However, our heroes were prepared and they gave him little chance to inflict punishment on them. Once or twice though, he caught them napping and many an extra hundred lines of Latin prose they had to write out. This, however, had its good effect, for it perfected them in this study, which they might otherwise have neglected.
There was a different spirit awakening in the school. The lads seemed brighter, and many simple sports such as hare and hounds, and cross country running, or walking matches, were gotten up, in which Frank and Andy took prominent parts.
The school faculty seemed different, too, and a few days after Frank's open-hearted talk with the doctor some much needed repairs were made to some of the buildings.
"Though where the money comes from I don't know," said Old Wallace. Everyone called him "Old" Wallace though he was a young chap. "I hear that some of the professors haven't been paid for months," he added. "Maybe that's what makes Thorny crosser than usual."
"In that case," thought Frank, "he'll do all he can to make it unpleasant for Gertrude and her mother. I must write to dad and see if he can't collect on those bonds." He did so, getting an answer that the company was in litigation in the courts and that it would be some time before a settlement could be made.
"Then I'm going to advance money on them myself," Frank wrote back. "Andy is with me in it, too." So, though his father rather objected to this proceeding, arrangements to this end were started.
The football talk, which had been rather listless at first, following the rowing race, became more pronounced. The lads who had formed two scrub elevens practiced more frequently on the gridiron, part of which had been cleared of heaps of dirt, stones and a thick growth of weeds.
"We ought to try and see if we can't get up two regular teams," suggested Frank one afternoon, when he and Andy, having donned their suits, which they had had sent from home, were out on the field. "Maybe we could get a game with Milton or Waterside."
"I'm afraid not," spoke Old Wallace, who was one of the best of the football squad. "They probably have their dates all filled, though they might give us one with the scrub."
"No, sir!" exclaimed Frank. "If we play at all we play the varsity or nothing."