"Are the halls empty?"
"Yes. Nobody will see us. They're dark, too, at night. If you want to go to my room first—"
"I do."
There was a dim night light in this small inside hallway. It showed Charlie with rumpled hair, white face and gleaming eyes. He was shaking with excitement.
"Come on. What's that you're carrying?" the boy asked.
Alan wore black rubber-soled shoes; his long, lightweight dark overcoat and a dark cap. The bag was under his arm. In his overcoat pocket he had the small revolver.
"Tools, Charlie. To open the door of the girl's room—later, when that Indian gets to sleep—"
The bag contained a chisel, a screw-driver and other implements with which he might force a lock. And a vial of chloroform and a sponge.
They crept along the hallway, into the main lower corridor. Alan feared that at any moment they would be discovered. He would make a dash to get out the way they had come in—