Under the excitement and impulse of the moment Lee was the readiest to advocate this form of retribution, and the most fertile in devising plans to carry it out. But a few days later he came to Parmenter with a cloud on his face and a burden on his mind. “It’s about that Van Loan business,” he explained. “I’m half sorry I agreed to go into it. You know how strongly father is set against everything of this sort.” “Do you propose to let your father know you’re in it?” asked Parmenter, half in sarcasm. “Why, no; but he might find it out afterward.” “I see no necessity for his doing so.” “Well, I believe I’d about half as soon he knew it, as to feel guilty every time he looked at me.” “Oh, well, do as you choose, of course. Perhaps you’d better go out. But if you do, Henderson will back out, and Brace, and the whole thing will fizzle out before it’s fairly begun.” “Of course I’d hate to spoil the plans of the boys,” said Lee, hesitatingly, “and I wouldn’t if it weren’t for--” “I can’t see what objection there is,” interrupted Parmenter, “to giving such a fellow as Van Loan a little piece of humble-pie to eat. His insufferable conduct has passed all bounds, and there’s no other effective way of letting him know it. We don’t propose to hurt him physically, you understand, and the fellow can’t be hurt mentally. But we can humiliate him, and he deserves it. You can get out of it if you want to; but you’ll miss the fun, and I think after it’s over you’ll wish you’d gone.” Lee was silent for a minute, turning the matter over in his unstable mind. “Well,” he said, finally, “I don’t know; maybe I’ll go after all. I’ll see.” And he did go. Against his better judgment and truer instinct he yielded to the logic of his friend and the force of his own inclination, and joined the party. A few nights later Van Loan was waked at midnight by a movement at his bedside. He opened his eyes to see indistinct figures standing about him. He knew in an instant what it all meant; but before he could raise his head from the pillow his hands were gripped and held, and his mouth closed with a bandage so that he could not call. There was a moment of desperate but unavailing struggling on his part; then, realizing the uselessness of his attempt, he quietly submitted to the will of his captors. They took him from his bed, dressed him, blindfolded him, bound his wrists together, and led him down stairs and out-of-doors. It was all done so quickly and noiselessly that the slumbers of men in the adjoining rooms were not disturbed. The victim was hurried across the rear campus and into the protecting darkness of the college grove. Here torches were lighted, and in single file the party marched through the woods, across the corner of an open field, and then into the thicker forest beyond.