from the University might not enter without invitation. And
his experience had been that students paid small respect to uniforms or
to age. In truth, he passed the building twice before he could summon
courage to touch the great brass knocker. And the arrogance of its
clamor, when at last he rapped, startled him again. But here at least he
need not have feared.

The student who was also doorkeeper eyed him kindly. "Well, comrade?" he
said.

"I am seeking a student named Haeckel, of this corps," said old Adelbert
stoutly.

And had violated all etiquette, too, had he but known it!

"Haeckle?" repeated the doorkeeper. "I think--come in, comrade. I will
inquire."

For the name of Haeckel was, just then, one curiously significant.

He disappeared, and old Adelbert waited. When the doorkeeper returned,
it was to tell him to follow him, and to lead the way downstairs.

There dawned on the old man's eyes a curious sight. In a long basement
room were perhaps thirty students, each armed with a foil, and wearing a
wire mask. A half dozen lay figures on springs stood in the center in a
low row, and before these perspiring youths thrust and parried. Some of
them, already much scarred, stood and watched. This, then, was where
the students prepared themselves for duels. Here they fought the mimic
battles that were later on to lead to the much-prized scars.

Old Adelbert stared with curious, rather scornful eyes. The rapier he
detested. Give him a saber, and a free field, and he would show them.
Even yet, he felt, he had not lost his cunning. And the saber requires
cunning as well as strength.

Two or three students came toward him at once. "You are seeking
Haeckle?" one of them asked.

"I am. I knew him, but not well. Lately, however, I have thought--is he
here?"

The students exchanged glances. "He is not here," one said. "Where did
you know him?"

"He came frequently to a shop I know of--a cobbler's shop, a
neighborhood meeting-place. A fine lad. I liked him. But recently he has
not come, and knowing his corps, I came here to find him."

They had hoped to learn something from him, and he knew nothing. "He has
disappeared," they told him. "He is not at his lodging, and he has left
his classes. He went away suddenly, leaving everything. That is all we
know."

It sounded sinister. Old Adelbert, heavy-hearted, turned away and
climbed again to the street. That gateway was closed, too. And he felt a
pang of uneasiness.