ll the students above were looking down at him.
Hurriedly he glanced below. A sea of faces, in circular rows,
was turned his way.

There was no mistake about it. He was the attraction. At the same
instant when he prayed to sink through the bench out of sight a
burning anger filled his breast. What on earth had he done now?
He knew it was something; he felt it. That quiet moment seemed an
age. Then the waiting silence burst.

"_Fresh on fifth!_" yelled a student in one of the lower benches.

"FRESH ON FIFTH!" bawled another at the top of his lungs.

Ken's muddled brain could make little of the matter. He saw he was in
the fifth row of benches, and that all the way around on either side
of him the row was empty. The four lower rows were packed, and above
him students were scattered all over. He had the fifth row of benches
to himself.

"Fresh on fifth!"

Again the call rang up from below. It was repeated, now from the left of
the pit and then from the right. A student yelled it from the first row
and another from the fourth. It banged back and forth. Not a word came
from the upper part of the room.

Ken sat up straight with a very red face. It was his intention to leave
the bench, but embarrassment that was developing into resentment held
him fast. What a senseless lot these students were! Why could they not
leave him in peace? How foolish of him to go wandering about in strange
lecture-rooms!

A hand pressed Ken's shoulder. He looked back to see a student bending
down toward him.

"_Hang, Freshie!_" this fellow whispered.

"What's it all about?" asked Ken. "What have I done, anyway? I never
was in here before."

"All Sophs down there. They don't allow freshmen to go below the sixth
row. There've been several rushes this term. And the big one's coming.
Hang, Freshie! We're all with you."

"Fresh on fifth!" The tenor of the cry had subtly changed. Good-humored
warning had changed to challenge. It pealed up from many lusty throats,
and became general all along the four packed rows.

"_Hang, Freshie!_" bellowed a freshman from the topmost row. It
was acceptance of the challenge, the battle-cry flung down to the Sophs.
A roar arose from the pit. The freshmen, outnumbering the sophomores,
drowned the roar in a hoarser one. Then both sides settled back in
ominous waiting.

Ken thrilled in all his being. The freshmen were with him! That roar
told him of united strength. All in a moment he had found comrades,