“Wonder if Green isn’t coming back,” said Gordon, noticing his vacant seat.
“No,” volunteered Coyle, “he’s gone to work.”
Gordon and Hamlin exchanged glances of satisfaction at this information, and both thought, “One less of the Antis.”
Green had been one of the most disagreeable boys in the class, and very few felt sorry that he would come among them no more. Several other seats were vacant, but only one of the L. A. O.’s had failed to return. That one was Bates, who had gone to boarding-school.
Soon after the opening exercises were over, Prof Keene appeared with four new boys, and Hamlin threw a doleful glance at Clark, for the first of the new-comers was the red-headed boy whom they had seen on the steps. The second was a tall, handsome lad of perhaps seventeen, and the other two were ordinary looking boys of ordinary ability, not destined to have much influence one way or the other on the standing of section D.
Of course the school could not get into smooth running order that first day, and the recess was prolonged to nearly twice its usual length. A group of the L. A. O.’s quickly got together in a corner of the playground, and, as Hamlin, Gordon, Raleigh and Sherman were among the number, the talk soon drifted to the subjects dear to all their hearts—the L. A. O. and the standing of D section.
“Say, fellows,” Hamlin began, “with Green and Henderson gone, seems to me we might get the few Antis left to join us now. If they’d only do their best, we could easily put old section D at the top this year.”
“There’s Crawford left—and Coyle,” remarked one, doubtfully.
“Coyle’s a bad lot, I know, but he’s only one; and somehow, I’ve a notion that Crawford has come back with different ideas, this term,” said Gordon.
“Why—what makes you think that?” questioned Raleigh.