"It's Palmer!" Meg guessed instantly, "He must have hit the
fence!"

She turned and ran from the room, leaving Miss Mason to reason
out, if she could, what connection Palmer's howling had with
hitting the fence.

Meg slid down the banisters, as the quickest way to reach the
door, and was just in time to see Mr. Carter, the principal, run
from his office out into the yard. Mr. Carter was really principal
of the grammar school, where he spent most of his time, leaving
the primary grades under the control of Miss Wright, the vice-
principal. But he spent a certain number of days each month in the
primary school office and the pupils soon discovered that he knew
quite as well as Miss Wright what was going on in the lower
grades.

"Oh, my!" gasped Meg as she sped after Mr. Carter. "I didn't know
he was going to be here to-day. I wonder if Palmer is hurt much?"

Whether Palmer was badly hurt or not, he was certainly making a
great noise. He continued to scream, "at the top of his lungs,"
Norah would have said.

"Ow! Ow!" wailed Palmer. "Ow-wow!"

"Here, here, boy, nothing can be as bad as that sounds," said Mr.
Carter, pushing his way in among the children and stooping down to
Palmer, who was huddled in a heap on the ground, his feet and the