Paul was shutting and fastening the door again. He did not wish to have a volley of stones hurled through the opening by the vindictive boys they had put to flight. Past experiences served to warn him as to what measures of retribution Ted Slavin and his kind usually undertook.
"Whew! what a mess! We'll have to get brooms, and a sprinkler busy here, so Peter won't complain," he said, laughing as he looked around.
"Hello! look there! Get next to the ghost, will you?" cried William, pointing to a wretched and forlorn figure that was emerging from the midst of the assembled ashes.
It was the fore-runner of the Slavin clan, the miserable Bud Jones. He had been tumbled over so many times during the excitement, by both friends and foes, that he must have lost all count.
"Oh! what a guy!" shrieked Bobolink, holding his sides with laughter, as the disconsolate Bud trailed out from his place of concealment.
Covered from head to feet with ashes, and minus his hat, he certainly presented a most comical appearance. But it was serious enough to Bud. He judged others by what he knew of Ted Slavin's ways; and consequently fully expected that Paul and his crowd would surely proceed to vent their ill humor on his poor head.
"Oh! please let me go, Paul!" he whined, ad
dressing himself to the one he recognized as the leader of the opposition; "I've got all I deserve, you see, and the worst is yet to come; for when my dad looks at this new suit I'm in for the most dreadful lickin' you ever heard about. Don't kick a feller when he's down, will you, Paul? Please open that door again, an' let me scoot!"
He knew what he was doing in addressing himself to Paul Morrison. Perhaps another, like William or Bobolink for instance, might think he deserved even more severe handling, to pay him for his share in the mean prank that had been nipped in the bud. But Paul had a reputation for being fair, and was also known not to allow such a thing as a desire for revenge to take root in his heart.
When Paul surveyed the forlorn figure before him, with a thought as to what might await Bud at home, for he had a stern father, he agreed with the other that apparently he had been already well punished.