CHAPTER VIII.
A DESPERATE UNDERTAKING.
Leaving Mack and his companions to wonder at Blake’s skill and cunning, and to rejoice over the unexpected return of their dinner, let us go back to Lester Brigham, whom we left locked in his dormitory in company with his friend, Wallace Ross.
If the reader will recall the conversation that took place at Cony Ryan’s that afternoon, he can readily imagine that Lester was in just the right mood to do something desperate. Cony had intimated very plainly that he was a boy of one idea, and had also given it as his opinion that, although Lester was the acknowledged leader of his set (we know he wasn’t; he was only the tool), he was totally unfit for the position. This made Lester so angry that he declared he would not eat any more pancakes in Cony’s house. He would do something to prove that he was not a boy of one idea, and it would be something that would not put a red cent into Cony’s pocket. He would teach that enterprising landlord that it wasn’t policy to rail at a good customer because he did not run the guard every night; but what should he do? That was the question. His companions expected him to get up something that would afford them plenty of fun and excitement, but they might as well have told him to plan an expedition to the North Pole, for Lester’s mind was utterly barren of ideas. Just in the nick of time, however, his room-mate came to his assistance, and Lester’s reputation was saved.
“I don’t know what you will think of my plan,” said Ross, after he had closed and locked the door, “but I am of the opinion that I have got hold of something that will create a bigger uproar than your runaway expedition did. You know that the boys in the first class are talking of having a dinner on the 31st. They have invited a good many guests, and intend to make it a grand affair; but I should like to see the whole thing knocked into a cocked hat. I propose that we get a party of good fellows together, and go up to the city and eat the dinner ourselves.”
“Humph!” exclaimed Lester, who was greatly disappointed. “Is that all you have to offer? I thought from the way you acted when I came in that you had some grand idea in your head.”
“Don’t you call that a grand idea?” demanded Ross.
“No, I don’t,” snapped Lester, who was inclined to be angry as well as disappointed. “I think it would be a very tame undertaking. The boys would hoot at me if I should suggest it.”
“Tame!” echoed Ross. “Look here, Lester; you don’t understand the matter at all. It would be a much more dangerous exploit than running off with a private yacht, for if the boys in the first class should find out that you thought of interfering with them in any way, they would give you such a thrashing that you wouldn’t get over it in a month. You must know that there are a lot of prominent men invited to this dinner, and if anything should happen, just think how deeply mortified Mack and all the rest of them would be!”
Lester began to prick up his ears now, and to listen with some interest while Ross went on to repeat the conversation he had overheard in the hall, when the committee of arrangements were warming their fingers at the stove, and to unfold the details of the scheme he had matured while awaiting Lester’s return from Cony Ryan’s. The longer Lester listened, the less inclined did he become to take part in it. His room-mate’s idea could not be carried out, he was quite sure of that, because there were too many difficulties and altogether too much danger in the way; still he could propose it to Enoch, and when the latter refused to have anything to do with it, as of course he would the minute the matter was fully explained to him, Lester could say that he had kept his promise—that he had suggested something that would have afforded him and his friends any amount of fun and excitement, but that Enoch lacked the courage to take part in it.
“I wouldn’t take part in it myself for a hundred dollars of any man’s money,” said Lester, mentally, “and I don’t believe Ross would be fool enough to do it, either. Good gracious! What would the fellows in the first class do to us? What would the teachers do? But I’ll propose it, just as Don Gordon once proposed to capture the butcher’s big bull-dog, take him up to the top floor of the building and kick him down stairs, after tying a tin can to his tail. Don knew very well that there wasn’t a boy in the world who would dare take a hand in a proceeding like that, and he suggested it, just because he wanted to make Tom Fisher and Duncan believe that he was a very brave fellow.” Then aloud he added: “I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Wallace. If you will keep still and say nothing to nobody, I’ll speak to Enoch about this idea of yours and tell you what he thinks.”