CHAPTER VIII.
THE WHITE FEATHER.
Nearly a dozen boys of Oakdale Academy slept poorly that night; some ofthem scarcely slept at all. Of the latter Chipper Cooper turned andtossed and twisted all through the long hours, and finally when he diddoze a little it was only to be aroused by the morning whistles of themills, which brought him out of bed, shivering and nerveless, fully twohours ahead of his usual rising time.
When he knew his father had gone for the day he crept down stairs, tothe astonishment of his mother, who, after taking one look at hishaggard face, decided that he must be ill. Her conviction that this wasthe case seemed confirmed by the fact that he could eat no breakfast,although he sought to reassure her by saying it was far too early forhim to have any appetite. Realizing at last that he must offer someexplanation for his strange behavior and unusual appearance, heconfessed that he had been troubled by a slight attack of indigestionon the previous day, which was true. As a penalty for this subterfugehe was compelled to swallow a tablespoonful of some homemade remedywhich Mrs. Cooper sternly forced upon him.
An hour later Chipper was puttering about in the woodshed when he hearda footstep and looked up to discover Chub Tuttle shivering in aturtleneck sweater outside the open door. Chub likewise looked pale andheavy-eyed, and a single glance was sufficient to let each lad knowwhat the other had passed through.
“Gosh! it’s cold this morning,” mumbled Tuttle. “Ground is froze stiffand puddles skimmed side of the road.”
“Yep,” answered Chipper; “there’ll be skating pretty soon. What youdoing over here so early?”
Tuttle entered the shed. “I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” heconfessed. “Don’t b’lieve closed my eyes once. Couldn’t help thinkingabout Rod Grant going clean off his nut.”
“’Sh!” hissed Chipper, tiptoeing up some steps and closing a door thatled toward the kitchen. “I don’t want mother to find it out—yet. Is’pose she’ll have to know about it pretty soon. Sleep! Say, I nevergot a bit. Couldn’t help thinking all night long that Grant might belost in the woods or drowned or freezing or something. Have you heardanything this morning, Chub?”
“No; I cut across back lots so’s not to come through the main street ofthe village. Four or five times last night I sat up in bed, thinking Iheard people out searching for Grant. Jiminy, Chipper, didn’t he lookjust awful when Bern opened the closet door! I’ve never seen a crazyperson before, but I knew he was stark daffy the minute my eyes fell onhim.”
“So did I,” nodded Cooper. “We should have had sense enough to realizethat, having a batty streak in his family, he was liable to go woppylike that.”
“Never occurred to me,” confessed Chub, turning the sawhorse on itsside and seating himself on it. “Did you eat any breakfast?”
“Not a morsel.”
“Same here. Have some peanuts.”
Cooper declined the proffered handful of peanuts, and Chub, trying toswallow one, nearly choked over it.
“I’m worried sick,” acknowledged Chipper. “I’d give anything in theworld if I hadn’t taken part in that fool racket last night. You knowonly a year or two ago some students at West Point drove a fellow halfcrazy hazing him, and he knocked one of the bunch out with a chair.Came near killing him, too. The fellow didn’t die, but the doctors saidit was doubtful if he’d ever get over it. Read about it in thenewspapers. Funny thing, but the chap they were hazing was named Grant,too.”
“I guess this hazing business ain’t as much fun as it might be,” sighedChub. “You’ll never get _me_ into any more of it.”
“I think I’ve had my fill, too. I just hate to show up at the academyto-day.”
The sound of a low, peculiar whistle, like a signal, drifted in throughthe open door of the shed, causing them both to give a start.
“That’s Sleuth!” palpitated Chipper, starting for the door.
Hesitating on the road in front of the house, they beheld Billy Piper,who turned into the yard at once and hurried toward them, in responseto a beckoning signal from Cooper. His manner was nervous and furtive,and he glanced round as if in constant apprehension of feeling the handof an officer at his collar.
“Hello, Chub; you here?” he said. “Just come over by the lower bridge.Thought I’d come that way, so I wouldn’t have to pass through town.Say, who do you s’pose I saw waiting for the morning train over at thestation? You can’t guess. It was Barker.”
“Barker?” exclaimed Chipper and Chub in a breath. “Waiting for thetrain? Where’s he going?”
“He didn’t want me to know he was going anywhere, but I caught him withhis satchel in his fist, and he had to own up. Said he’d had aninvitation to visit Fred Merwin over at Clearport. Now my deductionis——”
“The sneak!” cried Cooper resentfully. “He’s running away!”
“That was my deduction,” nodded Piper.
“And he was really the fellow who put up the whole job,” gurgledTuttle. “He’s skinning out on us; he’s leaving us to face the music.”
“And if that doesn’t prove him to be the biggest coward in Oakdale I’lleat my hat!” snarled Cooper. “He made a lot of talk about Grant being aquitter and a coward, but now he’s showing himself up all right. Say,I’d like to have just a few words with him—I’d like to tell him what Ithink. Come on.”
“Too late,” said Piper. “There’s the train whistling now.”
The sound of a locomotive signaling for the station beyond the riverreached their ears through the clear, cold November morning, and theyknew that long ere they could reach the depot the train would pull outfor Clearport.
“Let him go,” muttered Tuttle. “He’ll have to come back. He can’t dodgeit this way.”
In the shed those three unhappy boys discussed the affair until thefirst bell sounded from the tower of the academy, when at last,encouraged by one another’s company, they set forth for school, makinghaste through the main part of the village. As they approached theacademy Phil Springer stepped round a corner and beckoned to them.
“Juj-juj-jiminy!” chattered Tuttle, his teeth rattling in spite of hisefforts to prevent them. “They’ve heard something about Grant!”
Their hearts heavy, they followed Springer. Behind the academy theyfound assembled the rest of the boys who had taken part in the hazing,with the exception of Berlin Barker, and these lads gazed at theminquiringly as they approached.
“Have yeou fellers heard anything?” asked Sile Crane.
“Not a thing,” answered Piper. “What have you heard?”
“Nothing, and that’s mighty funny. We expected old Priscilla Kent wouldhave the whole town stirred up by this time. If Rod Grant hadn’t comehome last night she’d been throwing fits all over the territory beforethis.”
“Perhaps he came home,” said Cooper hopefully. “You’re right about MissPriscilla, and so in this case no news sounds like good news.”
“Have you seen anything of Barker this morning?” questioned Jack Nelson.
Sleuth promptly gave them the same information concerning Berlin whichhe had imparted to Cooper and Tuttle, concluding with an expression ofhis views regarding the conduct of Barker. Their indignation wasboundless, and, as one fellow, they agreed that the chap who had beenthe main mover in the hazing had shown the white feather.
“That’s enough for me, by jinks!” cried Sile Crane. “He run away lastnight, and now he’s dug out of Oakdale. Yeou bate I’ll tell himsomething when he comes back! If Rod Grant is——”
“Great Cæsar!” gasped Piper suddenly. “Here comes Grant this minute,and Stone is with him!”
He pointed with an unsteady finger, and those boys beheld Rod Grant andBen Stone coming down along the footpath from the direction of TigeFletcher’s house.
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