Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-01

made McPherson laugh again.
by Salisbury" Lofty meant the superin-
tendent of the academy.
Among the, cadets. who composed the
coter,e generally spoken of by Rankin and
McPherson and their ilk. as "our fellows,
this was the customary way Of alluding to
tnas gentleman among themselves.
'Supposing | had been the worst fellow
IN the school. amt | as good today as Dick
Brant ISL" asked Lofty, with emphasis.
Wasn't Brant the worst fellow in the schools
He was" assented Thad, retrospectively;
and he was good friend of mine. then.
We're strangers now"
.'''How did Brant come to be favorite
with with the faculty. I'd like to know?n said
nonnJ.d r.oIry as though he believed he had pro-
BY turning over new leaf and becom-
ing,A !sA good boy" was Thads pithy response.
No sir! BY favoritism-nothing but fa-
v9rltlsm! 1t is favoritism that rules this
You don't know the story about Brant
or you wouldn't say that" averred McPher-
son, IN tone of voice he had not used here
tciore. and Which made Lofty look hard at
d did youa you Nas neyer W Tsay did hear the story
The most of the fellows that are familiar
with 1t have left the academy graduated,
you know. | was to have been graduated,
but l lost year. Brant is taking post
graduate eourse-that's how he happens to
DS DaSi> itSfS lib year.
again. N-s'e
1T isn't long story, but you may be able
to pick moral out of it that will do you
good. Brant was the worst fellow in the
school in those daysI believe he'd tell you
plot or other, just like you. He got up re-
bellion, and twenty of US felIows--I was one
OF thenf-broke away one night and captured
a vessel over at Petoskey. We sailed her Q5;n-y
to, fho NJ ~~ x<l,t
ianily dows the s. bay. 'aS I'VE s' fortified one, 81
the islands, threw up an abattis across a NY
row neck of land on the top of a bluff, and
pitched camp"
carried it through? ~ observed Lofty II
never gave Brant credit for SO much brains
and spunk. He seems now just like the
rest of the lambs. that run to the fold every
time Salisbury any of the profs are heard
to bleat"
"Brant didn't carry the scheme through.
We had a gang of town fellows aboard
they had hid in the hold of the schooner
and one night they stole all of our provi-
sions."
It was Lofty's turn now to laugh, and he
did not miss the opportunity.
I'm willing to acknowledge that there is
funny side to the story" said Pherson,
but it didn't end funny at all. We had
fight with the villagers, and got the worst of
it. They, with the help of two officers from
tiIt dtdQcu1y, WHO udpptH6Q dtOuB JUST dt tuC
right time took Brant prisoner and made off
with our vessel. Then storm came up, and
the vessel was wrecked, and Brant came very
rear being. drowned One of the funkeys
saved his life"
"And then Brant reformed, and became
good boy ever after" said Lofty, with
story! But why didn't You reform too?
You might have won berth on board the
Venture yourself if you had"
II didn't exactly reform, that's fact
acknowledged Mcpherson, seriously, but
didn't get into any more scrapcs right away
in fact, that was my last one.
1T took all the nerve odt Of you, then?
wouldn't let one failure take the nerve out
of me, can tell you. And I'll bet if had
the backing of twenty, or even dozen. good
fellows, / would get up scheme that would
discount Brant's. l would make it success,
too"
'erhats just the way Brant used to talk.
but he never did succeed don't believe
that schemes are any good anyway. You
only get brought up with a round turn if you
go into them, and get the laugh from every
body in the school,"
@But if the scheme did work?' persisted
"What scheme ~ demanded Thad, sharply.
"What are you driving at, Lofty Rankin?
didn't tell you that story about Brant and
his failure to get you Wat Ct work eoncoctng sl an,
many questions today, anyhow"
al was thinking about something that oc-
Cured to me just now" was the evasive an
swer.
vice: you'd better continue to do so. And
INV advice Is, to quit plotting, and do as I do
take things easy, and have as good a time
az Won Won can without getting caught at it,
Saving which, Mcpherson stood up, straight
ened his cap sqparey on MS mead, and but