Frank Merriwells Chums | Page 4

in quite a while, and I
believe I'll take a whirl with you to-night."
"All right," nodded Bart. "I'll show you some fellows with sporting
blood in their veins."
"But I want you to understand I do not propose to follow it up night
after night," Frank hastened to say. "A fellow can't do it and stand the
work that's cut out for him here."
"Bother the work!"
"I'll have to work to keep up with the procession. If you can get along
without work, you are dead lucky."
"Oh, I'll scrub along some way, don't you worry; and I will come out as
well as you do in the end."
That night, some time after taps, two boys arose and proceeded to
carefully prepare dummies in their beds, arranging the figures so they
looked very much like sleeping cadets, if they were not examined too
closely. Bart was rather skillful at this, and he assisted Frank in
perfecting the figure in Merriwell's bed.

"There," he finally whispered, with satisfaction, "that would fool
Lieutenant Gordan himself."
They donned trousers and coats, and prepared to leave the room in their
stocking feet.
Bart opened the door and peered cautiously out into the hall.
"Coast is clear," he whispered over his shoulder.
In another moment they were outside the room. Along the corridor they
skurried like cats, their feet making no noise on the floor.
Frank was still entirely unaware of their destination, but, as they had
not taken their shoes, he knew they were not to leave the building.
Frank cared little where they went, but he realized Hodge was leading
the way to a remote part of the building, where the rooms were not
entirely taken, as the academy was not full of students.
All at once, Bart sent a peculiar hiss down the corridor, and it was
answered by a similar sound.
A moment later they scudded past a fellow who was hugging in a
shadow where the lights did not reach.
"Who's that?" whispered Frank.
"That's the sentinel," replied Bart.
Then they came to the door of a certain room, on which Hodge
knocked in a peculiar manner.
A faint sound of unbarring came from behind the door, which quickly
opened, and they dodged into the room.
As yet there was no light in the room, and, still filled with wonder,
Frank asked:

"Was that the regular sentinel out there, Bart?"
"That was our sentinel," was the reply.
"But where are the regular sentinels? I did not see one of them."
Faint chuckles came from several parts of the room, and Hodge replied:
"At a certain hour each night the duties of the regular sentinels take
them away long enough for me to get out of my room and in here.
See?"
"They must be in the trick?"
"The most of them are. When it happens that one is not, we have to
look out for him, and dodge him. To-night those on duty on this floor
were all fixed."
Then somebody cautiously struck a match, by the flare of which Frank
saw several fellows were gathered in the room.
A lamp was lighted, and Merriwell looked around. Besides Bart, he
saw Harvey Dare, George Harris, Wat Snell and Sam Winslow.
"Hello, Merriwell, old man," some greeted, cordially, but cautiously.
"Glad to see Hodge has brought you along."
Frank was instantly seized by an unpleasant sensation--a foreboding, or
a warning. Harris and Snell were not friends of his; in fact, in the past,
they had been distinctly unfriendly. Dare he knew little about, as they
had never had much to do with each other. Sam Winslow was a plebe,
having entered the academy at the same time with Merriwell, but Frank
had never been able to determine whether he was "no good" or a pretty
decent sort of fellow.
Had Frank been governed by his first impression, he would have found
an excuse to bid that company good-night immediately, but he did not
like to do anything like that, for he knew it would cause them to
designate him as a cad, and he would be despised for doing so.

He had gone too far to back out immediately, so he resolved to stay a
while, and then get out as best he could.
At the window of the room blankets had been suspended, so no ray of
light could shine out into the night to betray the little party.
At a glance, Frank saw the room was not occupied by students, for it
contained nothing but the bare furniture, besides a box on the table, and
the assembled lads.
Bart saw Frank looking around, and divined his thoughts.
"I suppose you are wondering where you are? Well, this is the room in
which Cadet Bolt committed suicide. It has been