Ten minutes passed away. Then the door opened again, and Nat came out. He was holding his head up, and grinning, but they could see what an effort it cost him to put on such a bold, reckless face.
To the astonishment of the boys, and the dismay of Dit, Nat, instead of rejoining them, waved his hand derisively, and quitted the building.
“Say, something must have busted in there!” exclaimed Peg, excitedly.
“Huh! looks like the jig was up,” grunted Dit; and presently he, too, was among the missing.
“There come the committee and they’re headed for the stage!” said Clint. “Now the suspense will soon be over, for Harry Bartlett is going to announce the finding of the judges.”
The crowded room became as still as death when the leader of the Y. M. C. A. commenced to speak in his ready fashion.
“My friends, I am about to announce the verdict of the committee appointed to serve as judges in this contest arranged by Mr. Holwell. We did our duty faithfully, and every farce submitted was read carefully by all of us. Then on taking a vote it was found that all must be eliminated save two, both of which evinced positive merit.
“A second vote disclosed the fact that the majority of the committee believed one of these to have more merit than the other, though the names of the contestants were unknown to us at the time. In order that we should do no boy an injustice it was decided to invite Mr. Holwell, whose ability in that line you all know, to come in to hear these two farces read by Mr. Parkhurst.
“When Mr. Holwell heard the leading farce read, he looked serious, and asked that the one that stood second choice should also be given. Then he requested us to wait while he went home and rooted through an old trunk where he kept some mementoes of the old days when he once took part in a minstrel show, before he thought of studying for the ministry.
“When he came back he brought with him a printed farce, published many years ago, and in which he remembered once acting. No sooner had he commenced reading this than we realized that the one we had selected as the winner had been copied almost word for word from the printed playlet.