dignity of the national grief. Snorky, with tears trembling in his
eyes, suddenly brought back to reality, looked up to see Lucius Cassius
Hopkins standing over him with a mocking smile. From their desks Red
Dog and Hickey were making faces at him, roaring at his discomfiture.
"So Green is dreaming again! Dear, dear! Dreaming again!" said the
deliberate voice. "Dreaming of chocolate éclairs and the jigger-shop,
eh, Green?"
[Illustration: chapter title dec.--FURTHER PERSECUTION OF HICKEY]
FURTHER PERSECUTION OF HICKEY
Ever since the disillusionising encounter with Tabby, Hickey, like the
obscure Bonaparte before the trenches of Toulon, walked moodily alone,
absorbed in his own resolves, evolving his immense scheme of a colossal
rebellion. Macnooder, alone, received the full confidence of the war _à
outrance_ with the faculty which he gradually evolved.
Macnooder was the man of peace, the Mazarin and the Machiavelli of
the Dickinson. He risked nothing in action, but to his cunning mind
with its legal sense of dangers to be met and avoided, were brought
all the problems of conspiracies against the discipline of the school.
Macnooder pronounced the scheme of a revolt heroic, all the more so
that he saw an opportunity of essaying his strategy on large lines.
"We must begin on a small scale, Hickey," he said wisely, "and keep
working up to something really big."
"I thought we might organise a secret society," said Hickey,
ruminating, "something masonic, all sworn to silence and secrecy and
all that sort of thing."
"No," said Doc, "just as few as possible and no real confidants,
Hickey; we'll take assistants as we need them."
"What would you begin with?"
"We must strike a blow at Tabby," said Macnooder. "We must show him
that we don't propose to stand for any of his underhanded methods."
"He needs a lesson," Hickey asserted savagely.
"How about the skeleton?"
"Humph!" said Hickey, considering; "perhaps, but that's rather old."
"Not up the flag-pole--something new."
"What is it, Doc?"
Hickey looked at Macnooder with expectant admiration.
"I noticed something yesterday in Memorial, during chapel, that gave me
an idea," said Macnooder profoundly. "There is a great big ventilator
in the ceiling; now there must be some way of getting to that and
letting a rope down." Macnooder stopped and looked at Hickey. Hickey
returned a look full of admiration, then by a mutual movement they
clasped hands in ecstatic, sudden delight.
That night they reconnoitred with the aid of a dark-lantern, borrowed
from Legs Brownell of the Griswold, and the pass-keys, of which Hickey
was the hereditary possessor.
They found to their delight that there was in fact a small opening
through which one boy could wriggle with difficulty.
The attempt was fixed for the following night, and as a third boy was
indispensable it was decided that etiquette demanded that the owner of
the lantern should have the first call.
At two o'clock that night Hickey and Macnooder stole down the creaking
stairs, and out Sawtelle's window (the highway to the outer world).
The night was misty, with a pleasant, ghostly chill that heightened
measurably the delight of the adventure. In the shadow of the Griswold
a third shivering form cautiously developed into the possessor of the
dark-lantern.
After a whispered consultation, they proceeded to Foundation House,
where they secured the necessary rope from the clothes-line, it being
deemed eminently fitting to secure the coöperation of the best society.
Memorial Hall entered, they soon found themselves, by the aid of the
smelly lantern, in front of the closet that held the skeleton which
twice a week served as demonstration to the class in anatomy, and twice
a year was dragged forth to decorate the flag-pole or some such exalted
and inaccessible station. In a short time the door yielded to the
prying of the hatchet Macnooder had thoughtfully brought along, and the
white, chalky outlines of the melancholy skeleton appeared.
The three stood gazing, awed. It was black and still, and the hour of
the night when dogs howl and bats go hunting.
"Who's going to take him?" said Legs in a whisper.
"Take it yourself," said Macnooder, unhooking the wriggling form.
"Hickey's got to crawl through the air hole, and I've got to work the
lantern. You're not superstitious, are you?"
"Sure, I'm not," retorted Legs, who received the skeleton in his arms
with a shiver that raised the goose-flesh from his crown to his heels.
"Come on," said Hickey in a whisper; "softly now."
"What's that?" exclaimed Legs, drawing in his breath.
"That's nothing," said Macnooder loftily; "all buildings creak at
night."
"I swear I heard a step. There again. Listen."
