It is possible that Codfish and his crony did not believe all that their tormentors said. Yet they felt that they were in for a rough time of it and that matters might be carried further than intended.
“Wha-what did you come he-here for?” faltered Codfish.
“You know well enough what we came for,” declared Fred.
“It was only a—a joke, Fred Rover! Indeed it was!” pleaded the sneak of the school.
“Shut up! Why can’t you shut up?” stormed Wesley. “That’s no way to spill the beans. If you’d only—— Oh!” And his talk came to a sudden end as he found himself flat on the floor, sent there by Gif and Spouter. Then, before he could get up, Randy emptied a pitcher of ice-water over him.
“Don’t! Let me up!” spluttered Wesley. “Ouch! that’s ice-water, don’t you know it? Let up!” and he tried to rise, but one of the boys sat on his chest and another on his legs and kept him down.
In the meantime the others got Codfish into a corner and Jack took the sneak by the ear. He looked at Codfish so menacingly that the sneak of the school was almost paralyzed.
“Don’t hit me, Major Rover! Please don’t!” he half sobbed. “I’ll tell you everything! We didn’t mean any harm! It was only done in fun. I’ll tell you where we took your clothing and the bed things!”