Five minutes passed—to the waiting cadets it seemed much longer than that—and still they heard nothing from Fred. They gazed at the blinds of the trophy room anxiously.
“Maybe he has been caught and those inside are waiting to collar us, too,” suggested Harry Blossom.
“He may have had to wait for somebody,” returned Jack. “Remember that light we saw upstairs. That might have been a monitor or teacher going around.”
A few minutes later they saw one blind open softly and then the other. Then Fred’s head appeared in the semi-darkness and he beckoned to those outside.
“Keep quiet!” he whispered. “Don’t make a sound. I think one of the teachers is still up. I heard him talking to somebody and he said something about a toothache.”
“Confound his toothache!” murmured Pepper. “Why can’t he go to bed and go to sleep?”
“I guess he would if he could,” said Andy. “You don’t suppose he is staying up with a toothache for the fun of it?”
As silently as possible one cadet after another climbed in at the window. When all were inside, the blinds were closed and the curtain drawn and then lights were lit.
“Did you lock the door to the hall?” asked Jack of Fred.
“I did—and hung a bit of paper over the key-hole, too,” was the answer.