“Men I had never seen before. They were hired by some one who does not want me to take the examinations and so lose my standing in school. It does not really matter who they are, Dick.”
“It does matter to me, Jack,” said Percival, excitedly, “for if I find out who they are they will be glad enough to leave the school themselves. Have you no idea, Jack?”
“Oh, I have an idea, of course, but suspicion is not proof as I told you once before so suppose we let it pass.”
“Well, just as you like but that is not what I should do,” returned Dick, evidently disappointed.
“But as I am the person most interested and as that is the way I feel about it, why not let it go at that?” and Jack smiled.
“Oh, very well, just as you like,” and no more was said.
Dick told the other boys what Jack had told him of his adventures and many of them were for making an investigation but as Dick told them that their friend did not care for this they concluded to let the matter drop and there it rested.
Herring and Merritt and others were suspected but nothing was said to them and they kept away from Jack and his particular friends and it was not long before this affair was forgotten.
The examinations continued and at the end of them when the reports were made, Jack was found to have passed the highest of any one in his class in all but two of his studies and within one or two of first place in the others.
This would give him a good lead for the rest of the term and help him in the final examinations at the end of the school year, his standing having greatly improved since he had come to the Academy.