The class could contain itself no longer. Snickers burst out, and these welled into a wave of laughter in which even Miss Petty was forced to join. Frank looked around in vast surprise.
"This," said the teacher, "is an interesting fact about Lincoln. I don't remember having heard of it before. So he was stabbed to death by the senators and Marc Antony made a speech?"
"I—I was talking about Cæsar, Miss Petty."
"And I was talking about Abraham Lincoln. Will you be good enough to stay awake for the remainder of the lesson, Hardy?"
Frank looked sheepishly at his book, while Chet Morton doubled up in his seat and gave vent to a series of explosive chuckles that soon brought the teacher's attention to him and he was required to recite the Gettysburg Address, stalling completely before he had gone a dozen words. By the time the teacher had finished her comments on his poor memory, Chet had other things to occupy his mind.
Frank and Joe Hardy were wide awake for the rest of the morning.
After lunch, they were on their way back to school, resolving to cut out the late hours, so as not to risk a repetition of the ridicule they had suffered that morning, when Frank suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure not far ahead.
"Why, there's Gus Montrose again," he said. "Wonder what he's doing in town?"
"Let's trail him," Joe suggested.
"Good idea. We'll find out what he does with his time."