Part 13 (1/2)

”Of course, Hugh. But I don't understand.”

”Oh, what's the dif? Let's go.”

He tucked his arm in Carl's, and the two of them pa.s.sed out of the Union on their way to the Nu Delta house. Later both of them understood.

Carl's good looks, his excellent clothes, his money, and the fact that he had been to an expensive preparatory school were enough to insure him plenty of bids even if he had been considerably less of a gentleman than he was.

Already the campus was ringing with shouts as freshmen entered fraternity houses, each freshman being required to report at once to the fraternity whose bid he was accepting.

When Carl and Hugh walked up the Nu Delta steps, they were seized by waiting upper-cla.s.smen and rushed into the living-room, where they were received with loud cheers, slapped on the back, and pa.s.sed around the room, each upper-cla.s.sman shaking hands with them so vigorously that their hands hurt for an hour afterward. What pleasant pain! Each new arrival was similarly received, but the excitement did not last long.

Both the freshmen and the upper-cla.s.smen were too tired to keep the enthusiasm at the proper pitch. At nine o'clock the freshmen were sent home with orders to report the next evening at eight.

Carl and Hugh, proudly conscious of the pledge b.u.t.tons in the lapels of their coats, walked slowly across the campus, spent and weary, but exquisitely happy.

”They bid me on account of you,” Carl said softly. ”They didn't think they could get you unless they asked me, too.”

”No,” Hugh replied, ”you're wrong. They took you for yourself. They knew you would go where I did, and they were sure that I would go their way.”

Hugh was quite right. The Nu Deltas had felt sure of both of them and had not rushed them harder because they were too busy to waste any time on certainties.

Carl stopped suddenly. ”G.o.d, Hugh,” he exclaimed. ”Just suppose I had offered the Alpha Sigs that cash. G.o.d!”

”Aren't you glad you didn't?” Hugh asked happily.

”Glad? Glad? Boy, I'm bug-house. And,” he added softly, ”I know the lad I've got to thank.”

”Aw, go to h.e.l.l.”

The initiation season lasted two weeks, and the neophytes found that the dormitory initiations had been merely child's play. They had to account for every hour, and except for a brief time allowed every day for studying, they were kept busy making a.s.ses of themselves for the delectation of the upper-cla.s.smen.

In the Nu Delta house a freshman had to be on guard every hour of the day up to midnight. He was forced to dress himself in some outlandish costume, the more outlandish the better, and announce every one who entered or left the house. ”Mr. Standish entering,” he would bawl, or, ”Mr. Kerwin leaving.” If he bawled too loudly, he was paddled; if he didn't bawl loudly enough, he was paddled; and if there was no fault to be found with his bawling; he was paddled anyway. Every freshman had to supply his own paddle, a broad, stout oak affair sold at the cooperative store at a handsome profit.

If a freshman reported for duty one minute late, he was paddled; if he reported one minute early, he was paddled. There was no end to the paddling. ”a.s.sume the angle,” an upper-cla.s.sman would roar. The unfortunate freshman then humbly bent forward, gripped his ankles with his hands--and waited. The worst always happened. The upper-cla.s.sman brought the paddle down with a resounding whack on the seat of the freshman's trousers.

”Does it hurt?”

”Yes, sir.”

Another resounding whack. ”_What?_”

”No--no, sir.”

”Oh, well, if it doesn't hurt, I might as well give you another one.”

And he gave him another one.

A freshman was paddled if he forgot to say ”sir” to an upper-cla.s.sman; he was paddled if he neglected to touch the floor with his fingers every time he pa.s.sed through a door in the fraternity house; he was paddled if he laughed when an upper-cla.s.sman told a joke, and he was paddled if he didn't laugh; he was paddled if he failed to return from an errand in an inconceivably short time: he was paddled for every and no reason, but mainly because the upper-cla.s.smen, the soph.o.m.ores particularly, got boundless delight out of doing the paddling.

Every night a freshman stood on the roof of the Nu Delta house and announced the time every fifteen seconds. ”One minute and fifteen seconds after nine, and all's well in the halls of Nu Delta; one minute and thirty seconds after nine, and all's well in the halls of Nu Delta; one minute and forty-five seconds after nine, and all's well in the halls of Nu Delta,” and so on for an hour. Then he was relieved by another freshman, who took up the chant.