Page:Baseball Joe on the School Nine.djvu/234

220 was a disgraceful, vile piece of vandalism. The guilty one will be severely punished. Doubtless you are wondering why we sent for you. It was on account of this, which was picked up by one of the janitors in front of the statue, when he discovered its fallen position this morning."

Dr. Fillmore held out to Joe the telegram our hero had received from his father the night previous!

"Is this yours?" asked the doctor.

"Ye—yes, it came to me last night. It's from my father."

"What did you do after you got it?"

"Put it in my pocket and went out to answer it. I had permission from the proctor."

"That is right," assented that official. "But I did not see you come in."

"No, I was late. The telegraph office was not open, and I had to rouse the operator."

"When did you last see this telegram?" asked the doctor.

"I missed it soon after I started, but I concluded that I had dropped it," said Joe. Then it all came to him. The school authorities believed that the telegram had dropped out of his pocket when he was at the work of overturning the statue. In which vandalism he had no hand.