he school. But there were parties on the
watch, as the orderly found when he reached the upper hall, for there he
encountered the tall Kentuckian, Dixon, who at once took him to task.

"What made you wuzzle the flag up in that shape?" he demanded, in no
friendly tones. "Put it down here on the floor and fold it as it should
be, or off comes your head."

The orderly looked at Dixon, and then at the boys who stood behind him,
but he could not see a single one of Rodney Gray's followers among them.
Having no one to back him up he dared not refuse to obey the order, for
he was well aware that he would get into trouble if he did. He folded
the flag, and the tall student went with him to make sure that he
delivered it to the commandant in good order. He saw it placed on the
bureau in the colonel's room, and then posted off to tell Dick Graham
all about it.

Supper was over at last; darkness came on apace, and as usual the
students gathered in the corridors to discuss the situation. They did
not seem to remember that there was a law forbidding this very thing,
and the guards did not remind them of it, or try to send them to their
rooms, for, besides being interested parties themselves, they knew by
past experience that the boys would not pay the least attention to their
commands.

These discussions were always conducted with more or less noise and
hubbub, according to the humor the debaters happened to be in, but now
one and all seemed bent on raising a row. They all talked at once, fists
were flourished in the air and pretty close to the noses of some of the
disputants, and finally the lie was passed, and Rodney Gray and several
other students in the lower hall proceeded to "mix up" promiscuously.
Dick Graham was not among them. He stood at the head of the stairs,
where he could see all that was going on without being seen himself.
When the leaders of the opposing sides ceased their arguments and came
to blows, and on being separated by their respective friends surged
through the door toward the parade, where the matter in dispute could be
settled by a fair fight, Dick sprang into life and action and hurried to
the commandant's room.

"Sounds something like a row below," said the orderly in a careless,
indifferent tone. "Who's in for a black eye this time?"

"Run in and tell the colonel to come out, or there'll be a riot here
before he knows it," replied Dick hastily. "Don't your ears tell you
that the fellows are all