The coolness with which Enoch desired others to put themselves in danger of a good beating while he kept out of the way of it, was refreshing. The promise of the lieutenant-colonel’s shoulder-straps at the end of the term would not have induced Lester Brigham to go into that recitation room as a spy, and take his chances of detection, and he did not hesitate to say so in the plainest language he could command.
“But somebody must go,” insisted Enoch.
“Then go yourself!” exclaimed Lester. “I had brains enough to get up the scheme, and now I’d like to see if you have enough to carry out the details.”
“All right; I’ll go,” said Enoch, promptly; and thus another of Lester’s hopes was dashed to the ground. If all the boys in the crowd were as courageous as Enoch, and as willing to brave the wrath of the boys in the first class, it was plain that if they did not accomplish their object, it would not be because they were afraid to try.
“There’s just this much about it,” thought Lester; “I won’t go, nor will I have the first thing to do with it. Since Enoch and Jones take so much interest in the scheme, they can work it out to suit themselves and bear the brunt of the punishment when it comes, and I will stay in the background. If I see that they are going to succeed, I will make it my business to break some of the rules so that I will be refused a pass.”
If Lester had tried to carry this resolution into effect he would have found himself in trouble directly. The astute Enoch, who knew just how far to trust him, put the right interpretation upon the expression he saw on his face, and laid his plans accordingly.
“Well, Jones,” said he, cheerfully, “you and I will act as spies to-night, and see if we can learn anything. In the meantime we’ll not say a word to any of the boys. We’ll wait until we have something definite to tell them.”
Just then the supper call was sounded, and as the three conspirators hastened to obey it, Enoch found opportunity to whisper to his friend Jones:
“Keep your weather-eye on Brigham. I don’t like the way he looked. He means to back out, and, failing in that, to betray us.”
“No!” exclaimed Jones, who was profoundly astonished.