The indignation of the boys increased as they entered the dressing-room and it might have fared ill with Gus if he had remained with his companions instead of proceeding directly to his own room.
“It’s the worst I ever heard!” said Smith. “I knew that Gus was jealous of Dan, but I didn’t believe even he would stoop to such a low-lived trick as to try to keep him out of the game by feeding him on ipecac! How did you find out about it anyway, Ned?”
“Somebody overheard the talk,” answered Ned glancing at Walter, who had remained with the boys.
Not a word had Walter spoken since he entered the room. His face was colorless and his suffering was manifest to all, but the troubled boy, as he occasionally looked about him, saw only the expression of anger and disgust on every face. Dan too had been silent and his face betrayed an anxiety hardly less than that of Walter’s. In a brief time the boys were dressed and departed.
As they came out of the building Carlton Hall, who had been waiting for Dan, rushed to the side of his friend and seizing his hand said in a low voice, “I’m afraid.”
“What are you afraid of?” asked Dan with a smile.
“Gus Kiggins. When he started for his room he saw me and I thought he was going to strike me.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“I don’t know. He stopped all at once and then went right on.”