"Legs is right," said Hickey in a whisper. "It's outside."
"Rats! it's nothing but Jimmy," said Macnooder with enforced calm.
"Keep quiet until he passes on."
They stood breathless until the sounds of the watchman on his nightly
rounds died away. Then they started on tiptoes up the first flight for
the chapel, Macnooder leading with the lantern, Legs next with the
skeleton gingerly carried in his arms, Hickey bringing up the rear with
the coil of rope.
"Here we are," said Macnooder at length. "Legs, you wait here,--see,
that's where we're going to hoist him." He flashed the bull's-eye
upward to the perforated circle directly above the rostrum, and added:
"I'll get Hickey started and then I'll be right back."
"Are you going to take the lantern?" said Legs, whose courage began to
fail him.
"Sure," said Hickey, indignantly. "Legs, you're getting scared."
"No, I'm not," protested Legs, faintly, "but I don't like to be left
all alone with this thing in my arms!"
"Say, do you want my job?" said Hickey, scornfully, "crawling down
thirty feet of air hole, with bugs, and spiders and mice? Do you?
'Cause if you do just say so."
"No-o-o," said Legs with a sigh, "no, I'll stay here."
"You don't believe in ghosts and that sort of thing, do you?" said
Macnooder solicitously.
"Course, I don't!"
"All right then, 'cause if you do we won't leave you."
"You chaps go on," said Legs bravely, "only be quick about it."
"All right?"
"All right."
Hickey and Macnooder stole away; then suddenly Hickey, returning,
whispered:
"Say, Legs!"
"What?"
"If you catch your coat don't think it's the dead man's hand grabbing
you, will you?"
"Darn you, Hickey," said Legs, "if you don't shut up I'll quit."
"Sh-h--good-bye, old man."
"Hurry up!"
In the crawling, howling darkness Legs waited, holding the skeleton at
arm's length, trembling like a leaf, listening tensely for a sound,
vowing that if he ever got safely back into his bed he would never
break another law of the school. At the moment when his courage was
wavering, he heard the muffled, slipping tread of Macnooder returning.
He drew a long comfortable breath, threw one leg nonchalantly over the
back of a near-by seat and clasped the skeleton in an affectionate
embrace.
"Hist--Legs."
The lantern flashed upon him. Legs yawned a bored, tranquil yawn.
"Is that you, Doc?"
"Were you scared?"
"Of what?"
"Say, you've got nerve for a youngster," said Macnooder admiringly.
"Honestly, how did it feel hugging old Bonesy, all alone there in the
dark?"
"You know, I rather liked it," said Legs with a drawl. "I tried to
imagine what it would be like to see a ghost. Only, I could hardly keep
awake. Good Lord! what's that?"
The coil of rope descending had brushed against his face and the
start which he gave completely destroyed the effect of his narrative.
Macnooder, seizing the rope, made it fast to the skeleton. Then,
producing a large pasteboard from under his sweater, he attached
it to a foot so that it would display to the morrow's audience the
inscription, TABBY.
He gave two quick tugs, and the skeleton slowly ascended, twisting
and turning in unnatural, white gyrations, throwing grotesque shadows
against the ceiling.
"Now, let's get up to see Hickey come out," said Macnooder with a
chuckle. "He's a sight."
Ten minutes later, as they waited expectantly, listening at the opening
of the narrow passage, a sneeze resounded.
"What's that?" exclaimed Legs, whose nerves were tense.
"That's Hickey," said Macnooder with a chuckle. "He'll be along in a
minute. He's scattering red pepper after him so no one can crawl in to
get the skeleton down. Gee! he must have swallowed half of it."
A succession of sneezes resounded, and then with a scramble an
unrecognisable form shot out of the opening, covered with cobwebs and
the accumulated dust of years.
"For heaven's sake, Hickey, stop sneezing!" cried Macnooder in tremor.
"You'll get us pinched."
"I--I--can't help it," returned Hickey between sneezes. "Great idea of
yours--red pepper!"
"Just think of the fellow that goes in after you," said Macnooder, "and
stop sneezing."
"It's in my eyes, down my throat, everywhere!" said Hickey helplessly.
They got him out of the building and down by the pond where he plunged
his head gratefully into the cooling waters. Then they slapped the dust
from him and rubbed the cobwebs out of his hair, until he begged for
mercy.
"Never mind, Hickey," said Macnooder helpfully, "just think of Tabby
when he comes in to-morrow."
