“Please let me go! Please!” he muttered in a half sob. “I haven’t done anything! Please take that snake away!”
Thereupon the six figures ranged themselves in a circle around the cadet on the bed, and each once more pointed a menacing finger at him.
“Henry Stowell, you are a sneak!” came from one of the figures.
“Henry Stowell, you are a sneak!” came from another of the figures. And thus the accusation went around the entire circle.
“I—I—don’t—know what you mean,” stammered Codfish. And now he grew pale and red by turns, his eyes shifting from the masked figures to the wriggling snake and then back again to the accusing cadets.
“You do know!” came simultaneously from all the others in the room. “You are a sneak!”
“You are a disgrace to Colby Hall!”
“We ought to give you the licking of your life!”
“Stop! Stop! Please stop!” pleaded Codfish. He was growing more and more alarmed. “Let me tell you something. I wasn’t going to say anything about it until the end of the term, but I might as well tell you. I’m going to leave this school. Next term I’m going to Longley Academy.”
“Thank fortune for that!” came in a murmur from one of the masked figures. It was Andy who spoke.