"Have you enough so that we could halve a hundred--pay the fifty-dollar deficit and put fifty dollars in the bank?" "You mean you'd pay half of it if I would?" "Yep." "I--see." "Could you manage it--fifty dollars?" "Yes. Could you, Mel?" "Well, I haven't the fifty; but I have a Liberty Bond that I could sell and get the money." "That seems a shame," objected Paul. "Oh, I don't care. I'm game. Anything rather than having the whole school twit me of messing the accounts." "I don't care about being joshed, either," declared Paul. "Still--" "Something's fussing you. What is it?" "Well, you see, Mel, I've been doing extra work at home in order to earn enough money for a typewriter. I've just got it saved up. It'll have to go into this, now." "Darned hard luck, old man! Don't do it if you don't want to. Maybe I can--" "No, you can't! I wouldn't think of having you pay the whole hundred, even if you had the money right in your hand. This snarl is as much mine as yours. We probably haven't planned right. We've overlooked something and come out short." "We might let the bill run until another month, I suppose," Melville presently suggested. Paul started up. "No. We mustn't do that on any account. We might be worse off another month. I say we clear the thing right up and start fair. If you will turn in your fifty, I will," declared he, with spirit. "Bully for you! You sure are a sport, Kip." "I don't see anything else to be done." There was nothing else. Melville's "Baby Bond" was converted into cash; Paul's typewriter sacrificed; the fifty-dollar bill was paid; and the other fifty was put into the bank. The boys kept their own council and if the _March Hare_ sensed that its reputation had trembled on the brink of ruin it gave no sign. Gayly it went on its way. People began to comment on the paper as being "snappy" and "up to date"; they called it "breezy" and "wholesome." Now and then an appreciative note from a distant graduate would make glad the editorial sanctum. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the magazine became more and more the organ of speech for the community. Persons who had never ventured into print--who, perhaps, never would have ventured--summoned up courage to send to this more modest paper articles that were received with welcome. Being first efforts and words that their authors had long desired to speak they were stamped with a freshness and spontaneity that was delightful; if at times the form was faulty it was more than compensated for by the subject matter. Furthermore, many of the contributions were of excellent quality.