Fortified by this delicious thought, Hickey submitted to being cleaned.
Then Macnooder examined him carefully, saying:
"There mustn't be the slightest clue; if there is a button missing
you'll have to go back for it." Suddenly he stopped. "Hickey, there's
one gone--off the left sleeve."
"I lost that scrapping with the Egghead last week," explained Hickey,
"and both of the left suspender ones are gone, too."
"Honest?"
"I swear it."
"There's been many a murder tracked down," said Macnooder impressively,
"on just a little button."
"Gee! Doc," said Legs in chilled admiration, "say, what a bully
criminal you would make."
And on this spontaneous expression of young ambition, the three
separated.
The next morning, when the school filed in to Memorial for chapel,
they beheld with rapture the uncanny figure suspended directly
over the rostrum. In an instant the name was whispered over the
benches--"Tabby." It was then a feat of the Dickinson House. Every
Dickinsonian was questioned excitedly and professed the blankest
ignorance, but with such an insistent air, that twenty were instantly
credited with the deed. Then, with a common impulse, the school turned
to watch the entrance of the faculty. Each master on entering started,
repressed an involuntary smile, looked to see the name attached,
frowned, gazed fiercely at the nearest boys and took his seat.
Suddenly a thrill of excitement ran over the school and like a huge
sigh the exclamation welled up, "Tabby!"
Mr. Lorenzo Blackstone Tapping had entered. His eyes met the skeleton
and he coloured. A smile would have saved him, but the young Greek
and Latin expert understood nothing of the humanising sciences. He
tried to look unconcerned and failed; he tried to look dignified and
appeared sheepish; he tried to appear calm and became red with anger.
It was a moment that carried joy into the heart of Hickey, joy and the
forgetfulness of red pepper, cobwebs and dust.
Then the head master arrived and a frightened calm fell over the awed
assemblage. Did he see the skeleton? There was not the slightest
evidence of recognition. He walked to his seat without a break and
began the services without once lifting his eyes. The school was vexed,
mystified and apprehensive. But at the close of the services the head
master spoke, seeking the culprits among the four hundred, and under
that terrifying glance each innocent boy looked guilty.
Such an outrage had never before occurred in the history of the
institution, he assured them. Not only had a gross desecration been
done to the sacredness of the spot, but wanton and cowardly insult had
been perpetrated on one of the masters (Tapping thought the specific
allusion might have been omitted). It was as cowardly as the miserable
wretch who writes an anonymous letter, as cowardly as the drunken
bully who shoots from the dark. He repelled the thought that this
was a manifestation of the spirit of the school; it was rather the
isolated act of misguided unfortunates who should never have entered
the institution, who would leave it the day of their detection. And he
promised the school that they would be detected, that he would neither
rest nor spare an effort to ferret out this cancer and remove it.
Hickey drank in the terrific onslaught with delight. He had struck the
enemy, he had made it wince and cry out. The first battle was his. He
rose with the school and shuffled up the aisle. Suddenly at the exit,
he beheld Mr. Tapping waiting. Their glances met in a long hostile
clash. There was no mistaking the master's meaning; it was a direct
accusation that sought in Hickey's face to surprise a telltale look.
A great lump rose in Hickey's throat; all the joy of a moment ago
passed, a profound melancholy enveloped him; he felt alone, horribly
alone, fighting against the impossible.
"Why?" he said, bitterly, "why should he always pick on me--the sneak!"
* * * * *
During the next few days a few minor skirmishes ensued which showed
only too clearly to Hickey, the implacable persecution he must expect
from Tabby. The first day it was the question of breakfast.
At seven o'clock every morning the rising bell fills the air with its
clamour from the belfry of the old gymnasium, but no one rises. There
is half an hour until the gong sounds for breakfast, a long delicious
half hour--the best half hour of the day or night to prolong under
the covers. After twenty minutes a few effeminate members rise to
prink, five minutes later there is a general tumbling out of the bed
and a wild scamper into garments arranged in ingenious time-saving
combinations.
At exactly the half hour, with the first sounds of the breakfast
gong, Hickey would start from his warm bed, plunge his head into the
already filled basin, wash with circumspection in eight seconds (drying
included), thrust his legs into an arrangement of trousers, socks and
unmentionables, pull a jersey over his head, stick his feet into the
waiting pair of slippers, part and brush his hair, snap a "dickey"
about his neck, and run down the stairs struggling into his coat, tying
his tie and attending to the buttons, the whole process varying between
twenty-one and one-eighth seconds and twenty-two and three-quarters.
