n's ribs were telescoped, and there
wasn't a good shin in the house. We quit in disgust and sat around
looking at Ole. He was sitting around, too. He happened to be sitting on
Bangs, who was yelling for help. But we didn't feel like starting any
relief expedition.

Ole was some rumpled, and his clothes looked as if they had been fed
into a separator. But he was intact, as far as we could see. He was
still tied and blindfolded, and I hope to be buried alive in a
branch-line town if he wasn't getting bored.

"Vat fur yu qvit?" he asked. "It ent fun setting around har."

Then Petey Simmons, who had been taking a minor part in the assault in
order to give his wheels full play, rose and beckoned the crowd outside.
We left Ole and clustered around him.

"Now, this won't do at all," he said. "Are we going to let Eta Bita Pie
be made the laughing-stock of the college? If we can't initiate that
human quartz mill by force let's do it by strategy. I've got a plan. You
just let me have Ole and one man for an hour and I'll make him so glad
to get back to the house that he'll eat out of our hands."

We were dead ready to turn the job over to Petey, though we hated to see
him put his head in the lion's mouth, so to speak. I hated it worse than
any of the others because he picked me for his assistant. We went in
and found Ole dozing in the corner. Petey prodded him. "Get up!" he
said.

Ole got up cheerfully. Petey took the dog chain off of his legs. Then he
threw his sub-cellar voice into gear.

"Skjarsen," he rumbled, "you have passed right well the first test of
our noble order. You have faced the hideous dangers which were in
reality but shams to prove your faith, and you have borne your
sufferings patiently, thus proving your meekness."

I let a couple of grins escape into my sweater-sleeve. Oh, yes, Ole had
been meek all right.

"It remains for you to prove your desire," said Petey in curdled tones.
"Listen!" He gave the Eta Bita Pie whistle. We had the best whistle in
college. It was six notes--a sort of insidious, inviting thing that you
could slide across two blocks, past all manner of barbarians, and into a
frat brother's ear without disturbing any one at all. Petey gave it
several times. "Now, Skjarsen," he said, "you are to follow that
whistle. Let no obstacle discourage you. Let no barrier stop you. If you
can prove your loyalty by following that whistle through the outside
world and back to the altar of Eta Bita