"What do you mean by keeping us out!" demanded Percy of his brother, who chanced to be the first person he encountered. "What are you talking about?" retorted Wally, extremely chagrined to discover who it was he had been helping. "We were the chaps who let you in! It was your own cads who were keeping you out. Ask them." "We thought you were Classics," said one of the offenders, letting the cat out of the bag. "Oh, you beauty! Wait till I get some of you outside," bellowed the outraged Percy. "Order! Shut up, you kids down there!" was the cry from the front. "Shut up, you kids down there!" echoed D'Arcy and Ashby on their own account. "Ranger one hundred and twenty-three. Hands up for Dangle; and if the youngsters down there don't make less noise, I'll adjourn the meeting," said the captain. This awful threat secured silence while the counting proceeded. D'Arcy's face grew longer and longer, and Wally at the back began to breathe vengeance on the world at large. "Hands down." The captain turned and said something to Clapperton; and Fisher major, who overheard what was said, looked very glum. Every one knew what was coming. "Ranger one hundred and twenty-three votes, Dangle one hundred and twenty-four. Dangle is--" The shouts of the Moderns drowned the last words, and the captain had to wait a minute before he could finish what he had to say. "The votes are very close," said he. "If any one would like, we can count again." "No, no!" cried Ranger. "It's all right. I don't dispute it." "That concludes the elections," said the captain. And amid loud cheers and counter-cheers the meeting dispersed. The prefects of Wakefield's house met that evening in Yorke's study to talk over the events of the afternoon. The captain was the only person present who appeared to regard the result of the elections with equanimity. "After all," said he, "though I'm awfully sorry about old Ranger, it seems fairer to have the officers evenly divided. There's much less chance of a row than it we were three to their one." "That's all very well," said Fisher, whose pleasure in his own election had been completely spoiled by the defeat of his friend, "if we could count on fair play. You know Dangle as well as I do. I'd sooner resign myself than have him secretary." "What rot!" said Ranger. "You'd probably only give them another man. No, we shall have to see we get fair play." "And give it, too," said the captain. "They simply packed the meeting," said Dalton, "and fetched up five juniors at the very end, who turned the scale. If our fellows had done the same, we should have been all right." "I don't see the use of growling now it's well over," said Yorke; "the great thing is to see we get the best men into the teams, and that they play up." "We hardly need go outside Wakefield's for that," said Fisher major; "they've not a man worth his salt in a football scrimmage."