And then, when the door had closed behind them, Frank dropped into a chair and laughed softly but heartily.
"Well, I fail to fee anything sunny about it—I mean
I fail to see anything funny about it," growled Rattleton, prancing fiercely up and down the room. "If you'll tell me where the laugh comes in, I'll snicker, just to keep you company."
"The whole thing is very funny," laughed Merriwell. "Why, you were eager to hammer Thornton, and the fellow was afraid you would, for all the bluff he put up."
"It would have given me great satisfaction to thump him," confessed Harry; "for I know it is exactly what he deserves. What were they up to, anyway? That's what puzzles me. I expected to find that they had done you up."
"Oh, nothing of the sort!"
"But they were up to some crooked game—I know it. I thought they had fastened the door, so that they could do the job without being interrupted."
"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Frank. "That explains why you looked as if you were literally thirsting for gore when you lunged into the room and grappled with Thornton."
"Did I hit him?"