CHAPTER XIV
THE HONOR MEDAL
Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks were released from their harnesses, and the"pillows" were taken off their feet and hands, they went to oppositeends of the gymnasium and had nothing to say to each other.
Barry did not mention the foul blow and its punishment, and none of thesmaller boys dared speak of it. It was certain, however, that theintimacy of the only two boys in the school inclined to bully thesmaller ones had taken a decided set back.
The fun of the "poguey fight" was not to end so quickly, however. Someof the bigger boys caught Pee Wee and Mouser Pryde, and fastened theminto the harness and put the mufflers on their feet and hands.
The fat boy and his chum made no decided remonstrance, and when theywere swung up, they made an earnest endeavor to give the fellows all thefun they were looking for. Their gyrations certainly were amusing, andBobby and Fred laughed as loudly as any of the other boys.
But when the fat boy and Mouser were let down, and Max and Barry grabbedthe chums from Clinton, for a moment, Fred was inclined to cut up rough.
"Aw, be a sport, Fred!" said Bobby, earnestly. "If Pee Wee can stand it,_we_ can."
So Fred thought better of "getting mad" and for a while the two friendsswung in the air and punched and kicked at each other to the delight ofthe other boys. Bobby was very careful not to anger the red-haired lad,and they came through the poguey fight with smiling faces. It was bornein upon Bobby's mind more and more that Fred Martin was going to havedifficulty in keeping out of trouble in this new environment.
At eleven o'clock the whole school filed up to the hall on the secondfloor. None of the teachers were present and there was some littleconfusion and noise at first.
Barry stepped forward and held up a hand for silence. "You fellowsbetter take a tumble to yourselves," he said calmly. "You want to showthe Doctor that you don't have to be watched all the time. You allknow--at least, all of you but Bobby Blake and Fred Martin, and they arenot making the noise--that _this_ isn't the place for skylarking.
"We had our fun downstairs. I hear the Doctor coming now. Let's givehim a Rockledge cheer when he comes in and then--silence!"
The door opened as he ceased speaking and the tall, heavy-set principalwith his quiet smile and pleasant eyes peering through the thick lensesof his glasses, appeared.
Captain Gray raised his hand again. The roomful of boys sprang to theirfeet. Bobby noted that many of them placed their left hands upon thelittle blue and white enameled button that they wore on the lapels oftheir coats, as they shouted in unison:
"One, two, three--_boom_! Boom--Z-z-z--ah! Rockledge! Rockledge! Sword and star! Who's on top? We sure are-- _Rock_-ledge!"
Bobby and Fred had both noticed the blue and white buttons with the starand sword upon them, but they did not know what they meant. Now Bobbyguessed that there was some society, or inner circle at Rockledge Schoolthat they, as newcomers, knew nothing about.
All the boys did not belong to it. Pee Wee did not wear a button, nordid many of the fellows from their dormitory. Bill Bronson and JackJinks did not possess the badge, either.
Meanwhile, Doctor Raymond, smiling and bowing, approached the rostrum.Bobby--his mind always on the alert--noted the little blue and whitespot against the dead black of the doctor's coat.
"Well, boys! I am extremely obliged to you, I am sure," said theDoctor, bowing again. "I am just as sensitive to compliments as thenext person. I hope you will always be as glad to see me as you appearto be at this moment.
"Now, I shall not detain you for long. You know my little lectures haveusually the saving grace of brevity. We have come together once more toface a year of study. Let us face it like real men! Star and sword, myboys! The star we are aiming for, and the Sword of Determination willhew our way to the goal.
"There! I will give you no homilies. There are but two new boys withus this year--Robert Blake and Frederick Martin. Give them a warmwelcome. They only do not understand about our Medal of Honor."
He suddenly opened his large hand and displayed in its palm afive-pointed gold star, at least two inches across, and with a beautifulblue-velvet background.
