"It's us for the tall timber," said Andy in a whisper. "Douse the glim and go down the rear ladder."
In an instant the loft was in darkness and the boys were cautiously stealing down. Fortunately there were two ways of descending, which fact the wily Andy had taken note of before perpetrating his joke. Otherwise the plotters would have been caught, for when they were half way down the rear ladder, they heard the irate professor mounting by the front stairs. He was muttering indignantly:
"This is an outrage! I know it was some of those rascally students! If I can only catch them I'll have them expelled! It's outrageous!"
"Hurry up!" whispered Jack, who was in the rear of the retreating procession.
"Keep quiet!" whispered back Andy. "He's got sharp ears."
"Who is there?" suddenly demanded the professor. He had evidently heard the voices, cautious though they were.
The boys at once stood still. Not a sound was audible in the old barn for perhaps half a minute. Then the instructor advanced and under cover of the noise he made the lads completed their retreat. They were soon speeding back to the school in the darkness and a little later they were at supper where they talked of many things, including the discovery of the old shell.
"Oh, you fellows can never get that in shape," said Burnam Foster, one of the seniors. "They had that on the water before I came here, and that's four years ago. It will leak like a sieve."
"We can calk it," declared Frank, and the enthusiastic talk went on. Opinion was divided. Some thought that it was possible to get the shell in shape, but the great majority declared that it was useless to try.
"Nothing ever happens for any good at Riverview," declared one lad. "The school has the dry rot."