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“Didn’t he want you to go to sea?” asked Lester.

“No. He allowed me to go to the banks now and then, but when I told him that I wanted to make a regular business of it, he wouldn’t listen to me. After I got tired of trying to reason with him, I made preparations to run away from home; but he caught me at it, and bundled me off here.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“I’m not going to stay. I’ve been to school before, but I was never snubbed as I have been since I came to Bridgeport. The idea that a boy of my age should be obliged to say ‘sir’ to every little up-start who wears a shoulder-strap! I’ll not do it.”

“You’d better. If you don’t you will be in trouble continually.”

“Let the trouble come. I’ll get out of its way.”

“How will you do it?”

Huggins shut one eye, looked at Lester with the other, and laid his finger by the side of his nose.

“Oh, you needn’t be afraid to trust me,” said Lester, who easily understood this pantomime. “Those who are best acquainted with me will tell you that I am true blue. I know just how you feel. I don’t like this school any better than you do; I was sent here in spite of all I could say to prevent it. I have been snubbed by the boys in the upper classes because I spoke to them before they spoke to me, and when I see a chance to leave without being caught, I shall improve it.”