SID WILTON TELLS
Fred found Wilton propped up in bed, in a room off the main dormitory
that was used in cases of sickness or accident. He looked very white and
weak, and, although Fred had never liked the boy, he felt sincerely
sorry that he had had such a shock.
He reached out his hand with a friendly smile, and Wilton grasped it
eagerly.
"I can't thank you enough for pulling me out of the snowfall, Rushton,"
he said. "I don't remember much about it after it once buried me, but
they tell me that I was all in when you got me. It was an awfully plucky
thing for you to do, to hang on when that second mass was coming down,
and I don't believe there's another fellow in school that would have
taken the chance."
"Oh, yes there are, plenty of them," said Fred heartily. "I just
happened to be the nearest one to you. I'm glad to hear that you will be
all right again in a little while."
"All right in body, perhaps," said Sid with a faint smile, "but I won't
be all right in mind till I tell you something you ought to know."
"What do you mean?" said Fred wonderingly.
Sid turned to the boy who was sitting in the room to wait upon him.
"Would you mind leaving me alone with Rushton for a few minutes,
Henley?" he asked.
"Sure thing!" answered Henley, rising. "I'll come in again later on."
He left the room; and Sid turned to Fred.
"It's about the examination papers," he said, shamefacedly.
Fred's heart gave a leap as though it would jump out of his body.
"What do you mean?" he cried excitedly.
"I mean," and Sid's face went red with the shame of the confession,
"that Andy Shanks and I put up a job on you. We took the papers and put
them in your locker, so that Professor Raymond would think you stole
them. There, it's out now."
The room seemed to be whirling about Fred. The blood pounded madly
through his veins. With an effort he steadied himself.
"What?" he shouted. "You did _that_?"
"It was a dirty trick, I know," went on the younger boy, not venturing
to meet the eyes of the youth he had wronged, "and I'd give anything
I've got in the world if I hadn't done it. But Andy----"
"Wait," cried Fred, jumping up, "wait till I can get Professor Raymond
over here, so that he can hear what you've got to say."
"No need of that," said a deep voice, and Professor Raymond advanced
from the door towards the bed. "I was coming in to see how Wilton was
getting along, and, as the door was ajar, I heard what he was saying."
He looked sadly and sternly at Sid, who cowered down on his pillow.
"You have done a terrible thing, Wilton," he said; "but you're weak and
sick now, and what I have to say and do will be postponed to a later
time. Now, go ahead and tell us all about it from beginning to end."
With trembling voice Sid went on:
"Andy was down in the gymnasium one day, and he heard Rushton say that
he had seen you put a package in your desk, and one of the other fellows
said that they were probably the examination slips. He was sore at
Rushton because of something that had happened on the train coming here,
and because, later on, Rushton had faced him down on the campus. So he
went off to another town, after I had got a wax impression from the lock
of your desk, and had a key made to fit. Then I opened your desk one
night and got the package. I watched my chance till there was no one in
Number Three Dormitory, and hid the papers in Rushton's locker. Then
Andy printed a letter to you, telling you where to look."
"We didn't know for sure what happened after that, but Rushton has been
so down in the mouth, that we felt sure the plan worked. Andy expected
him every day to be sent away from the school, and he didn't know why he
was allowed to hang on. I felt awfully mean about it, because Rushton
had never done anything to me. But Andy was my friend and it seemed that
I had to do anything he asked me, no matter what."
"But after what Rushton did for me to-day, I simply had to tell him
about it. He saved my life----"
Here his voice faltered, and Sid hid his face in his hands.
A few more questions and they left him, shamed to the marrow by what he
had done, but relieved at getting the thing off his conscience.
Outside the room, Professor Raymond turned to Fred.
"Rushton," he said, "this confession will be laid before Doctor Rally at
once, and you can trust us to deal with Shanks. In the meantime, I want
to shake hands with you, and tell you how delighted I am to have this
thing cleared up. It must have been a fearful strain on you, but you
have borne yourself nobly. And your brave act of to-day only confirms me
in what I have felt all along, that you were a credit to Rally Hall."
Fred stammered some words of thanks and was off to break the glorious
news to his brother.
Teddy went wild with delight.
"Glory, hallelujah!" he shouted, catching Fred in his arms and dancing
around the room.
"Hey, what's the matter with you fellows?" called out Lester Lee, as
they gyrated about. "You act as though you'd just got money from home."
"Better than that, eh, Ted?" beamed Fred, his face radiant with
happiness.
"You bet it is," chuckled Teddy.
"Better than money, eh?" grunted Lester. "It must be pretty good then.
But bear in mind that this is a respectable joint, and if you don't stop
acting rough house, I'll call a cop and have you pinched."
But it was a long time before they could sober down. The reaction was so
great that they laughed and chattered and whooped like a pair of
lunatics.
Fred felt as though he were walking on air. The black cloud was lifted.
His good name was given back to him. He stood untarnished before the
world.
"What are you going to do to Andy?" asked Teddy.
"Do?" replied Fred. "I'm going to lick him to a frazzle."
But Doctor Rally got at Andy first.
That very night, he sent for him and confronted him with the confession.
Andy, true to his nature, tried to lie out of it, but, under the
searching questions of the head of the school, he broke down and
confessed. Then Doctor Rally, in words that stung and blistered even
Andy's thick hide, told him that he was a disgrace to the school, and
commanded him to leave Rally Hall, bag and baggage, within twenty-four
hours.
Andy begged and blubbered, but to no purpose. His offence was too
dastardly and contemptible. The doctor, doubly enraged because he had so
nearly condemned an innocent lad, justified the reputation for sternness
that Uncle Aaron had given him.
Andy slunk away white and shaken, and the next morning the whole school
was surprised to learn that he had gone for good.
"Humph!" exclaimed Fred, when he heard the news, "I wish he'd waited
just one day more. Now, I suppose we've seen the last of him."
But Fred was mistaken. He had not yet seen the last of Andy Shanks.