dr. musgrave was so occupied with thoughts of the punishment that he proposed to inflict on the poor boy whom he had captured that he did not notice the visitors, who stood at one side of the path leading to his office.

simon brought up the wagon in front of the gate.

dr. musgrave jumped out, and then extended his hand to vivian bell.

“give me your hand!” he said gruffly.

the poor boy tremblingly held out his hand, which was grasped roughly by the tyrant. he was jerked out with no gentle motion.

“now, simon, give me the whip!”

dr. musgrave grasped it, and seizing vivian by the collar, began to push him before him up the path.

guy and august locke looked on in disgust and anger.{123}

“speak to him, mr. locke,” whispered guy.

“dr. musgrave!” said august, in a clear, cold voice.

then for the first time the head master turned his attention to the newcomers.

“i will be at your service in a few moments,” he said, waving his hand.

he thought that august locke wished to enter guy at his school.

“that will not do, dr. musgrave. i wish your attention now!”

dr. musgrave, whose temper was none of the best, took umbrage at this.

“you will have to wait!” he said, sharply. “i have to mete out justice to this young rascal, who had the audacity to run away from me. i have just recovered him, and i intend to flog him in the presence of the school. you can be present, if you like.”

“dr. musgrave,” said locke, sternly, “this flogging shall not take place!”

“what!” exclaimed the head master, with blazing eyes. “do you come here to interfere with my discipline?”

“i do; or rather we do.”

“i never heard of such audacity!” exclaimed dr. musgrave, fairly aghast.{124}

“is not this boy vivian bell?”

“yes.”

“then you shall not flog him!”

dr. musgrave was exasperated beyond endurance. he had been accustomed to move among his pupils like an eastern despot, with no one bold enough to oppose him.

“this is my answer,” he said, grasping the whip, and lashing vivian across the legs, eliciting a cry of pain.

“and this is mine!” said august locke.

he snatched the whip from the head master, grasped him by the collar, and with all the strength he possessed rained down blows across the teacher’s legs.

dr. musgrave shrieked with anger and dismay. as he did so he let go of vivian bell.

guy instantly drew the trembling boy to his side.

“what do you mean by this outrage?” demanded dr. musgrave. “give me back that whip!”

“you cannot be trusted with it,” said locke, coolly.

dr. musgrave, fairly boiling with passion, made a spring for vivian, but august locke anticipated the movement, and brought down the whip over the head master’s shoulders.{125}

“boys, come to the help of your teacher!” shrieked musgrave.

not a boy stirred except simon.

he ran forward, and tried to attack vivian bell.

guy let go of vivian, and with a well-directed blow stretched simon on the ground.

“what do you mean by this outrage? who are you?” asked the head master, pale and agitated.

“i, sir, am august locke, once your pupil,” replied locke. “i am paying you off for some of your former brutality.”

“i will have you arrested—yes, and you, too!” shaking his head at guy.

“let me introduce my young companion, dr. musgrave,” went on locke. “he is master guy fenwick. he comes here as the agent of mr. john saunders, of bombay, the guardian of vivian bell.”

“is this true?” asked the head master, bewildered and incredulous.

“yes, sir,” answered guy. “i came here to find out how the boy was treated, but i have seen for myself. i withdraw him from your school. he is no longer a pupil of yours!”

vivian bell’s expression changed at once. he looked overjoyed.{126}

“oh!” he said, “is this true?”

“yes,” answered guy, putting his hand caressingly on the boy’s shoulder. “i shall take you away with me.”

dr. musgrave, though still shaking with anger, was not wholly destitute of prudence.

“gentlemen,” he said, “before anything is decided upon, i wish to explain that this boy has committed a daring act of rebellion, an act which merits summary punishment.”

vivian looked up nervously into guy’s face, but the expression he saw there reassured him.

“yes, sir; he ran away,” said august locke, “and any boy would be justified in running away under the circumstances.”

“sir,” said dr. musgrave, striving to recover some of his lost dignity, “in a school like this there must be discipline.”

“yes, but not brutality.”

“you have evidently been misinformed as to the character of my discipline. it is firm, but parental.”

“dr. musgrave,” retorted august locke, with a disgust which he could not conceal, “you forget that i was a former pupil of yours. of all the abominable tyrants to be found in english schools, i think you carry off the palm.”{127}

“i had hoped, mr. locke—i remember you now—that your maturer judgment would have enabled you to understand the reason of my occasional severity. my own conscience justifies me in what i have done.”

“then you have a peculiar conscience; that is all i have to say.”

“if this boy—as i can hardly believe—represents bell’s guardian, i will describe to him the flagrant acts of disobedience of which his ward has been guilty. surely he will not justify a pupil in running away from his school!”

“under the circumstances i do, sir.”

“i trust you will leave bell here till the end of the term, four weeks hence.”

vivian bell looked alarmed.

“i must decline to do so, dr. musgrave.”

“i shall, under the rules of the school, charge to the end of the term.”

“you can do so, sir, but i shall withdraw vivian to-day.”

“i claim the right, before he leaves, to inflict punishment for the act of rebellion of which he has been guilty.”

“so it would afford you satisfaction to flog him, dr. musgrave?” said august locke, with a sarcastic smile.{128}

“no, sir. i am always pained when i have to chastise a pupil, but it is necessary to the maintenance of my authority over the other boys that bell’s offense should not go unpunished.”

“your authority will have to take care of itself, dr. musgrave. you are fortunate that i do not punish you for your past brutality!”

“mr. locke, a higher-handed outrage was never perpetrated than your interference with my authority, and your assault upon myself.

“you are quite welcome to take any view of it you choose. guy, i think you ought to take immediate steps toward the withdrawal of your young ward.”

“dr. musgrave, will you direct that my ward’s trunk be packed, and all made ready for his departure? when this is done i will settle your bill.”

“i protest once more against your remarkable proceedings. i shall write to mr. saunders and complain of them.”

“you are at liberty to do so. in the meanwhile, please have the boy’s clothes packed.”

the humiliation of dr. musgrave was the greater because nearly all his pupils had been witnesses of it. though they had not manifested their feelings in any way, there was not one, except simon,{129} his son, who was not rejoiced when they saw the tables turned upon their tyrannical teacher.

dr. musgrave hesitated, but guy’s bold, resolute bearing convinced him that opposition would be useless.

if he could have retained vivian bell to the end of the term he would have had an opportunity to make him suffer, and thus obtained some satisfaction; but guy saw through his scheme, and resolutely vetoed it. he would not allow vivian to remain an hour longer, but declared his intention of taking him away with him at once.

when the doctor went inside to give orders about packing vivian’s trunk, jim rawdon went up to guy and shook hands with him.

“you are a brave boy,” he said. “i never enjoyed myself more than i have in the last half hour. it was fun to see the doctor under the lash.”

“i wish you could leave the school, too,” said guy.

“i shall soon. i am in no danger of a flogging, though. the doctor doesn’t dare to flog me.”