To Fred the lifting of the ban against his defending his father's name seemed the solution of all his troubles. In his joy he forgot to thank Mr. Vining, and when his remissness occurred to him he saw the form of the headmaster just entering his office. "That sure was white of him," the boy muttered to himself. "I don't believe he realized what his threat of suspension meant to me." Several of the boys had noticed Mr. Vining speaking to Fred, and as soon as the former had passed them, turned back, eager to learn what he had said. Fred, however, was not disposed to gratify their curiosity, and vouchsafed them only a smile, tantalizing in its mystery. "It must be good news," asserted Buttons, when his most diplomatic attempts to obtain the desired information had failed. "A few minutes ago your face was as long as a yardstick, and now you're grinning like a cat full of chicken." "It is good news," laughed Fred, and then the sight of the boy for whom he had sacrificed his desk suggesting an avenue of escape from his too solicitous friends, he called: "Oh, you Bronson. Come and I'll show you where you will sit. Sandow Hill had seventeen last year, so you'll probably have a lot of cleaning out to do." "It's lucky for you, Cotton-Top, that Sandow didn't hear you say that," came from a First Former. "But I shall tell him, and he'll attend to you, never fear. I don't know what Baxter is coming to when Second Formers can criticize their betters." The austerity of the First Form student frightened Bronson. "Do you suppose Mr. Hill will be angry at what you said?" he asked in a whisper. "He may pretend to be," returned Fred, "but he won't be, really. The Firsts always put on a lot of airs. If you let them, they'll make your life miserable. Just don't take what they say seriously. But there's one thing you must remember--don't talk back to them. It's one of Baxter's unwritten laws that Lower Formers must not talk back to the Firsts." "Are there many of these unwritten laws?" asked Bronson, alarmed at this constant outcropping of Baxter traditions. He was anxious not to violate any of them, and his own reception had been such as to convince him that unless he soon learned them, he would be in constant hot water. "No-o, not so very many." "Are they very hard to learn?" "Oh, you'll catch on to them soon. Just keep your eyes open and you'll learn them. There's another, though, you should know, or you'll have to stand treat to the whole First Form. When the Firsts are going to classes or coming out, you must never walk in front of them. They have the right of way, just as we Seconds do over the other forms." "Thank you, I'll remember." "You'd better. Being new, some candy-loving girl will try to get you in front of her." "But how can I help it?" "Just step to one side, and say, 'After you, my dear First Former.' It makes 'em ripping mad."