“Evidently not,” said the man, dryly. “You had better be careful what you do with a gun.”
“I am careful,” answered Jack, a trifle nettled at the words and manner of Mr. Skeel. “I wasn’t going to fire until I saw you.”
“Oh,” said Mr. Skeel.
“I—I didn’t mean just that,” Jack went on. “I meant I was going to see what it was before I shot.”
That was decidedly the better way of putting it.
“You—you are quite a ways from—from Elmwood Hall,” said Tom, changing from his first intention of saying “home,” for he recollected he did not know where Professor Skeel lived.
“Yes, I am up here on—business,” went on the unpopular man. “And I trust there aren’t any hills where you can roll down big snowballs,” he added significantly.
“You seem to forget that was an accident,” Tom said. He did not altogether like Professor Skeel’s tone.
“Well, I don’t want any accidents like that to happen up here,” went on the former teacher. “And now another matter. Are you boys following me? If you are, I warn you that I will not tolerate it. You must leave me alone. I have business to do up here, and——”
“We most decidedly are not following you!” exclaimed Tom, with emphasis. “Besides, we are on private grounds, the use of which we were granted for this holiday season, and——”