"Well, Mr. Tetlow, I'll have to say that I don't know anything about
it. I didn't drop my knife there, I'm sure."

"Then someone else must have done it. Be careful now, Bert. I don't
want to be hasty, but it looks to me very much as though you were one
of the boys who had played this trick--a trick that has made
considerable trouble. I am sure there must have been others concerned
with you, and I am almost positive that you had a hand in it.

"Now I am not going to ask you to tell tales against your companions.
I don't believe in that sort of thing. But I am very sorry that you
did not admit at first that you had a share in rolling the big ball.
Very sorry, Bert."

"But, Mr. Tetlow, I didn't do it!" cried poor Bert, the tears coming
into his eyes. "I don't know how my knife got there, but I do know I
didn't help roll that ball. Please believe me; won't you?"

For a moment the principal was silent. Then he said slowly:

"Bert, I would very much like to believe you, for I have always found
you a good, manly and upright boy. But the evidence is strong against
you I am sorry to say. And this trick was one I can not easily
overlook. Rolling the snowball on the steps was bad enough, but when
water was poured over it, to freeze, and become ice, making it so much
harder to clean off, it made matters so much worse.

"Besides making a lot of work for the janitor, there was danger that
some of the teachers might slip on the icy path and be injured. If
your knife had only been found lying on top of the ice I might think