which was the same in both classes. The fourth and
fifth grades, on the other hand, were divided into a "Latin" and an
"English" branch, with quite different curricula. Boys headed for the
various professions ought to choose the former branch, while the second
one led to more practical pursuits.

"You are going to be an officer, I understand." Dally said, turning to
_primus_.

"Yes, sir," the young Jew answered with a self-importance that even
Keith could not miss. "My father wants me to try for the General Staff,
and so I have to specialize on mathematics."

"Humph," was Dally's only audible comment as he made a note, but he
looked as if he had tasted something unpleasant.

"And you, Wellander," asked the teacher.

"I am going to be an explorer," replied Keith without moment's
hesitation, and the whole class broke into a roar of laughter with Dally
joining them.

Keith, as usual, blushed a deep crimson, but did not move.

"That's neither a trade nor a profession," said Dally after a while,
still smiling. "I fear you are fuzzy-wuzzying again, Wellander. What do
you mean by an explorer?"

"One who explores rivers and deserts and unknown countries and such
things," said Keith brazenly.

"And you really mean that you are going in for that sort of thing?"

"I do," Keith insisted, while the whole class watched him in a hush that
might easily turn either into derision or into approval.

"There isn't much exploring left to be done," Dally mused, looking
intently at the small boy at the other end of the room. "Most of the
globe is mapped already."

"There is a lot left in Africa," Keith retorted eagerly.

"And what does your father say about it," was Dally's next question.

There was a long pause broken only by some gigglings by the
irrepressibles down at the bottom of the class.

"I have not asked him," Keith admitted at last. "But I am going to be an
explorer just the same."

"In these days that means you have to become a scientist," Dally
remarked in a changed tone. "It is your only chance, and so I advise
you to choose Latin. It is what I think a boy with your head should
take anyhow."

"All right, Sir," assented Keith, flattered by the last part of Dally's
remark and utterly ignorant of what his choice implied.

That evening he told his father that he had been asked whether he wanted
to enter the Latin or the English branch of the fourth grade, and that
he had chosen the former.

"Why," asked his f