“Very good. The driver was taken out of the tool house early this morning and locked up, protesting that he had been kidnapped and abused by a big bully, that meaning Mr. Vench. I guess he was pretty cold, too. So you are having your skates ground, eh? The lake frozen over?”
“Yes, sir. All of the cadets are going skating tonight and we four planned to skate down near Clanhammer Hall, so as to keep an eye on the place.”
“A good idea,” nodded the colonel. “Is Jim keeping up an appearance of anxiety?”
“Yes, he is. He went to the major this morning and asked if any word had been received of his brother. The major assured him that all steps had been taken to find Don and told him to keep up his good spirits.”
“Oh, sure!” grinned the colonel. “Fine old scoundrel that major is! Well, tomorrow morning, with as little fuss as possible, we’ll just scoop up that arch plotter.”
Agreeing to call the colonel immediately if anything came up Rhodes left him, and after getting his skates, went back to school. After a good supper the cadets studied for an hour and then rushed with whoops to the lake, where a half dozen big fires blazed along the edge of the sheet of ice. In a short time the runners of scores of skates were ringing with sharp, crisp sounds over the hard surface.
A dozen games were immediately started, games of snap the whip, hockey and races, but the four friends carefully avoided these and kept to themselves. Those who were not in the mood for playing, but who wanted to skate more calmly, moved toward the lower end of the lake, and the boys were in this company. Most of the fires were near the school, and only a few scattered ones extended down the lake.
“Let’s take a long trip down to the end of the lake,” suggested Vench, and they started off, side by side, their skates ringing on the frozen surface. They passed Clanhammer Hall, turning to watch it as they went by, but there was no light in it. They passed the last skaters and plunged on in the half gloom of the winter night toward the place where the lake narrowed down to a mere brook.
“Poor old Don must think we have deserted him,” said Jim.
“I guess he does,” cried Terry. “But we’ll haul him out tomorrow morning as soon as the colonel returns.”