On the Monday following the opening of the school Ernest Linton brought
his brother with him, a slight, pale, delicate little fellow, not more
than eight years old, who clung close to his brother's side, and looked
about with a frightened air that was sufficient in itself to arouse
one's sympathies. Bert and Frank had known him before, but Teter had
never seen him, and his kind heart prompted him to go up and slap the
little fellow kindly on the back, saying:

"So you're Linton's brother Paul, eh? Cheer up, little chap; we'll see
they're not too hard upon you."

Paul's pale face brightened, and looking up with a grateful glance, he
said, softly:

"Thank you, sir."

Teter laughed at being "sirred," and went off, feeling quite pleased
with himself.

According to the custom of the school, Paul would be hoisted at the
mid-day recess of the following day, and the boys looked forward eagerly
to the struggle for which they had been preparing. During the morning
their thoughts clearly were not upon the lessons, and so many mistakes
were made that the shrewd doctor suspected there must be something
brewing, but preferred to let it reveal itself rather than to interfere
by premature questions. He was a profound student of human nature, and
especially of boy nature. He knew his boys as thoroughly as an Eastern
shepherd ever knew his sheep. They were like open books before him, and
in this perhaps more than in anything else lay the secret of his rare
success as a teacher.

When the eagerly expected recess came, all the boys, with the exception
of a small group, poured out tumultuously into the street, and ranged
themselves in two bands in close proximity to the door. The group that
remained consisted of the two Lintons, Bert, Frank, and Teter, the
latter three constituting a sort of body-guard for poor timorous little
Paul, who shrank in terror from the ordeal, the nature of which in truth
he did not fully understand. Having consulted together for a minute or
two, the body-guard then moved out through the door, taking care to keep
Paul in the middle. As they emerged into the street, a kind of hum of
suppressed excitement rose from the crowd awaiting them, followed
immediately by cries of "Hoist him! hoist him!" uttered first by Graham
and Wilding, and quickly taken up by their supporters.

Pale with fright, Paul cowered close to Teter, while Bert and Frank
stood in front of him, and their supporters quickly encircled them.