"Then you had better change your subject, for I don't think Mr. Haskers will want to read a composition on Bats to-morrow—not if the plan goes through."
"What is the plan?" came eagerly from several of the others.
"I just happened to remember that one of the boys over at Lapham's farm has a cage full of bats that he caught last week. He said he would sell them for fifty cents. Perhaps Mr. Haskers would be pleased to have them presented to him."
"Whoop! We'll get those bats!" shouted Phil.
"And put them in his room," added Shadow.
"And as we are modest we won't say where the gift came from," remarked Sam.
The plan was approved by everybody, even Polly Vane smiling faintly.
"Bats are very curious creatures," he observed. "They fly in people's hair, and they can make one very uncomfortable."
The crowd talked the matter over, and it was decided to get the bats at once, if it could be done. As Dave knew the boy who had the creatures he was commissioned to go after them, taking Shadow and Roger along.
It was still early, so the three lads had no difficulty in getting out of the academy building. They did not, however, dare to ask for permission to leave the grounds, and so stole across the campus to the gymnasium building, back of which they vaulted the boxwood hedge. Close at hand was a road leading through a patch of woods to the Lapham farm, whither they were bound.