful creature hurried over and said something to the group of cadets, at which they all bowed and walked off rather stiffly, sheepishly, mark thought. the girl rejoined him, with a smile.

"i told them they'd have to excuse me," she said, as she took mark's arm. "i told them i owed you a debt of gratitude, and i hoped they wouldn't mind."

"probably they won't," observed mark, smiling again.

"i don't care if they do," vowed grace, pouting prettily. "they'll get over it. and they're awfully stupid, anyway. i hope you're not stupid."

[pg 27]with which mark quite naturally agreed.

"i don't think the cadets like you much," she went on, laughing. "i had such fun teasing them by talking about your heroism. they didn't like it a bit, and they'd try all sorts of ways to change the subject, but i wouldn't let them. they say you are terribly b. j. are you?"

"i suppose they think so," answered mark. "i'm nothing like as b. j. as i shall be before i get through."

"that's right!" vowed the girl, shaking her head. "i like b. j. plebes. i think i should be b. j. if i were a plebe. i don't like these mild, obedient fellows, and i think the plebes stand entirely too much."

"i wish you were one to help me," laughed mark, noticing the contrast between the girl's frail figure and her energetic look.

"i'm stronger than you think," said she. "i could do a lot." and then suddenly she broke into one of her merry, animated laughs, during which mark thought her more charming than ever. "if i can't fight," she said, "you must let me be a daughter of the revolution. you must let me make clothes and bake bread the way the colonists' daughters did. it's just appropriate for to-day, too."

"i don't want any bread——" began mark, looking at her thoughtfully.

"perhaps not," she put in, with a peal of laughter. "if[pg 28] you saw the bread i make, you'd be still more emphatic. it's like the fruit of the tree of knowledge—'whoso eateth thereof shall surely die.'"

"i see you read the bible," said mark, laughing. "but to get back where i was. i'll let the tailor make my clothes, also. what i need most just now are tricks to play on the yearlings."

"do you?" inquired grace. "i can tell you of lots of tricks the cadets have played. but that's the first time i ever heard of a plebe playing tricks on yearlings. it's usually the other way."

"variety is the spice of life," said mark. "the yearlings have tried rather contemptible tricks on me once or twice, very contemptible! i could tell you what several of those cadets who were with you did to me last night, and i think you'd be angry. anyway, i'm going to make them miserable in return."

"i helped the yearlings get up a beautiful joke last year," said grace, looking at mark in ill-concealed admiration. "wicks merritt was the ringleader. he wrote to me, by the way, and told me to be very nice to you now that you'd saved my life—just as if he thought i wouldn't! anyway, i got them some powder to use for the scheme."

"powder!" echoed mark. "how did you get powder?"

[pg 29]"they couldn't manage to run off with any around here, so i got george to buy some. george is our butler. you'll see george when you come over to visit me, which i hope you will."

"i thought you lived across the river, beyond cadet limits," put in mark.

"so i do, but the cadets come, all the same, lots of them."

"so will i, then!" laughed the other. "but you haven't told me what you did with the powder."

"do you see that big gun over there?" she answered, indicating trophy point. "well, they stood that upon end and fired it off late one night. wasn't that a fine joke?"

"ye-es," said mark, very slowly. "ye-es, it was."

he was staring at the girl, a look as of an inspiration on his face.

"they stood that gun up on end and fired it off late one night," he repeated, scarcely heeding what he was saying, so rapt was he in his thought.

"yes," said grace, gazing at him curiously, and meeting his eyes. "yes. why?"

mark studied her look for a moment; he saw mischief and fun dancing in it, and, in a moment more, he had made up his mind.

"tell me, miss fuller," he said, speaking very low.[pg 30] "would you—would you like to have 'george' buy some more powder?"

"more powder!" she echoed. "what do you——"

and then she caught the gleam in her escort's eye.

"are you—do you mean you want to do it?" she cried.

"yes," said mark, simply. "will you help?"

"yes, yes!"

"do you mean it?"

"i'll give you my hand on it," responded grace.

mark took it.

"when?" asked she.

and mark answered, with a laugh, almost a shout of triumph.

"to-night!" he said. "to-night! ye gods!"