If any conspirators were trying to knock down the dormitory, or perpetrate a practical joke, he had a desire to know who they were; for all such tricks were at a discount in the school. The principal had no mercy for a practical joker when the feelings or the person of any individual was imperilled by the so-called fun.
There was some one in the hall, beyond a doubt. It might be one of the students, roused, like himself, by the explosion; or it might be an evil-doer from outside of the fold. Dory opened the door again, and thrust the lamp out into the hall, so as to light every part of it.
The person in the hall proved to be Matt Randolph.
CHAPTER IV.
THE SCENE OF OPERATIONS.
"Did you hear it, Dory?" called Matt Randolph, as soon as he saw the light at the door of the other.
"Did I hear it?" replied Dory, who was cool enough to smile at the absurdity of the question, though it was nothing more than the introduction to the subject in the minds of both. "I could not very well help hearing it, though I sleep as soundly as a bullfrog in winter."
"What was it?" demanded Matt, apparently more excited than Dory.
"That's the conundrum before the house at the present moment. I have not the least idea what it was," replied Dory. "It shook my windows, and at first I thought my bed was lifted up under me. It might have been an earthquake, though such convulsions are not the fashion in the State of Vermont."
"I thought it must be an earthquake at first," added Matt.
"Did you alter your mind?" asked Dory, as he stepped back into his room, and put on his shoes.