Chapter 15

LEARNING THE ROPES

The boys sat there, silently studying the new "master of their fate," and wondering how they would get along with him. He, in turn, looked them over carefully. Then he leaned forward and took some papers from his desk.

"I was expecting you," he said, glancing at two letters he held in his hand. "Your father wrote me that you would reach here to-day.

"I have also here a letter from your uncle, Mr. Aaron Rushton," he went on. "He is a very close friend of mine, and I gather that it was through his suggestion that your father decided to send you here."

Fred murmured an assent, while Teddy's heart sank, as he tried to imagine what Uncle Aaron had said about him in the letter.

Dr. Rally sat up straight in his chair. It was significant that it was not an easy revolving chair, but as stiff and perpendicular as the doctor himself.

"The matter of your studies and assignment to classes," Dr. Rally continued, "will be looked after by Professor Raymond, my chief assistant. I will send you to him in a moment. But first, I want to say one word.

"The discipline of the school is strict, and it must be obeyed. Sometimes"--here he glanced at Uncle Aaron's letter and then let his gaze fall on Teddy, who squirmed inwardly--"a boy comes here who thinks that he is going to run the school. He never makes the same mistake a second time. That is all."

He gave the boys directions how to find Professor Raymond, and they found themselves out in the hall, surprised at the briefness of the interview, but relieved that it was over.

"Say!" exclaimed Fred, "he didn't have so much to say, after all."

"He didn't talk very much, if that is what you mean," corrected Teddy, who was unusually thoughtful, for him, "but he said a good deal."

"I wonder what Uncle Aaron told him in his letter," mused Teddy. "I'll bet he just skinned me alive."

"Oh, well, don't you care," Fred consoled him. "Your cake is dough with Uncle Aaron, and I suppose it will always, unless he finds his watch and papers."

"Do you suppose he ever will?" asked Teddy, for at least the hundredth time, and rather wistfully.

"We'll keep on hoping so, anyway," replied Fred. "But here's the room the doctor told us to go to."

They found Professor Raymond to be a young man, alert and vigorous and full of snap. He was very friendly and cordial, and the boys liked him from the start.

He examined the boys as to the point that they had reached in their studies, and carefully looked over the reports they had brought from their teachers in the Oldtown school. These proved exceedingly satisfactory. Fred's work had been really brilliant, while Teddy, despite his love of mischief, had held a very creditable rank in his studies.

The professor assigned them to their classes and gave them all necessary directions as to the hours of study and times for recitations. Then he consulted a slip he took from his desk.

"I'm going to put you boys in Dormitory Number Three," he said finally. "There are ten beds in there, and just two have been left vacant. I'll give directions for your trunks and bags to be sent up there, and you can unpack and get your things arranged in the wardrobe and locker that stand at the heads of your beds. By the time you get rested and freshened up, it will be nearly time for supper."

Dormitory Number Three, they found to be a very large and airy room in the front of the building on the second floor, and commanding a splendid view of the lake. There were ten single beds, with ample space between them, and at the head of each was a wardrobe and locker. At the foot was a washstand with all the necessary appliances.

The dormitory was intended for sleeping purposes only. On the floor below, there were special study rooms, where the boys were supposed to prepare their lessons for the next day's recitations.

Fred and Teddy had just begun to wash, when Granger came through the door like a whirlwind.

"Well, by all that's lucky!" he exclaimed. "So Raymond's put you in here, has he? I was hoping he would. Now that's what I call bully!"

"That's what we call it, too, if this is your dormitory," said Fred, who had seldom formed so strong a liking for any one on such short acquaintance.

"I've slept here for the last two years," replied Melvin, "and I think it's the best dormitory in the whole school. Look at the view from here." His sweeping gesture took in the lake, rippling in the glow of the western sun.

"It's a pippin, all right!" assented Fred.

"It sure is!" echoed Teddy.

"And we've got a ripping lot of fellows in here, too," went on Melvin. "All of them are the real goods. There isn't a snoop or a sneak in the bunch. All of them are old timers, except two fellows that came in two days ago. One of them is named Garwood, who comes from out West somewhere. The other is Lester Lee from somewhere down on the coast of Maine. I don't know much about them yet, but I like them first-rate from what I've seen of them so far. I think we're going to be a regular happy family, as soon as we get going, and I'm mighty glad you fellows are going to be in the crowd."

Nobody was gladder than Fred and Teddy themselves. Although they had not confessed it, even to each other, they had felt a sort of dread of the first few days at school. They had not known but what it might take weeks before they could establish their footing and begin to feel at home. Yet here it was only a few hours, and this friendly, big-hearted boy had taken them right in, as cordially as though he had known them for years. If they were to suffer from loneliness or homesickness, it would not be Melvin Granger's fault.

"Here come some of the fellows now," he said, as a noisy group burst into the room and began to make use of wash basins and towels. "I won't stop to introduce you now. The supper gong will ring in about five minutes, and they'll be breaking their necks to get ready in time. When we get up here again after supper and study hours, I'll trot them all out, and they can tell you the sad stories of their lives."

As he had predicted, the splashing of water and brushing of hair were interrupted a few moments later by the clanging of the gong that told a hundred or more hungry boys that supper was ready. There was no need of a second summons, and with a last hasty touch to their incomplete toilets, they came trooping into the immense dining-room that covered an entire floor in one of the wings.

There were eight long tables, at the head of each of which was one of the teachers. Dr. Rally sat apart, in state, with his family, at a private table in one corner of the room. For this, all the boys inwardly thanked their stars. Not one of them would have cared to eat under the direct glare of the head of the school.

Fred and Teddy were glad to find that they had been assigned to the table over which Professor Raymond presided. Melvin, too, was at the same table, a little higher up.

The food was plentiful and well cooked, and although Fred and Teddy would not have minded having one or two of the dainties that old Martha was so adept in preparing, it was plain that her prophecy of their early death from starvation was not going to be fulfilled. They made a most satisfactory meal, marred only by the fact that Teddy's piece of pie was devoured by some unknown neighbor while he was talking to Fred.

He was game, however, and not being able to swallow the pie, swallowed his resentment, making a mental vow to get even, if he should ever discover the culprit.

A half an hour for rest and recreation followed the supper. Then the bell rang for a study period of two hours. At the end of this time work was over for the day, and the boys sought their dormitories to do as they chose till bedtime. All lights were to be out by ten o'clock.

The boys came into Number Three with a clatter and a bang. When they were all there, Melvin lifted his hand to hush the racket.

"Hi, there, you fellows," he shouted. "Keep still for a minute. I want to say something."

The tumult subsided, as the boys came crowding around him.

"Gentlemen," he said, with mock dignity--"I know I flatter you, but no matter--I want to introduce you to two new roommates, Fred and Teddy Rushton."