Bert did not answer, but quit the house moodily. He encountered some of "his own set," but they were not a very cheerful-looking lot that morning. Not one of the "soreheads" could escape the conviction that Dick Prescott held the whip hand of public opinion over them. What none of them appreciated, was the moderation with which young Prescott had wielded his weapon. Dodge, Bayliss, Paulson and Hudson entered the High School grounds together, that morning, ten minutes before opening time. As the quartette passed, several of the little groups of fellow students ceased their talk and turned away from the four "soreheads." Then, after the quartette had passed, quiet little laughs were heard. All four mounted the steps of the building with heightening color. Before the door, talking together, stood Fred Ripley and Purcell, whom the "soreheads" had endeavored to enlist. "Good morning, Purcell. Morning, Ripley," greeted Bayliss. Fred and Purcell wheeled about, turning their backs without answering. Once inside the building the four young fellows looked at each other uneasily. "Are the fellows trying to send us to coventry?" demanded Dodge. "Oh, well," muttered Bayliss, "there are enough of us. We can stand it!" Yet, at recess, the "soreheads" found themselves extremely uncomfortable. None of their fellow-students, among the boys, would notice them. Whenever some of the "soreheads" passed a knot of other boys, low-toned laughs followed. Even many of the girls, it proved, had taken up with the Coventry idea. "Fellows, come to my place after you've had your luncheons," Bayliss whispered around among his cronies, after school was out for the day. "I---I guess there are a---a few things that we want to talk over among ourselves. So come over, and we'll use the carriage house for a meeting place. Maybe we'll organize a club among ourselves, or---or---do something that shall shut us out and away from the common herd of this school." When the dozen or more met in the Bayliss carriage house that afternoon there were some defiant looks, and some anxious ones. "I don't know how you fellows feel about this business," began Hudson frankly. "But I've had a pretty hot grilling at home by Dad. He asked me if I belonged to the 'sorehead' gang. I answered as evasively as I could. Then dad brought his list down on the table and told me he prayed that I wouldn't go through life with any false notions about my personal dimensions. He told me, rather explosively, that I would never be a bit bigger, in anyone's estimation than I proved myself to be." "Hot, was he?" asked Bayliss, with a half sneer. "He started out that way," replied Hudson. "But pretty soon Dad became dignified, and asked me where I had ever gotten the notion that I amounted to any more than any other fellow of the same brain caliber." "What did you tell him? asked Bert Dodge, frowning.