ed his hands and gave a loud, joyful,
"Ha! ha!"

The eyes of the whole school were on him in an instant, and the
faculty turned around to discover the source and cause of the
disorder. But Belton had come to himself as soon as he made the noise,
and in a twinkling was as quiet and solemn looking as a mouse.

The faculty resumed its conference and the students passed the query
around as to what was the matter with the "newcomer." A number tapped
their heads significantly, saying: "Wrong here." How far wrong were
they! They should have put their hands over their hearts and said:
"The fire of patriotism here;" for Belton had here on a small scale,
the gratification of the deepest passion of his soul, viz., Equality
of the races. And what pleased him as much as anything else was the
dignified, matter of fact way in which the teacher bore his honors.
Belton afterwards discovered that this colored man was vice-president
of the faculty.

On a morning, later in the session, the president announced that the
faculty would hold its regular weekly meeting that evening, but that
he would have to be in the city to attend to other masters. Belton's
heart bounded at the announcement. Knowing that the colored teacher
was vice-president of the faculty, he saw that he would preside.
Belton determined to see that meeting of the faculty if it cost him no
end of trouble. He could not afford, under any circumstances, to fail
to see that colored man preside over those white men and women.

That night, about 8:30 o'clock, when the faculty meeting had
progressed about half way, Belton made a rope of his bed clothes and
let himself down to the ground from the window of his room on the
second floor of the building. About twenty yards distant was the
"mansion," in one room of which the teachers held their faculty
meetings. The room in which the meeting was held was on the side of
the "mansion" furthest from the dormitory from which Belton had
just come. The "mansion" dog was Belton's friend, and a soft whistle
quieted his bark. Belton stole around to the side of the house, where
the meeting was being held. The weather was mild and the window was
hoisted. Belton fell on his knees and crawled to the window, and
pulling it up cautiously peeped in. He saw the colored teacher in
the chair in the center of the room and others sitting about here and
there. He gazed with rapture on the sight. He watched, unmolested, for
a long while.

One of the lad