d pay us to get out of here quickly, if any one suspected
us," whispered Fred Ripley to his friend.

"Sh! Shut up!" returned Dodge in a hoarse whisper. "It isn't
best for us to be seen whispering. Look innocent."

From behind a heavy hand descended abruptly on either coat collar,
taking firm hold.

"Here are the young apes who played the trick!" roared an angry
voice. "I just heard them whispering about it, and when I was
finishing supper I remember that I looked out of the window and
saw these boys fooling about the pile."

"What did you put on the fire?" demanded a man, stepping in front
of the now frightened youths, who were hemmed in so that they
could not escape.

"Red pepper," returned Ripley sullenly. He spoke before he thought,
thus admitting his guilt and Dodge's.

"You idiot!" hissed Bert.

"You're both of you idiots," retorted the captor, who had now
released both young men. "Besides being a mean, detestable trick,
it's as old as the world. That red-pepper trick was invented
by some stupid lout who lived thousands of years before the Flood."

"What shall we do with these imps?" demanded a voice.

"There must be some High School boys here," said the man who had
first seized the humiliated pair by their collars. "Let the High
School boys decide what is to be done with them."

"We don't care what's done with a pair of simpletons like them,"
spoke up Ben Tozier. "Let the crowd go as far as it likes with
such a pair."

"Don't you dare do anything to us" screamed Ripley, now beside
himself with rage. "It will go hard with any one who interferes
with us.

"Ha! ha! Ho! ho!" roared some of the crowd. "Listen to the
half-witted pair!"

While another man spoke up jovially:

"I'll tell you what to do with them. They came here to spoil
the fun of the Grammar School boys. Let the Grammar School boys
dispose of these stupid fellows as they choose."

"I tell you," raged Ripley, "that it will go hard with any one
who interferes with our comfort. There are laws in this land."

"Look at what doesn't want its comfort interfered with!" jeered
another voice. "This comes from a lout who interfered with our
comfort by putting several cans of red pepper on the bonfire.
Turn 'em over to the Grammar School boys. Boys, what do you
want to do with this pair?"

"We'll make 'em run the gauntlet," spoke up Spoff Henderson eagerly.

In a twinkling, so it seemed, a long double row of Grammar School
boys was formed do