Part 11 (1/2)

”Thanks to all who voted for me,” called Bart, as he made his way out past where Sandy stood.

”I'll get even with you!” growled Sandy. ”You think you're the Czar of the school!”

”If you--” began Bart hotly, but Ned spoke:

”Don't pay any attention to him. You'll only get into trouble. It's all over. It was only a trick of Sandy's. He hasn't ten friends in the whole school.”

CHAPTER X

A COW IN SCHOOL

The boys thronged from the court and out on the campus. There was a buzz of talk about what had taken place and Sandy came in for a severe ”raking over the coals.”

”What did you mean by saying he hurt Lem on purpose?” asked Newton Bantry, a member of the nine.

”You ask Sandy and maybe he'll tell you,” replied Bart. ”I'm sorry I said it, and I won't refer to it again. I may have been mistaken.”

”I guess Sandy won't give us much chance to ask him anything,” said Newton.

”Why?”

”Because he's going to leave school. I just heard him telling some of his cronies, those who were in the game with him. He says it's almost the end of the term, and he's going to work.”

”Well it's small loss,” put in Ned. ”Though he's a good ball player when he wants to take the pains. The trouble is he's too fond of playing tricks.”

There was no further dissension in the nine, and under Bart's leaders.h.i.+p it won several more games. The ”Preps.” challenged the boys again, but, though the high school boys did their best, they could not win. They were beaten by one run, but that was regarded as a great achievement against the redoubtable nine of older lads, and almost equivalent to a victory.

The weeks pa.s.sed, and the end of the school term came nearer.

Examinations were the order of the day, and the chums had little time to go off on trips along the river save on Sat.u.r.days. They made several excursions into the woods, and kept a lookout for the two queer men, but did not see them.

One day Ned went off alone in a search for the hut with the strange inscription. But he could not find it. Either he could not locate the place where he had seen it or the cabin had been moved.

”I'd like to get at the bottom of this,” he murmured, as he tramped back home. ”There's a method in the madness of those men, I'm sure.”

But, if there was, Ned little dreamed what it portended.

”To-morrow's the last day of school this term,” remarked Fenn, one afternoon as he and his chums strolled home. ”My, but I'm glad of it!

Those exams., especially the algebra, nearly floored me. Lucky there's no more.”

”Never mind,” said Bart. ”Forget it. We'll have a lot of sport to-morrow. We can cut up a bit and the teachers won't mind.”

”That's so,” spoke Ned. ”I've got to do something. I can feel it in my bones! Whoop! It must be something worthy of the Darewell Chums!” He began to do an impromptu war dance.

”Don't get us into trouble,” came from Frank.

”Trouble? Did I ever get you into trouble?”