The guard house
won't hold us all," replied Redman.

"Let us have a plan about it. We will get up a regular mutiny," said
Nevers. "If we can get a hundred fellows to go with us, we shall make
the old man cave in."

"Good, Nevers! Let all the fellows that will join meet under the big
oak by the river, at five o'clock, or as soon as we get out of school.
Let each fellow talk it round in a quiet way, but don't let the
teachers hear a word."

"Will you be there, Grant?" asked Nevers.

"I don't know. I will see."

"Don't know?" said Nevers. "Don't you see all the fellows are in for
it?"

"I will think of it," replied Richard, as he walked away.

CHAPTER XIX.

RICHARD IS DETERMINED, AND SOME ALLUSION IS MADE TO "WATERMELONS."

There had been a time when Richard Grant would have desired no better
fun than to engage in such a mutiny as that proposed by Nevers and
Redman; and he was not yet so far removed from his evil propensities as
to be able to decline the proposition. The boys of the Institute
believed they had a real grievance, for it seemed harsh and needless to
deprive them of some of their best hours for amusement. It looked just
as though the principal was angry because he could not ascertain who
had broken the rules of the school, and spitefully intended to punish
the innocent with the guilty.

Probably none of them intended to carry their opposition any farther
than to express their disapprobation of the new regulation. The colonel
was a universal favorite, and they had full confidence in his judgment
and his justice. Perhaps the desire to have a little fun and excitement
was the strongest motive that actuated them.

During the afternoon, the plan to redress their grievance was whispered
among the boys. "All the fellows were going to join the mutiny" was the
strongest inducement that could be used to obtain the consent of the
timid ones; and if "all were going to join," it would require a great
deal of moral courage to stand aloof from the scheme.

Richard was sorely perplexed. With the others, he felt that the new
regulation was arbitrary and unnecessary; and such a scrape as the boys
proposed was exactly in accordance with his antecedents. He wanted to
join for the fun of the thing, and because the rest of the boys were
going to do so. He did not like to be singular. Besides, he might
injure his popularity, and lose some of the influence he possessed, if
he refused to join.

The temptatio