CHAPTER XLVII.
ALIVE!
"I don't know but suicide is his easiest way out of this scrape," said Hodge.
"It is the only way he can escape hanging!" came from Fred Davis, who seemed to be aroused to a point of relentless hatred for Bascomb.
"Merciful goodness!" came faintly from Reynolds, who seemed to be weakening. "What a dreadful affair this is! I'd give anything in my power to give if I were well out of it!"
"An' ye'd be gittin' out chape at thot, me hearty," declared Barney Mulloy.
"If I'd ever dreamed what would come of it, horses couldn't have dragged me into the affair!" almost whimpered Reynolds.
"An' now ye're in it, it won't do yez nivver a bit av good to whoine, me b'y."
"All you can do is brace up and face it out," said Hodge. "That's what the rest of us will have to do. It's likely we'll all be fired from the academy for our shares in the business."
"I wouldn't mind that if it would bring Merriwell back all right," asserted Reynolds, and there was a sincere sound in his voice.