“Do you know that, or are you only guessing?” asked Bobby, wild with anxiety.
“We saw him do it,” returned Charlie, who saw now that the only thing left was to tell the whole story.
“We were going along the hall to Mr. Carrier’s classroom that afternoon,” put in Jimmy, “and the door into your room was open because the day was so warm. We peeped in as we went by, and we saw Hicksley take the egg out of his pocket and throw it into the electric fan.”
“And why didn’t you tell about it before?” asked Fred.
“’Cause we were afraid that Hicksley would lick us if we did,” confessed Jimmy.
“He’s so much bigger than we are, and he jumped on us once for nothing at all,” added Charlie in self-defense.
“That’s all right,” said Bobby, who was perfectly willing to excuse them, now that he saw he was going to be cleared. “We all know that he’s a big bully and always picking on the little fellows.”
“You come right along with me,” said Fred, in a masterful way. “You keep out of this, Bobby. I’ll have this thing fixed up in a jiffy.”
Bobby was perfectly satisfied to leave the settlement of the matter in the hands of his loyal friend, and he went on to the dormitory, while Fred headed the little procession that a few minutes after marched into the office of Mr. Leith.
What went on there was shown the following morning after Mr. Leith had called his class to order.