Splash! splash! More were diving in. And now the fun and the frolic went swiftly to their height. "This is the real thing!" vented one ecstatic swimmer. "Down with 'do-re--mi-fa-sol!" "As long as we're all to be hanged together, what say if we don't go back at all to-day?" questioned Purcell. There were some affirmative shouts, but Dick, who had just stepped back on the bank for a moment shook his head. "Don't be hogs, fellows!" he urged. "Don't run a good thing into the ground. We'll have our swim, get well cooled off---and then we'd better go back looking as penitent as the circumstances seem to call for." "I guess it's the wise one talking," nodded Purcell, as he climbed to the bank preparatory to another dive. For at least twenty minutes the High School boys remained at their delightful sport. Then cries started here and there: "All out! All out!" Reluctantly the youngsters began to leave the water. "Now, don't let anyone lag," begged Purcell. "As we ran away together, we ought all to go back together." So dressing went on apace. Then the fellows began to look at each other, wonderingly. To be sure, they didn't stand so much in personal awe of the principal. But then Mr. Cantwell had the Board of Education behind him. There was Superintendent Eldridge, also, and back of it all, what parents might---oh, hang it, it began to look just a bit serious now. "Who are the heroes here?" called out one fellow. "Why?" demanded another. "Well, we need our assured brave ones to lead going back." "That's where the baseball squad comes in, then," nodded Purcell. "School nine and subs first, second team following. Then let the chilly-footed ones bring up the rear." "We can go back in column of fours," proposed Dick, as he fastened on his collar, "with no leaders or file-closers. Then it will be hard to guess at any ring-leaders." "That's the best idea yet," agreed Purcell. "Then, fellows, a block from the school, let the baseball squad form first, and then all of the rest of you fall in behind in column of fours, just as you happen along." "And keep good ranks, and march the best you know how," urged Dick. "Unyielding ranks may suggest the community idea to Prin." "Then we won't have to explain it," laughed Grady. "Oh, come, now," shouted another, "don't flatter yourselves that we're going to get out of some tall explaining." A block from the school the order was given to form fours. This was quickly done. Purcell, Dick, Darrin and Dan Dalzell composed the first four as the line turned into the yard. There at the main doorway the culprits beheld the principal. And that gentlemen certainly looked almost angry about something. The weather indications were for squalls in the High School.