Three minutes later Dick Prescott crouched low behind a line of bushes, his eyes glistening as he peered and listened. Then he began to make wildly energetic signals to Dave Darrin. The head partner of Dick & Co. had fallen upon something that interested him---tremendously! CHAPTER IV THE "SOREHEADS" IN CONCLAVE Dave Darrin came stealing over, as soft-footed as any panther. Dick did not turn around to look at his chum. He merely held up a cautioning hand, and Darrin moved even more stealthily. In another moment Dave's head was close to his chum's, and both young men were gazing upon the same scene. "Davis and Fremont-----" whispered Darrin in his chum's ear. "Bayliss, Porter and Drayne," Dick nodded back, softly. "Trenhold, Grayson, Hudson," continued Darrin. "All the 'soreheads,'" finished Dick Prescott for him. "Or nearly all," supplemented Dave. Indeed, the scene upon which these two High School boys gazed was one that greatly interested them. On a little knoll, just beyond the line of bushes, and on lower ground, fully a dozen young men lounged, basking in the morning sun, which poured through upon this small, treeless space. Though the young men down in the knoll were not carefully attired, there was a general similarity in their dress. All wore sweaters, and nearly all of them wore cross-country shoes. Evidently the whole party had been out for a cross country run. Now, the dozen or so were eagerly engaged in conversation. "It's too bad Purcell won't join us," remarked Davis. "Yes," nodded another fellow in the group; "he belongs with us." "Oh, well," spoke up Bayliss, "if Purcell would rather be with the muckers, let him." "Now, let's not be too rank, fellows," objected Hudson slowly. "I wouldn't call all the fellows muckers who don't happen to belong in our crowd." "What would you call 'em then?" growled Bayliss angrily. "Time was when only the fellows of the better families expected to go to High School, on their way to college. Now, every day-laborer's son seems to think he ought to go to High School-----" "And be received with open arms, on a footing of equality," sneered Porter. "It's becoming disgusting," muttered Bayliss. "Not only do these cheap fellows expect to go to the High School, but they actually want to run the school affairs." "I suppose that's natural, to some extent," speculated Porter. "Why?" demanded Bayliss, turning upon the last speaker in amazement. "Why, the sons of the poorer families are in a majority, nowadays," returned Hudson. "Say, you're getting almost as bad as Purcell," warned Porter. "If I am, I apologize, of course," responded Hudson. "I've no real objection to the sons of poorer men coming to the High School," vouchsafed Paulson, meditatively. "But you know the cream, the finer class of the High School student body, has always centered in the school's athletic teams. And now-----" "Yes; and now-----" broke in Bayliss harshly.