"Easy! Dead easy! I just said, 'Six dogs'."

The laughter that rang out in the room might have been heard across the
campus; but Peter John was only slightly ruffled, and said:

"Oh, well, you fellows may laugh if you want to, but you'll find out
when you see my marks."

"They'll put you in Splinter's place as soon as you graduate," suggested
Foster when at last he regained control of himself.

"I wish they would," responded Will heartily.

"Splinter" was the term by which the Winthrop boys were accustomed to
speak of Professor Hanson, who was in charge of their Greek work. The
title did not appear in the college catalog, it was true; but it was the
only one by which he was known among the irreverent students. He was an
elderly man, whose sensitive nature had suffered for many years from the
inadequate preparation of successive classes, until at last not only
were his teeth on edge, but his entire disposition as well. He had
become somewhat soured and sarcastic in his dealings with the students,
and was more unpopular than any other professor in the college. His
scholarship was accurate. His ability to impart his knowledge to such
students as were eager to learn was also unquestioned, but for the
indifferent and lazy, or for the dull or poorly prepared, his words were
like drops of vitriol.

His popular title of Splinter had been bestowed upon him because of
certain physical characteristics however. He was a very tall man and
exceedingly thin, and the very beard which he wore imparted by its sharp