"What! _you_ did it, and caused all this misery, you ineffable
blackguard!" shouted Upton, grasping him with one hand, while he struck
him with the other.

"Stop!" said Avonley; "just see that he doesn't escape, while we decide
on his punishment."

It was very soon decided by the sixth form that he should run the
gauntlet of the school. The boys instantly took out their handkerchiefs,
and knotted them tight. They then made a double line down each side of
the corridor, and turned Barker loose. He stood stock-still at one end,
while the fellows nearest him thrashed him unmercifully with the heavy
knots. At last the pain was getting severe, and he moved on, finally
beginning to run. Five times he was forced up and down the line, and
five times did every boy in the line give him a blow, which, if it did
not hurt much, at least spoke of no slight anger and contempt. He was
dogged and unmoved to the last, and then Avonley hauled him into the
presence of Dr. Rowlands. He was put in a secure room by himself, and
the next morning was first flogged and then publicly expelled.
Thenceforth he disappears from the history of Roslyn school.

I need hardly say that neither Eric nor his friends took any part in
this retributive act. They sat together in the boarders' room till it
was over, engaged in exciting discussion of the recent event. Most
warmly did Eric thank them for their trustfulness. "Thank you," he said,
"with all my heart, for proving my innocence; but thank you, even more a
great deal, for first believing it."

Upton was the first to join them, and since he had but wavered for a
moment, he was soon warmly reconciled with Eric. They had hardly shaken