"You never mind that," went on Frank. "There's been enough trouble to-night. Now come on, and don't delay. That fellow won't follow us again."
"I guess not," declared Andy. "He was running hard when I saw him. I guess he thought he could sneak up and finish the mean work he began, but he didn't count on our being here."
"That's right," agreed Billy. "When he attacked me we struggled and I rolled to one side of the lane. Then he must have hit me with a black-jack or a sand-bag, and made me unconscious."
"It must have been some sharp instrument, to cut your head," declared Frank. "He probably heard us coming, and ran away. Then, thinking perhaps we hadn't seen you, he decided to come back for a second try."
"Well, I guess he's gone for good—to-night, at least," remarked Andy; and a little later the boys reached Riverview Hall. The proctor was waiting for them, with anger in his eyes for their being out so late, but he calmed down when told of the cause.
"Attacked, eh?" he exclaimed. "That is bad business, boys. Are you much hurt, Chase?"
"No, not much."
"Highwaymen, I expect. I did not dream they would be so bold. Footpads so near the school! The police must be notified at once," and the proctor proceeded to call up the authorities on the telephone. Billy, with a wink at his two chums not to say anything of that which he had told them, allowed the school official to think that an ordinary criminal had made the attack.
After the alarm had been given, bringing an answer to the effect that policemen and detectives would be on the lookout for any desperate characters, Billy sent in his telegram.
If Frank or Andy had hoped to gather, from overhearing the wording of the message, any intimation as to what it was the lame man had tried to get from the Western lad, they were disappointed, for the telegram was in code words, meaningless to all but to those holding the key. And, to do them credit, Andy and his brother were curious only from a desire to help Billy, whom they had grown to like very much.