As Dick finished there was a murmur, and then a number of the students broke out into applause, while Tom clapped his hands as hard as he could.  Jasper Grinder stood at his desk dumbstruck, with his face growing paler each instant.

“Silence! silence!” he exclaimed, when he could control his voice.  “Silence, I say, or I will cane you all!  This is—­is most unseemly—­it is—­er—­mutiny!  Silence!”

“I mean just what I say, Mr. Grinder,” went on Dick, when he could be heard.  “You are master here, and we are bound to obey you, in certain things.  But you shan’t keep my brother in an icy room all night, and on a supper of stale bread and cold water.  Such treatment would almost make a mule sick,”

“Rover, will you be silent, or must I get the cane?” gasped Jasper Grinder, almost beside himself with rage.

“If you get your cane, sir, you won’t hit me more than once with it.”

“Won’t I?  We’ll see who is master here.”

“My gracious!  Is he really going to try to cane you, Dick!” exclaimed Tom.

“I suppose he is,” was the cool answer.  “He is so angry he doesn’t know what he is doing.”

Rushing from the classroom Jasper Grinder presently reappeared, carrying a cane which looked as if it might hurt a good deal, if vigorously applied.

Tom could not help but grin.  Dick was almost as tall as the school-teacher, and probably just as strong, and the idea of a caning appeared ridiculous in the extreme.

Caning was not allowed at Putnam Hall, but evidently Jasper Grinder meant to take matters in his own hands.

“Richard Rover, come up here,” he thundered.

“What for, sir?”

“To receive the punishment you so richly deserve.”

“Mr. Grinder, you haven’t any right to cane me.  It’s against Captain Putnam’s rules.”

“I don’t care for the rules—­I mean, you have acted in such an outrageous manner that I must do whatever I think necessary to uphold law and order.”

“I am willing to stand whatever punishment Captain Putnam sees fit to inflict.  But I shall not take a caning from you.”

“Won’t you?  We’ll see.”

As Jasper Grinder spoke he leaped from the platform and strode rapidly toward the spot where Dick was standing.

The eldest Rover did not budge, but remained where he was, eying the enraged school-teacher determinedly.

“Don’t you dare to strike!” he said warningly, as the cane was raised over his head.

“I will!” cried Jasper Grinder, and was about to bring the cane down with all force when Tom caught it from behind and wrenched it from his grasp.

CHAPTER VI.

NEWS of an old enemy.

Dick had not intended that the cane should hit him.  He was prepared to dodge.  But he wanted to make certain that Jasper Grinder would really try to carry out his ill-advised threat.