.

"Thank you, Flapp."

"Who said I was Flapp?" growled the tall boy, in dismay.

"I say so."

"My name is Brown."

"All right then, Brown let it be," said Dick, not wanting to anger the
bully too much.

The prisoner's hands were untied and a glass containing a dark-colored
mixture was handed to him. Dick had heard of the "glass of poison"
before, said glass containing nothing but mud and water well stirred
up. But now he was suspicious. This glass looked as if it might contain
something else.

"They'd as soon drug me as not," he thought. "For all I know this may
be a dose strong enough to make an elephant sick. I don't think I'll
drink it, no matter what they do."

"Prisoner, drink!" was the cry.

"Thanks, but I am not thirsty," answered Dick, as coolly as he could.
"Besides, I had my dose of mud and water a long time ago."

"He must drink!" roared Rockley.

"Get the switches!" ordered Lew Flapp, and from a corner a number of
long, heavy switches were brought forth and passed around.

Things began to look serious and it must be confessed that Dick's heart
beat fast, for he had no desire to undergo a switching at the hands of
such a cold-hearted crowd, who would be sure to lay on the strokes
heavily.

"Don't you strike me," said Dick, thinking rapidly. "I'll drink fast
enough. But I want to know one thing first."

"Well?"

"What are you going to do with me next?"

"Make you take the antidote for the poison," said Flapp.

"And what is that?"

"Another drink."

"They are going to drug me as sure as fate," reasoned Dick. "How can I
outwit them?"

While he was deliberating there was a noise outside, as a night bird
swept by the entrance to the hermit's den.

All of the masked cadets were startled and looked in that direction.

By inspiration Dick seized the moment to throw the contents of the
glass over his shoulder into a dark corner. When the crowd turned back
he had the glass turned up to his mouth and was going through the
movement of swallowing.

"Ugh! what ugly stuff," he said, handing the glass to one of the crowd.

"Ha! he has swallowed the poison!" cried Lew Flapp, and nudged Rockley
in the ribs. "That was easy, wasn't it?" he whispered.

"Give him the second glass," muttered Rockley. "That will make him as
foolish as a fiddler."

Pender already had the glass handy. He passed it to Dick, who suddenly
glared at him in an uncertain manner. Dick had smelt the liquor in the
first gl