"Here it is--all ready for the engraving. At the close of the schoolyear, this medal will be presented to the one among you who has won itby studiousness, good conduct, manliness and general popularity.
"It is not always the boy who sets out to win the medal who really_does_ win it. You, who are older, know _that_. We teachers try not toinfluence the opinion of the school in the choice of the recipient ofthe Honor Medal.
"The winner must stand well in his classes, or he cannot have thefaculty vote. His deportment must be good, or we teachers cannot votefor him. But you boys yourselves must--after all--choose the winner.
"There are fifty of you in Rockledge School. You have each,individually, a better chance to understand your neighbors' charactersthan anybody else. You are quick to find out if there is something_fine_ in a lad's temper. You will soon learn the one who restrainshimself under provocation, who bears insult, perhaps, with confidence inhis own uprightness; who keeps straight on his way without turning asidebecause of any temptation.
"_That_ is the sort of a lad who will win this Medal of Honor,"concluded the Doctor, very seriously. "Any boy--even the youngest--maysecure it. It does not have to go to the boy at the top of his class,nor to the oldest boy in the school. You little chaps stand just as gooda chance for it as Captain Gray," and he rested his hand upon BarryGray's shoulder for an instant as though there was some secretunderstanding between him and the captain of the school.
"Now, I have talked enough. School will begin in earnest on Monday.Remember, bounds are as usual. You little fellows, see Barrymore, orsome of the masters, if you are not sure of a thing. And remember thatmy office door is never locked."
He went out quickly at the door behind the platform. Somehow, the boysfelt rather serious, and there was no shouting or fooling as they filedout and down the stairs to the open air.
"Say! that was a handsome gold medal he showed us," said Fred, withenthusiasm, to Bobby.
"Wasn't it?" returned his chum, with sparkling eyes.
"I'd like to get that myself," admitted the red-haired one.
"Didn't I tell you, you'd have no chance at _that_, Ginger?" chuckledPee Wee's voice behind them.
"I see it," admitted Fred, without getting angry. "But it would be fineto win it, just the same."
So Bobby thought. He remembered what his mother had said to him on oneoccasion, and wondered if it were possible for _him_ to win the goldmedal and present it to her when she returned from that far journeywhich she and his father were soon to take.
"She certainly would be proud of me then," thought Bobby Blake. "Iguess she'd think after _that_, it would be safe to leave me aloneanywhere--yes, sir! And I certainly would like to own such a medal."
This set his mind to thinking upon the fact that at daybreak the verynext morning the ship on which his parents had bought their stateroomwould sail from New York. They were already on the train which wouldbear them to the coast.
After they sailed it would be a long time before he could even expect apicture post-card from them--a month, at least. And _then_, they wouldbe thousands of miles away!
He slipped away from Fred and Pee Wee and went into one of theschoolrooms. There was a big globe there, and he timidly turned thisaround and around until he found the pink splotch of color which markedBrazil.
There was the gaping mouth of the Amazon, with the big island dividingit, and the river on the south side, against which was the black dotmarking the city of Para--where his parents would land.
He thought of all he had ever heard or been taught about theAmazon--"that Mighty River." He knew how the current of the vast streammet the ocean tides and fought with them for supremacy. He knew how theriver overflowed its banks in the r
ainy seasons and covered vast areasof forest and plain.
The trader's station, to which his parents were bound, was a thousandmiles up the Amazon, and then five hundred miles more up another river.Why--why, if he fell ill, or anything--
He never realized until this moment just what it would mean to have hismother and father so far away. It had been great fun to come toRockledge to school. He liked it here. He hoped he would learn, andadvance, and win his way with both the boys and the teachers.
But to have a mother and father so many, many miles away--especially tohave a mother going away from one just as fast as steam could take her--
Bobby Blake put his arm on the big globe, and laid his face against hisjacket-sleeve. His shoulders shook.
Bobby Blake at Rockledge School; or, Winning the Medal of Honor Page 14