But on the morning after the exposing of the skeleton Hickey had
trouble with the dickey. The school regulations tyrannically demanded
that each boy should appear at breakfast and chapel properly dressed,
_i. e._, in collar and shirt. But as the appearance is accepted for the
fact, the "dickey" comes to the rescue and permits not only despatch in
dressing, but by suppressing a luxury from the wash list, to attend to
the necessities of the stomach. The dickey is formed by the junction of
two flat cuffs, held together by a stud, to which is attached a collar,
and later a tie. When the coat is added even the most practised eye may
be deceived by the inclosed exhibition of linen.
On the aforesaid morning as Hickey hastily donned his dickey the
stud snapped and he was forced to waste precious seconds in not only
procuring another stud, but in arranging the component parts. He tore
down the stairs to find the door shut in his face,--Tabby's orders, of
course!
The next night the same malignant enemy surprised him at ten o'clock
returning on tiptoe from the Egghead's room,--marks and penal service
on Saturday afternoon. Hickey soon perceived that he was to be
subjected to a constant surveillance, that the slightest absence from
his room after dark would expose him to detection and punishment.
Macnooder counselled seeming submission and a certain interval of
patient caution. Hickey indignantly repelled the advice; the more the
danger the greater the glory.
On Friday morning a strange calm pervaded the school, a lethargy
universal and sweet. Seven o'clock, half past seven, a quarter of
eight, and not a stir. Then suddenly in every house, exclamations of
amazement burst from the rooms, watches were scanned incredulously and
excited boys called from house to house. Gradually the wonder dawned,
welcomed by cries of rejoicing--the clapper had been stolen!
In the Dickinson, Hickey and Macnooder were the first in the halls,
the loudest in their questions, the most dumfounded at the occurrence.
Breakfast, forty minutes late, was eaten in a buzz of excitement,
interrupted by the arrival of a messenger from the head master with
peremptory orders to convene at once in Memorial.
The Doctor was in no pleasant mood. The theft of the clapper, coming so
soon upon the incident of the skeleton, had roused his fighting blood.
His discourse was terse, to the point, and uncompromising. There could
no longer be any doubt that individuals were in rebellion against the
peace and discipline of the school. He would accept the defiance. If
it was to be war, war it should be. It was for the majority to say how
long they, the law-abiding, the studious, the decent, would suffer
from the reckless outrages of a few without standards or seriousness
of purpose. The clapper would not be replaced. All marks for tardiness
and absence from recitations would be doubled, and the moment any
total reached twenty, that boy would be immediately suspended from the
institution. The clapper would not be replaced until the school itself
replaced it!
Hickey drank in the sweet discourse, revelling in the buzz of
conjecture that rose about him, concentrating all his powers on
appearing innocent and unconcerned before the fusillade of admiring,
alluring glances that spontaneously sought him out.
The school went to the recitation rooms joyfully, discussing how best
to draw from the ultimatum all the amusement possible. By the afternoon
every boy was armed with an alarm clock, which he carried into each
recitation, placing it in the aisle at his feet after a solicitous
comparison of the time with his neighbours. Five minutes before the
close of the hour the bombardment would begin, and as each clock
exploded the owner would grab it up frantically and depart for the next
recitation in a gallop. Bright happy days, when even the monotony of
the classroom disappeared under the expectation of a sudden alarm!
With a perfect simulation of seriousness, expeditions, known as clapper
parties, were organised to search for the missing clapper. Orchards,
gardens, streams,--nothing was spared in the search. Complaints
began to pour in from neighbouring farmers with threats of defending
their property with shotguns. The school gardener arrived in a panic
to implore protection for his lawns. Then the alarm clocks became
strangely unreliable. At every moment the sound of the alarm, singly,
or in bunches, was heard in the halls of Memorial. Several of the older
members of the faculty, who were addicted to insomnia and nervous
indigestion, sent in their ultimatum. Thus forced to a decision, the
head master compromised. He had the clapper replaced and assessed the
school for the costs.
During those glorious, turbulent days, Hickey perceived with melancholy
that Tabby still persisted in suspecting him. It was disheartening, but
there was no blinking the fact. Tabby suspected him!
