"He catched me foul," explained the indignant Tom Britt the following day in discussing his hurried exit from the schoolroom; "if he had only let me know he was coming, it would be him that dove out the door instead of me."
The sullen youth did not receive much sympathy at first, for Mr. Lathrop was steadily winning the affections of the pupils; but Dick and Fred rebelled at such quiet submission to authority, and acted so sullenly that they, too, were shut out from the privilege of listening to the next story related by the teacher to the rest of the school. It had been agreed among the three boys that they should refuse to depart when ordered to do so by the instructor, and that when he made a move toward them, they would assail him simultaneously and rout him "horse, foot and dragoons."
But the business was conducted with such a cyclone rush that the plan of campaign was entirely overturned. Before the rebels could combine, all three were out doors, so shaken up that they agreed that a new system of resistance would have to be adopted.
And thus it came about that at the noon recess, one day of the following week, the boys of Bushville school gathered in the cool shade of the woods to listen to the plan of the three malcontents for destroying the authority of the school. It was mainly curiosity on the part of the younger portion, who had little sympathy with the motives of the leaders and were quite sure they would meet with failure.
"I've made up my mind that I won't stand it," announced Tom, after the situation had been freely discussed; "no boy with any spirit will allow a teacher to run him out of school in the style he served me."
"What then made you let him do it?" asked little freckled-face Will Horton, from where he lay on the ground.
"Didn't I tell you he catched me foul?" demanded Tom, glaring at the urchin; "if I'd knowed what was coming things would have been different."
"Dick and Fred knowed he was coming for them," added Will, "for he walked clear across the schoolroom."
"You've got too much to say," retorted Dick Culver, angrily; "when we want your advice we'll ask for it."
"Well, boys, you had better make up your minds to behave yourselves and then there won't be any trouble," was the sensible advice of Jimmy Thompson, who had perched himself on a log, and was swinging his bare feet back and forth; "Mr. Lathrop is the best teacher we ever had and he suits the rest of us first rate."