“Sure?” Alvin nodded vehemently. “Well, are you going to? Because, if you are, you might as well have it right now while I’m feeling in the right mood. Are you?”
“I haven’t said I knew anything,” hedged the other. “And you can’t lick me for something I haven’t done. And—and I’d like to know what I’d be doing all the time! I’m not afraid of you, you big bully!”
“I’m no bigger than you are, and I’m nearly a year younger,” replied Monty, “but I sure can lick you, and I mean to do it the very first time you make a yip. I mean that, Standart. Remember this, hombre; if you tell anything you know or think you know it will be good-by for me, and when it is good-by I shan’t care a hang what I do, because I’ll be pulling my freight anyway. Now, you think that over, and if you think hard you’ll decide to keep your ears flat down to your head, son.”
Monty pulled his coat back into place, and Alvin, seeing that instant punishment was not his doom, recovered his sang-froid. He smiled contemptuously, and snapped his long fingers.
“I’ve got you guessing, haven’t I, Mr. Smart Alick?” he asked. “And I’ll keep you guessing, too,” he chuckled. “When things are going along their nicest, Crail, you just remember that I’m still around with a tongue in my head. I make no promises, understand. I’ve got you where I want you, and I’ll keep you there as long as it pleases me to! Now you do some thinking!”
“That’s all right, hombre,” replied Monty. “Just remember what I’ve said. There’s no time-limit set.”
After that, Monty sauntered across to School Hall, and, being quite alone in the corridor, hung the key of Number 8 Lothrop to a tack on the notice board.
CHAPTER XIV
THE MIDDLETON GAME
That was on Friday, and on Saturday morning Monty waited with mingled feelings of curiosity and uneasiness for Doctor Duncan to make an announcement in chapel regarding the matter of the stolen keys. Jimmy Logan was quite as alert, and Leon was plainly anxious. But to the surprise of each, and of the school in general, no mention was made of the affair. Faculty was treating it with bland unconcern, or so it would seem to one less used to the ways of faculty than James Townsend Logan. Jimmy was pessimistic after chapel, and on the way across to Lothrop made the fact known.