"I’m sure of it," said Mr. Blake, smiling. "I shall feel better about leaving Bobby and Fred at Rockledge, knowing that you will have an eye on them."
"Oh, you can be easy about them," said Captain Gray who, despite his natural conceit, seemed a very nice fellow. "Of course, they’ll have to take a few hard knocks, and the boys will ’run’ them some. But they sha’n’t be hurt."
"Huh!" muttered Fred. "I guess we can take care of ourselves."
Barry looked down at him and grinned. "Yes, I see you own red hair," he observed, and Mr. Blake laughed outright.
Fred followed his chum and Barry Gray up the aisle with rather a lagging step. He felt his own importance considerably, and he did not see why he should be as respectful as Bobby was to the captain of Rockledge School.
In a very few minutes Master Martin felt better. The other boys were a lot more friendly than Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks, who the chums learned later, were two of the most troublesome boys at the school. Not many of the others liked the bullies.
There were some fellows quite as young as Bobby and Fred, but none of them were "greenies," like the chums from Clinton.
"Sure you’ll have to be hazed!" explained a fat, genial boy, named Perry Wise—called "Pee Wee" because of his initials and his size. "Every fellow has to, that comes to the school. But Barrymore Gray won’t let them go too far. He’s a nice fellow, he is."
"I think he is fine," said Bobby, enthusiastically.
"He’s pretty fresh, I guess," grumbled Fred.
"We don’t call the captain of the school fresh," said Pee Wee. "He has a right to boss us. The Doctor lets him. Next to the teachers, Barry’s got more to say about things in the school than anybody else."
This did not please Master Martin much. He wanted to be of some importance himself, and he had never been used to giving in to other boys, unless it was to Bobby Blake.
However, there was so much to hear, and so many new people to get acquainted with that Fred had little time to worry about Barry Gray. The chums found the time passing so quickly that they were surprised when the train slowed down and the brakeman shouted, "All out for Rockledge!"
There was no crowd of boys and no band. Rockledge was a busy town, with oak-shaded streets, great bowlders thrusting their heads out of the vacant lots, and much blasting going on where new cellars were being excavated.