Fortunately, however, most of the fall crops were in, and the fact of not having his steeds to work for him did not seriously inconvenience Mr. Appleby. His neighbors helped him with the loan of their horses.
Still the farmer was a vindictive man, and he determined to have punished, if possible, the guilty person. That it was Tom, with whom he had quarreled, he had no doubt.
And, it might be added, though most of the students bore in mind the injunction of Dr. Meredith not to talk about the matter, and make useless accusations, Sam Heller and his cronies, did not observe that silence. Indeed, Sam even went to the trouble of repeating to Mr. Appleby all the evidence he had discovered against our hero.
"Oh, I know he's guilty!" the vindictive farmer had said, when Sam and his crony called at the house one day, ostensibly to ask for a drink of water, but in reality to talk of Tom. "I know he's guilty, but my lawyer won't let me have him up on charges. He says I might get sued."
"Oh, I guess you could win the case," asserted Sam. He was aching to see Tom humiliated further. But the farmer shook his head.
"I've lost a heap of money already," he complained, "an' I ain't a-goin' t' lose no more!"
And thus the case stood when Jack had his inspiration, as he sat in the gloaming with his chum Bert.
"Here he comes!" exclaimed the latter, as a footfall was heard in the corridor.
"Yes, that's Tom. Now to tell him."
"Well, Tom, how goes it?" asked Jack, as he arose to open the door in response to the code knock. "Anything new?"