“I’d rather not say who they were, if you please, sir. But I know they intended it as a sort of joke on the school. I tried to stop them, and I did, but I was too late――” “So you were on the side of law and order, were you?” asked Mr. Collins ironically. “Very fine of you, Burtis. Then you don’t deny that you were present at the time?” “N-no, sir; that is, I was――was nearby.” “Who did that electric torch you had belong to?” “My roommate, Harold Towne.” “Hm. Where was Towne at the time?” “In bed, sir.” “You’re certain of that?” “Yes, sir. I waited until he was asleep before I went out.” “Were the others there when you arrived?” “No, sir.” “You had to wait for them? How long?” “I――I don’t know exactly; about twenty minutes, I guess.” “Where did you wait?” “On the steps of Oxford, sir.” “I see. You had the paint with you then?” “No, sir! I didn’t have anything to do with the paint. You――you don’t understand, Mr. Collins!” “I’m trying to, my boy, but you won’t help me. You acknowledge that you took part in the affair――” “No, sir, really! I had nothing to do with it. I went out to try and stop them.” “That’s rather a hard pill to swallow, Burtis. How did you know that ‘they’ were going to do it?” “I overheard them talking about it in the afternoon, sir.” “Why didn’t you try to stop them then?” “I――I didn’t know them well enough.” Mr. Collins was plainly puzzled. Kendall looked as though he were telling the truth, but Mr. Collins had had many disillusionments in his time. He moved impatiently. “Burtis,” he said, “here are the clear facts of the case. I found you last night at almost eleven o’clock coming into the dormitory with an electric torch in your hand. This morning the flagpole is found daubed with green paint――the color of the Third Class, of which you are a member――and a paint pot and two brushes are found nearby. As circumstantial evidence that looks pretty conclusive, doesn’t it?” Kendall sadly acknowledged that it did. It was his first encounter with Circumstantial Evidence and he was forced to own that Circumstantial Evidence was getting the better of him. “Well,” resumed the Assistant Principal, “now you confess that you were aware of the project, that you were present, know the other participators――” “Only by sight, sir!” interrupted Kendall. “You mean that you don’t know their names?” “Yes, sir! No, sir; I mean that I don’t!” “Um; members of your class, however, are they not?” “No, sir.” “What! Then why the green paint?” “Because――because――” But Kendall couldn’t answer that without informing on the Broadwood fellows. “Well?” “It wasn’t used because it was a class color, sir; it――it had another significance.” And Kendall found time to be secretly proud of that word before Mr. Collins went on: “Now you tell me that you went out there to prevent the others from doing what they had planned to do. What method did you intend to use, Burtis?” “I meant to scare them away.”