ll turned to
his chum.

"We don't want any credit, do we, Gus? But we will get it just the same
when this gets out. I sort o' think our little stock has gone up about
one thousand percentum, even though we _are_ freshies."

This proved quite correct. In a few minutes a lot of freshmen had
crowded into the room and there was a sprinkling of sophs also.
Questioned eagerly, Bill explained quite freely the purpose of the
encounter and its result. Whereupon a big, fat soph declared quite
vehemently:

"Huh! They were easily licked. No pluck. You're lucky to have run into a
bunch of quitters."

"You wouldn't have quit, eh, Jumbo?" ventured another, grinning.

"Huh! Nothing like this contraption--" began the husky fellow, advancing
and laying his hand on the top cross wire.

"Not even for a little thing like this?" queried Bill, reaching the wall
button.

"Ow! Blazes! Quit! Don't! Oh, darn! Stop! Turn--it--off! E-e-e-e-e-!
Help!" And the instant the stabbing current ceased, Fatty fell back from
it and glared at Bill.

"You really can't blame them for quitting, can you?" asked Bill, and for
answer the husky soph turned and fled from the room, followed by the
jeering laughter of the crowd.

And that ended it. After Bill had asked the crowd if any or all of them
wanted to test the "convincer," as he called the electrical rigging, he
bade the onlookers who filled the hallway a pleasant _au revoir_, and
Gus again pulled the strings that closed the door.

CHAPTER V

FAME AND FINANCES

Nothing could have taken place to put the lads from Freeport on the
pedestal of fame more noticeably than this experiment. They had easily
and modestly staged a complete breakdown of the hazing habit at
Marshallton Tech. Strangely perhaps there was no blame nor suspicion put
upon Bill and Gus for the subsequent edict from the faculty forbidding
it. That seemed to be considered a natural aftermath to the news of the
electrical reception of the hazers.

The stunt did more than earn the boys a large share of fame. It made
them so deservedly popular, even with most of the upper classmen, that
they soon counted a good many friends and a considerable number of
patrons for radio construction. It is a rather odd fact that methods
already mastered by those of their own age appeal to boys more than the
teachings of their elders. So, although the students were getting, or
had got