CHAPTER XV--MR. LARMORE ISSUES AN ULTIMATUM

The excitement among the rest of the scholars as to what the members of the accused society would do was intense, especially among the Greek letter girls, and little, indeed, was the attention they paid either to their books or recitations, their eyes being upon the gathering of boys.

In ignorance of what had been decided upon, when some of them beheld the five who had been chosen to wait upon Mr. Larmore, they instantly concluded that they must be the boys who had taken part in the smashing of the instruments, and quickly they passed the word along to the other students who were unable to look out of the window.

As some of the boys who had advised against sending the delegation had argued, when the knock sounded on the door of the principal's office and the order to enter had been given, Mr. Larmore believed that the five students who filed in, had come to confess.

Accordingly, assuming a stern but injured manner, he rose and bowed to each of them.

"There is no need for me to say that I am shocked when I see who of my students took part in the mischief, but I am glad that you are men enough to come to me and tell----"

"Pardon me, Mr. Larmore, but you are mistaken," interrupted Dawson. "We have not come to confess anything."

"Eh? What?" exclaimed the principal, looking over his glasses at the speaker.

"I said that we have not come to confess," repeated Dawson.

"Then to what do I owe the honor of this call?" Mr. Larmore asked, dropping back into his chair and assuming his most sarcastic tone and manner.

"In the first place, we want to tell you that no member of the Pi Eta society had a hand in the doings in the physical laboratory; and in the second, we wish to know who it was that charged us with the work."

As he heard the statement, the principal's face grew even more stern, and for several minutes he thrummed his desk without making any reply.

He had not asked the boys to sit down, and as they stood in front of him, they began to get nervous, shifting uneasily in an embarrassed sort of way from one foot to another as though unable to bear his gaze--and realizing how uncomfortable he was making the boys, Mr. Larmore kept silent longer than he otherwise would have.

Resenting such treatment, Dawson fidgeted with his collar, and then exclaimed:

"Will you----"

"Just a moment, please," interrupted the principal, raising his hand to stop the boy. "I should like to know on what grounds you make your assertion that none of the Pi Etas took part in the outrage."

"Because they have told me so, sir," replied Dawson.

"Of course! How stupid of me. I should have known that did the great Tom Dawson ask who broke the apparatus, the guilty boy would have run right up to him. I made a mistake in not asking you to----"

During this ironical remark, the senior who had taken upon himself to defend the members of the under class society, grew very red.

"That's not fair, Mr. Larmore!" he exclaimed, interrupting the principal.

"Very well. Why should you expect the boys to admit their guilt to you?"

"Because I asked them under Pi Eta oath."

This reply was sufficiently illuminative to cause the principal to cast a keen glance at the spokesman.

"Do you really mean to tell me any member of that society would confess their guilt to you if you put them on their oath?"

"Yes, sir."

"And may I ask what you would have done had any of them made such a confession?"

"Sent them to you, sir."

Again did the principal look over the top of his glasses, and he realized as he never had before, what a power the Greek letter societies could be in the discipline of the school.

"But if no members of your club committed the outrage, who did?" asked Mr. Larmore finally, evidently voicing the thought that was in his mind.

"That, sir, we cannot tell you at the moment--but we will be able to later."

"How, pray?"

"Because we shall make it a point to find out, sir. And as a first step toward that end we should be obliged if you would tell us who gave you the information."

"I will do that--presently. First, however, I should like to ask you what punishment you think should be meted out to the boys who are guilty?"

"I fancy they won't be ready for punishment for some time after we find out who they are," exclaimed Longback.

Smiling at this answer to his question, Mr. Larmore exclaimed:

"I am obliged to you boys for coming to see me. I'm sorry to say, however, that I cannot accept your statements as to the innocence of the members of the Pi Eta society in regard to smashing the apparatus in the physical laboratory.

"My authority--who is no other than Tony, the janitor,--is, I believe, altogether too reliable.

"For that reason, I have decided that until I can learn who the perpetrators of the act are, to punish them individually, I shall assess the Pi Eta society the amount of the damages, which comes to seventy dollars, and until payment is made, I shall insist that the society's room be closed.

"I shall be obliged if you will act as collector for me, Dawson. You can also announce my decision to all the society members, though I shall do it in school just before the noon recess.

"And now, young gentlemen, I bid you good morning."