"What did I tell you?"
"What did he say?" inquired Marcy.
"He says he doesn't want to be bothered. I put in a good word for you, suggesting that perhaps you wanted permission to go to Barrington and see what has become of Rodney, and he said in reply that you need not trouble yourself. You could not go. He will not allow a boy outside the gate after dark, no matter what his business is, and he'll chuck Rodney and Dick into the guard-house the minute they return, and keep them there."
For the first time since he had been a student at that school Marcy Gray felt rebellious. He stood high in his class, was always on hand when duty called him, never ran the guard, hadn't asked for a pass for more than a week, and for the colonel to send him off in this way, without even listening to the request he had to make, was rather more than Marcy could stand.
"I was going to ask him to let me go to town and see if I could learn what has become of Rodney and Dick," said he to the boys who were waiting for him at the top of the stairs. "But he sent word by the orderly that he wouldn't see me. I'm going to Barrington all the same."
"Do you want company?" asked Dixon.
"I should like to have three or four good fellows," replied Marcy, "but mind you, I shall not ask anybody to go with me. I am bound to get into trouble."
"Well, you can't find any better guard-house companion than I am," answered Dixon.
"I'm another good fellow for that cheerful hole," observed Billings. "I ought to be, for I've been there often enough."
Bob Cole said he was a third candidate for a court-martial, announced his determination to go if Billings went, whether Marcy said so or not, and the latter decided that three boys were as many as he cared to bring into trouble on account of their friendship for him and the missing students.