What made the whole situation worse, to one of Praska's mood, was that Merritt had been warned. Perry King, wearing the Safety Committee emblem on his arm, had gone to him immediately the corridor disorders had started.
"A gang out there's been rushing and jostling on the stairs," he had said. "Big Jim Fry's the ringleader. They'll try it out at the next period bell—they always do if they get away with it once. We'll jump in and order them back into line as soon as it starts. That will put a quick bee on funny work in the halls."
Merritt, whose spirit was docile, whose nature was timid, who lacked the iron to dare, grew alarmed at the suggestion. "We haven't any authority to do that."
"Have they any authority to crowd on the stairs and break the lines? Hasn't a citizen the right to stop a crime if he sees it being committed? Didn't we learn that in our civics? What those fellows are doing is a school crime. If somebody's got to take a chance on maybe going a step too far, isn't it better for us to take that step on the right side than for them to take it on the wrong?"
Merritt had been unable to make up his mind.
Perry had shrugged his thin, narrow shoulders and had gone off, to complain bitterly to his friends, in confidence, that what the Safety Com-
