The rebels could not help feeling that their enterprise had already "come to grief." Lew Shoreham's argument had been prepared, but it was unspoken, and was likely to remain so while its author pined in the solitude of his chamber. The malcontents could not confer together, for Bates would not allow any two of them to meet in the halls. Bart Cornwall tried to talk with Lick Milton in the next room, but the remorseless jailer threatened to put him in the black hole if he said another word; and he did not.
Each rebel, therefore, was compelled to think and act for himself. He could not lean on his leader or his companions. Life Windham was one of the most restless under his confinement. He liked to know what was going on, and he found himself shut out from the world and all that was in it. The principal had begun his announcement of the prizes for the best plans when the conspiracy broke out. Life concluded that he must have deferred the business till the rebellion was disposed of, and he wondered what he had said to the rest of the students about the refusal to wear the uniform.
Life fretted and worried over his situation until after dinner of the second day. Then he went over the whole subject of the uniform in his own mind. He thought he was abused and persecuted, but he could stand it no longer. Impulsively he put on the uniform which hung at the head of his bed. It was a good fit and he thought he looked well in it. He tried on the cap with the monogram in front. It was neat and plain, and the only objection he had to it was that it was part of the uniform.
He was so anxious to learn what was going on at the school, and what the principal had said about the rebels when they left, that he went out into the hall. Bates was on his feet the instant the door was opened. The old man smiled when he saw that Windham wore the uniform, and as the ex-rebel passed him, he saluted him as politely as though he had never been his prisoner.
The dormitory was located near the rocks, at a little distance from the lake, which could not be seen from its windows. Life Windham knew nothing at all about the stealing of the boats by the Topovers, and the lively scenes on the lake in the forenoon. It was after one o'clock, and the students ought to be in the shops. He went there, but they were deserted.
Life concluded that the principal had given the rest of the students a vacation as a reward of merit for not joining the rebellion. He walked to the lake. Seated in one of the four-oar boats, busily engaged in drawing on a large sheet of brown paper, he found Dory. As stroke-oarsman the ex-rebel sat next to the coxswain in the Winooski, and he was more intimate with him than with any other student. When Dory saw him getting into the boat, he rolled up his drawings, and put a rubber band around them.
"Hallo, Dory!" said Life, as he walked aft in the boat.
"Glad to see you, Life," replied the coxswain. "You look well in the new uniform."
"I couldn't stay in my room any longer, but I have not changed my opinion in regard to making us wear a uniform," added Life, who could not even now back wholly down. "But what are you doing? Why are the fellows not in the shops?"
"One question at a time. I am trying to make a plan for a boat-house. The principal gave the students three days to get up their plans, and they are to be handed in day after to-morrow morning."