Maintain your unique identity as a child of God without associating with evil. Cult
members are like the grasshopper which was decaying but started boasting that it was
emitting oil. At the twilight of their lives, you will see that they have reaped what they sowed.
Most of thenm will either die in the process or end up with nothing to show for their exaggerated lifestyle. Once again, I remind you that this
school will not tolerate cultism in any form. He who has ears let him hear; a word is enough for
the wise", the Director concluded.
Being a deeply religious man, he ordered that a hymn in Ancient and Modern be sung. It
went like this:

Dear Lord and Father of mankind
Forgive our foolish ways

Reclothe us in our rightful minds
In purer lives thy service find
In deeper reverence strain.

Breathe through the heat of our desire
Thy coolness and thy brain
Let sense be numb, let flesh retire
Speak through the earthquake wind and fire

O still small voice of calm.

As we sang the song that day, it took on a deeper meaning. For the next two weeks, the school was calm with everybody behaving in a
disciplined and orderly manner. Even the senior students who used to be stubborn and
recalcitrant refrained from their willful disobedience and obeyed us. This, coupled with the fact that our detective mission did not find out anything awkward or suspicious, therefore lured us into a false sense of security.

We were then caught napping when the miscreant struck two weeks later. It was on a saturday morning when I got a terse summoned by the principal and members of the Operation
Restore Discipline (ORD). I answered the summons wondering what had gone amiss.
Immediately I saw the stern and granite faces of the principal and the members of the ORD, I knew that something was terribly wrong. They all looked grave and it appeared to me that they held me responsible for whatever had gone wrong.
Wishing that the ground would open and swallow me, I stood with trepidation, facing their accusing eyes.
"You mean to tell me, Thomas, that as the same Prefect, you don't know the movement of those you are leading? The principal was the
first to fire this shot. I stood twisting my fingers because I did not know what to answer since I had no idea what he was talking about. Then, Sir Robinson dropped a bombshell.
Thomas, do you know that the Games and Social Activities Master was attacked last night in
his house.. his own house?"
"Attacked?"I asked.

"Yes, attacked probably by the same miscreants that attacked Mr. Donald, Sir Brent said in a rueful tone.

The Director and members of the ORD charged me and my lieutenants to intensify our detective work by putting our ears to the ground to fish out the miscreants. I slowly went back to
the hostel, feeling like somebody who had failed in his mission. Later, I mustered courage and
summoned all the prefects and school functionaries and narrated to them what that Mr. Daniel and the members of the ORD had told me.

We decided that all hands should be on deck to fish out the undesirable elements behind this
spate of violence in the school. We even decided to act as spies in order to ferret out the culprits. It was later that I got the details of how Mr Ramon, the Games and Social Activities Master was
attacked. He was sleeping peacefully with his family when the night marauders came.
Who's inside this house? Open the door or we kill you!" a steely and menacing voice had
ordered and a loud kick at the door followed. Mr Ramon had jerked up from sleep and as he
hesitated, wondering if he heard the voice correctily, it came again, this time more insistent
and authoritative. Mr. Ramon got up with legs that shook like that of an old man suffering from palsy and the door. It did not occur to him to call the police or any of the teachers for help. A blinding torchlight was pointed in his eyes while he felt the muzzle of a gun in his ear.

"Your set and that of your wife" ordered a gruff voice that Mr. Ramon dared not disobey. As he gave his wife's handset to the assailants, his wife woke up and Mr Ramon signalled her not to
shout or make a noise when the poor Woman saw five masked figures, all dressed in black.
"Come on, lie flat on your face! one of the figures said and he pointed a gun at the terrified
Woman. Mrs. Ezeadi obeyed quickly.

The other four figures started beating Mr Ramon and told him not to make any noise unless he was in a hurry to join his ancestors.
"You skunk, you bougnt low quality jerseys for the students instead of the high quality ones you were given money for. Besides, your claim that armed robbers took the money you were taking to the market to buy new boots is false. You have diverted the money to your pocket, thinking that nobody will know. Now, tell us where the money is", growled one of the
figures as he held Mr. Ramon's throat in a vice-like grip.

"Honestly, I didn't touch a single penny......."

Mr. Ezeadi began.

"Liar! Bloody liar!'" One of the figures cut him short.

"In addition, you have been so strict in preventing guys from befriending the chicks. You
are hereby warned in your own interest to desist from such or you'lI regret it, the figure holding
Mr. Ramon's throat warned in a deadly voice.
Before poor Mr Ramon could reply the figure gave him a thunderous slap that sent him
sprawling to the ground. Blows and kicks rained on him until he passed out. Immediately, the
masked figures vanisned into the dark night.
We, the prerects tried our best to find out the culprits behind this ugly drama but we could not. The Director invited external security operatives to help the internal security operations get at the root of the matter but it yielded no result as well. Everybody was mystified by this deadly group that operated with
utmost precision and secrecy.