with intense interest.

"Oh, yes; it does hurt dreadfully! But"--with a more cheerful air--"you
get over it after a little while, you know."

"Well, then, I guess I can stand it. If you got over it all right, so
can I," spoke up Bert, manfully; then, turning to Frank, "And you can,
too, can't you, Shorty?"

Frank shook his head doubtfully. "I _can_ all right enough, but I don't
know that I _will_. I've a mind to give them a fight for it, anyhow."

"Not a bit of use," said the blue-eyed boy, whose name, by the way, as
he presently told the others, was Ernest Linton. "Not a bit of use.
They'll only beat you the harder if you fight."

"We'll see," said Frank, with a determined air. "We'll see when the time
comes."

Bert and Frank found Ernest a very bright and useful friend, and they
had so many questions to ask him that they were very sorry when the
ringing of a bell summoned them back to their seats, where they were
kept until three o'clock in the afternoon, when school was over for the
day.

At home that evening Bert recounted his experiences to three very
attentive listeners, and his face grew very grave when he came to tell
what Ernest had said about the "hoisting." Having never witnessed a
performance of this peculiar rite by which for many years it had been
the custom of the school to initiate new members, Bert had no very clear
ideas about it, and, of course, thought it all the more dreadful on that
account. But his father cheered him a great deal by the view he took of
it.

"See, now, Bert," said he. "It's just this way. Every boy in Dr.
Johnston's school has been hoisted, and none of them, I suppose, are any
the worse for it. Neither will you be. Take my advice and don't resist.
Let the boys have it all their own way, and they'll like you all the
better, and let you off all the easier."

"Very well, father, I'll do just as you say," responded Bert. "And when
I come home to-morrow afternoon I'll tell you all about it." And feeling
in much better spirits than he had been in all day, Bert went off to
bed, and to sleep, as only a tired schoolboy in sturdy health can
sleep.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE HOISTING.

Mrs. Lloyd gave Bert a more than usually affectionate kiss as he started
off for school next morning, and his father called after him:

"Remember, Bert, quit you like a man."

Yet who could blame the little fellow if his heart throbbed with
unwonted vigour all that morning, and that he watc