At the table Tabby's eyes restlessly returned again and again in his
direction. Tabby's ears were strained to catch the slightest word
he might utter, in fact, everything in Tabby's bearing indicated a
malignant determination to see in him the author of every escapade.
This fresh injustice roused Hickey's ire to such an extent that despite
the cautious Macnooder he determined upon a further deed of bravado.
One morning Mr. Lorenzo Blackstone Tapping, exactly as Hickey planned,
perceived a curious watch charm on Hickey's watch chain, which he soon
made out to be a miniature silver clapper. Immediately suspicious, he
noticed that every boy in the room was in a state of excitement. On
examining them he discovered that every waistcoat was adorned with
the same suspect emblem. During the day a chance remark overheard,
revealed to him the fact that Hickey was selling the souvenirs at a
dollar apiece. Assuredly here was an important clue. That afternoon
all his doubts were answered. He was seated at his study window when
his attention was attracted by a group directly beneath. Against the
wall Hickey was standing, with a large box under his arm, selling
souvenirs as fast as he could make change to the breathless crowd
which augmented at every moment.
Meanwhile, Hickey, fully aware of his enemy's proximity, took special
pains that the conversation should carry. About him the excited crowd
pressed in a frantic endeavour to purchase before the store was
exhausted.
To all inquiries Hickey maintained a dark secrecy.
"I'm saying nothing, fellows, nothing at all," he said with a canny
smile; "it isn't wise sometimes to do much talking. The impression
has somehow got around that these little 'suveneers' are made out of
the original clapper. I'm not responsible for that impression, gents,
and I make no remarks thereupon. These little 'suveneers' I hold in
my hand are silver-plated--_silver-plated_, gents, and when a thing
is silver-plated there must be something inside. And I further remark
that these 'suveneers' will sell for one dollar apiece only until
five o'clock, that after that time they will sell at one dollar and a
half, and I further remark that there are only forty-five left!" Then
rattling the box he continued with simulated innocence, "Nothing but
a 'suveneer,' gents, nothing guaranteed. We sell nothing under false
pretences!"
At half past four he had sold the last of a lot of two hundred and
fifty amid scenes of excitement worthy of Wall Street.
At five o'clock, Hickey received a summons to Foundation House. There
to his delight he found the head master in the company of Mr. Tapping.
Hickey entered with the candour of a cherub, plainly quite at loss as
to the object of the summons.
"Hicks," said the head master in his solemnest tones, "you are under
very grave suspicion."
"Me, sir?" said Hickey in ungrammatical astonishment.
"Hicks, it has come to my knowledge that you are selling as souvenirs
bits of the clapper that was stolen from the gymnasium."
"May I ask, sir," said Hickey with indignation, "who has accused me?"
At this Mr. Tapping spoke up severely:
"I have informed the Doctor of facts which have come into my
possession."
"Sir," said Hickey, addressing the head master, "Mr. Tapping has
_honoured_ me with his enmity for a long while. He has not even
hesitated to _threaten_ me. I am not surprised that he should accuse
me, only I insist that he state what evidence he has for bringing this
accusation."
"Doctor, allow me," said Mr. Tapping, somewhat ill at ease. Then
turning to Hickey he said, with the air of a cross-examiner: "Hicks,
are you or are you not selling souvenirs at one dollar apiece, in the
shape of small silver clappers?"
"Certainly."
"Made out of the original clapper?"
"Certainly _not_!"
"What!" exclaimed the amazed Tapping.
"Certainly not."
"Do you mean to say that two hundred and fifty boys would have bought
those souvenirs at a dollar apiece for any other reason than that they
contained a bit of the stolen clapper?"
Hickey smiled proudly.
"They may have been under that impression."
"Because you told them!"
"No, sir," said Hickey with righteous anger. "You have no right, sir,
to say such a thing. On the contrary, I refused to answer one way or
the other. You listened this afternoon from your window and you heard
exactly my answer. If you will do me the _justice_, sir, to tell the
Doctor what I did say, I shall be very much obliged to you."
"Enough, Hicks," said the head master with a frown. "Answer me
directly. Are these watch charms made up out of the original clapper?"
"No, sir."
The Doctor, in his turn, looked amazed.
"Come, Hicks, that is not possible," he said. "I warn you I shall trace
them without any difficulty."
Then Hickey smiled, a long delicious smile of culminating triumph.
Slowly he drew forth from his pocket an envelope, from which he
produced a legal document.