And so it happened that, standing outside the shattered window, they were more or less highly entertained by the talk of the frightened boys within the gymnasium. Also, as those lads had removed their masks, all save Barker, who had deserted, were seen and recognized beyond any question or doubt. After it had been arranged that Piper and Crane should return the broken skeleton to the academy laboratory and the others were preparing to scatter quietly to their various homes, Rod and Ben decided it was time for them to depart.
In Stone’s room at Mrs. Jones’ home Grant washed the powdered chalk from his face, combed his hair and made his appearance as passable as possible.
“Aunt Priscilla will sure be a plenty worried by this time,” he said, “and I don’t want to frighten her into fits by showing up looking like a battered specimen from a railroad wreck. If you’ll loan me a coat, I’ll be much obliged. I can get mine to-morrow.”
Wearing Ben’s best coat, the young Texan finally said good night and departed, feeling well satisfied with himself and the manner in which he had turned the joke on his hazers.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE WHITE FEATHER.
Nearly a dozen boys of Oakdale Academy slept poorly that night; some of them scarcely slept at all. Of the latter Chipper Cooper turned and tossed and twisted all through the long hours, and finally when he did doze a little it was only to be aroused by the morning whistles of the mills, which brought him out of bed, shivering and nerveless, fully two hours ahead of his usual rising time.
When he knew his father had gone for the day he crept down stairs, to the astonishment of his mother, who, after taking one look at his haggard face, decided that he must be ill. Her conviction that this was the case seemed confirmed by the fact that he could eat no breakfast, although he sought to reassure her by saying it was far too early for him to have any appetite. Realizing at last that he must offer some explanation for his strange behavior and unusual appearance, he confessed that he had been troubled by a slight attack of indigestion on the previous day, which was true. As a penalty for this subterfuge he was compelled to swallow a tablespoonful of some homemade remedy which Mrs. Cooper sternly forced upon him.
An hour later Chipper was puttering about in the woodshed when he heard a footstep and looked up to discover Chub Tuttle shivering in a turtleneck sweater outside the open door. Chub likewise looked pale and heavy-eyed, and a single glance was sufficient to let each lad know what the other had passed through.