Page:The spirit of the leader (IA spiritofleader00heyl).pdf/275

 "No," Bristow said after a silence. "He doesn't know what we've been thinking, and he'd only be hurt. Once I had though of taking a little dig at him in the Breeze. Gosh, doesn't it make you feel good to know that Northfield has graduates like that!"

Thy stalwart sons forever true, Praska's thoughts ran, and he smiled as he walked with the editor into the building. The shrine again stood clean and whole. Carlos Dix was the Carlos Dix he had thought him. Some day he, too, might be able to come back to Northfield and offer service. The vision thrilled him.

The corridors and stairways hummed with excited speculation. Praska, as he entered the main doorway, was besieged by eager questioners. Did the Northfield Congress know anything about this fund? He shook his head, and pushed his way past them, and went up to Room 13.

There fresh clamor greeted him. All attempts to wheedle information from Mr. Banning, Perry King said, had failed.

"There's something in the wind, though," Perry told him excitedly. "Mr. Banning won't deny that Northfield graduates have started a fund, but he won't say a word about what the fund is for. What do you make of that?"

Praska didn't know what to make of it.