ten o'clock
exclaimed Coach Corridan , who had been remarkably silent , for him , pondering the football crisis , `` Hicks can make his explanation at the regular mass-meeting tonight , in the Auditorium . I 'll post an announcement of his purpose , and you fellows spread the news among the students , stating that Hicks will tell how he rounded up Thor . Some have shirked these meetings since Thorwald quit the game , and this will bring them out , so maybe we can arouse the fighting spirit again ! '' So well did Butch , Beef , Socks , Monty , Dad , Deacon , and Shad tell the news , that when the bell in the Administration Hall tower rang at ten o'clock it was ascertained by score-keepers that every youth at Bannister , Freshmen included , except that Hercules , Thor , had assembled in the Auditorium . That stolid behemoth , who regarded the football mass-meeting as foolishness , was reported as boning in his cheerless room , fulfilling the mission for which he came to college , namely , to get his money 's worth of knowledge , which he evidently regarded as some commodity for which Bannister served merely as a market . Big Butch Brewster , on the stage of the Auditorium , the big assembly-hall of the college , along with Coach Corridan , several of the Gold and Green eleven , two members of the Faculty , several Assistant Coaches , and T. Haviland Hicks , Jr. , stepped forward and stilled the tumult of the excited youths with upraised hand . `` We have with us tonight , '' he spoke , after the fashion of introducing after-dinner speakers , `` Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks , Jr. , the celebrated Magician and Mystifier , who will present for your approval his world-famous Billion-Dollar Mystery , and give the correct solution to Thor , the problem no one has been able to solve .