“Yes, and we walked into the trap like a lot of mice after cheese,” grunted Gussic, with his hand on his windpipe, where he had been hit.
“Just look at these duds!” came from another lad. “About fit for the ragbag!” And he mournfully surveyed a torn sleeve and a hole in his trouser leg.
“My collar is gone, and so is that new dollar tie I bought for the party,” said Bock. “I ought to make somebody buy me another tie.”
“Speaking of the party,” said another. “Are you going?”
“Going?” stormed the bully. “Are you crazy? If we went the girls would take us for scarecrows!”
“It’s funny that other crowd didn’t go to the party,” remarked Grimes.
“Oh, I guess they’d rather play a trick on us than go to any party,” was Gussic’s comment. “I am of the firm opinion that Ritter, Ruddy and the whole bunch was in the plot against us.”
“Sure thing,” answered Roy Bock. And then he and his cronies walked slowly in the direction of Pornell Academy, wondering what they should say when they got there, and what sort of excuse they should send to the girls who had been waiting for them.
In the meantime Reff Ritter and his cronies had gotten up and brushed themselves off. They were considerably astonished to find that Jack and his chums had come to their rescue.
“Huh! So it’s you!” growled Ritter, with a far from pleasant look on his face.