Page:Dave Porter and his Classmates.djvu/101

Rh, against the stand with the statue. The stand went over and the statue was broken."

"Wait a moment, Porter." Doctor Clay's voice was oddly strained. "Are you certain Mr. Haskers tried to strike you with the whip?"

"I certainly am, sir. He raised the whip over my head, and if I hadn't dodged I'd have been struck, and struck hard."

"Mr. Haskers tells me that he simply carried the whip to the office to subdue you—that he was afraid both of you might jump on him and do him bodily injury."

"Does he say he didn't strike at me?" cried Dave, in astonishment, for this was a turn of affairs he had not dreamed would occur.

"He says he brandished the whip when you came toward him as if to strike him."

"I made no move to strike him, Doctor Clay—Phil will testify to that."

"Dave has told the strict truth, sir," said the shipowner's son. " Mr. Haskers did strike at him, and it was only by luck that Dave escaped the blow. I thought sure he was going to get a sound whack on the head."

At these words Doctor Clay's face became a study. The teacher had had his say on Sunday afternoon, but this version put an entirely different aspect on the affair.

"Go on with your story," he said, after a pause.