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                             HARRY HARDING
                          --_Messenger “45”_

                                 _By_
                            ALFRED RAYMOND


                         [Illustration: _The_
                               GOLDSMITH
                           _Publishing Co._
                            CLEVELAND OHIO
                            MADE IN U.S.A.]




                         _Copyright 1917, by_
                        CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY




CONTENTS


 CHAPTER                                      PAGE
      I A MENACE TO THE SCHOOL                   1
     II ON THE TRAIL OF A JOB                    9
    III AN ANXIOUS MOMENT                       27
     IV A SURPRISE AND A DISAPPOINTMENT         37
      V FRIENDS AND FOES                        51
     VI AT THE END OF THE DAY                   67
    VII TEDDY COMES INTO HIS OWN                75
   VIII THE RECRUITS TO COMPANY A               81
     IX THE BITTERNESS OF INJUSTICE             95
      X BREAKERS AHEAD FOR HARRY               105
     XI TEDDY BURKE DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF      116
    XII A DISASTROUS COMBAT                    122
   XIII THE MEASURE OF A MAN                   129
    XIV THE PRICE OF HONESTY                   138
     XV A FATEFUL GAME OF CATCH                148
    XVI ALL IN THE DAY’S WORK                  158
   XVII THE SINGER AND THE SONG                169
  XVIII CONFIDENCES                            178
    XIX THE BELATED DAWN                       185
     XX TEDDY’S TRIUMPH                        191
    XXI GETTING EVEN WITH THE GOBBLER          202
   XXII A DISTURBING CONVERSATION              213
  XXIII HARRY PAYS HIS DEBT                    224
   XXIV WRITING THE WELCOME ADDRESS            239
    XXV COMMENCEMENT                           250




HARRY HARDING--_Messenger “45”_




CHAPTER I

A MENACE TO THE SCHOOL


“I _will_ drown and no one _shall_ help me,” announced Miss Alton
defiantly.

The first class in English accepted this remarkable statement in
absolute silence, their eyes fixed on their teacher. As she stood
high and dry on the platform, facing her class, there seemed little
possibility of such a catastrophe overtaking her, therefore, they
knitted their wise young brows, not in fear of her demise by drowning,
but in puzzled worry over the intricacies of shall and will.

“I _will_ drown,” repeated Miss Alton firmly, “and no one----”

“Oh-h-h!” a piercing shriek rent the grammar-laden air. As though
about to prove her declaration, Miss Alton made a sudden dive off the
platform that carried her half-way up an aisle toward the immediate
vicinity of that anguished voice.

The first class in grammar immediately forgot the uses of shall and
will and twisted about on their benches to view their teacher’s hurried
progress toward the scene of action.

“It’s Teddy Burke,” muttered a boy to his nearest classmate. “Wonder
what he’s done.”

Miss Alton had now brought up between two seats at the rear of the
room. In one of them sat a little girl, her head buried in her arms.
Directly opposite her sat a red-haired boy. His thin face wore an
expression of deep disgust, but his big black eyes were dancing with
mischief. As the teacher approached, he made an ineffectual dive toward
a grayish object on the floor. Miss Alton was too quick for him. She
stooped, uttered a half-horrified exclamation, then gathered the object
in. It was a most terrifying imitation of a snake, made of rubber, and
coiled realistically.

“Theodore Burke, what does this mean?” she demanded, holding out the
snake and glaring at the offender.

The little girl raised her head from her arms and eyed the culprit with
reproachful horror. “He put it on my seat,” she accused. “I thought it
was alive, and it scared me awful.” Her voice rose to a wail on the
last word.

“This is too much. You’ve gone just a little too far, young man. Come
with me.” Miss Alton stood over the red-haired lad, looking like a
grim figure of Justice.

The boy shot a glance of withering scorn at his tearful victim, then
rose from his seat.

Grasping him none too gently by the arm, Miss Alton piloted him down
the aisle and out of the door. It closed with a resounding bang.

A buzz of conversation began in the big schoolroom. Two or three
little girls left their seats and gathered about the heroine of the
disquieting adventure, while half a dozen boys of the eighth grade of
the West Park Grammar School put their heads together to discuss this
latest bit of mischief on the part of their leader and idol, Teddy
Burke.

Meanwhile, Teddy, of the black eyes and Titian hair, was being marched
rapidly toward the principal’s office.

Miss Alton flung open the door and ushered him into the august presence
of Mr. Waldron, the principal, with, “Here is an incorrigible boy, Mr.
Waldron.”

The principal, a short, stern-faced man, adjusted his eye-glasses and
stared hard at Teddy. The boy hung his head, then raising his eyes
regarded Mr. Waldron defiantly.

“So you are here again, young man, for the third time in two weeks,”
thundered the principal. “What has this bad boy done, Miss Alton?”

Miss Alton began an indignant recital of Teddy’s latest misdeed. The
principal frowned as he listened. When she had finished, he fixed Teddy
with severe eyes.

“