CHAPTER XII
SETTLING WITH CODFISH
Six figures surrounded Stowell, each pointing a menacing finger at him. Each figure had a white sheet draped around it and a white towel pinned fantastically around the head and face with just a small slit for the eyes.
While Codfish stared in alarm at the figures, the fingers were slowly elevated until they pointed at something suspended from the ceiling; and it was then that the sneak of the school began to squirm in terror. A cord ran from a ring in the ceiling, one end of which was held in the hand of one of the masked figures. The other end of the cord hung down directly over the bed upon which Stowell had been pushed. The end of the string was wound around the tail of a green snake all of three feet long, a snake that wiggled from side to side as it dangled in mid-air.
Codfish would have screamed in terror had not the gag prevented him. He attempted to leap from the bed, but the masked figures were too quick for him. Two held his hands on one side of the bed while two more held his feet on the other. The figure having hold of the string gently lowered it until the head of the wiggling reptile was less than a foot away from Stowell.
“Lie still!” was the stern command to the hapless youth. “Lie still, or we’ll lower the snake upon you! Lie still, and you shall not be harmed.”
At these words Stowell for a few seconds longer continued to struggle, but then suddenly grew quiet, although still shaking with fright.
“The snake is deadly poisonous,” said another one of the masked figures in a voice that was hoarse and low. “Beware! Move, and one sting from the snake will finish you! Beware!”
At this Stowell began to mumble something, his face working convulsively. At once one of the masked figures whispered in the ear of another.
“Maybe he can’t breathe with that gag. We don’t want to smother him.”
“Ask him if he’ll keep quiet if we remove the gag,” was the low reply.