ut what you're drowned?"
"Only you, ... an' I!"
"Good! We'll teach the guys a lesson. Here, let me give you a good
rub down. Darn this injured knee, anyhow. Just when a fellow needs
help the most I can't be of much assistance. Now listen, you lay low
when the bunch comes back. Get under the bed or somewhere. I'll
pretend I don't know where you are. We'll teach them to play any more
practical jokes!"
Judd grinned. "That 'ud kind of be turnin' the tables, eh?"
"Kind of, you bet! I hear somebody coming upstairs now! Take this
alcohol bottle and rub yourself good to keep from catching cold. Get
into the closet out of sight. Quick!"
Cateye waited until the footsteps reached the head of the stairs, then
flung open the door and limped into the hall on his crutch. He met
face to face with Benz.
"Rather late turning in, aren't you? Say, ... do you know where Judd
is? I'm getting rather anxious. It's two o'clock and after, ... and
he never kept very late hours!"
Benz's face was a pale white; his lips were trembling; he seemed near
collapse.
"He's, ... he's, ... I think he's drowned!"
"What!" Cateye's concern was extremely realistic. "Drowned!"
"Shss!" warned Benz, glancing about nervously, "Don't wake the whole
dorm! Step in your room here and I'll tell you the whole story."
Cateye backed in and sat down, turning on the light. Benz seated
himself on the edge of the bed and clutched the bed sheets despairingly.
"Great heavens, man, don't keep me in suspense!" groaned Cateye, "Judd
drowned! How'd it happen?"
"Well, ..." began Benz, "It all came out of a little joke!"
"So it was one of your pranks, eh? Drowning a man!" Cateye's voice
was hard and cruel.
"I didn't mean it, Cateye, honest! I mean, ... the joke to go so far,"
Benz hastened to add, realizing that he had almost confessed. "We
broke up a celebration the second team was having; captured Rube and
McCabe and planned on giving 'em a good scare. So we carried 'em down
to the bridge an' held Rube over the rail. I, ... we never meant to
drop him, _honest_, but, ..."
"Why did you tie his feet?" As soon as Cateye asked the question he
realized that he had pulled "a bone."
"Why did I? ... Did I tell you that?" Benz asked, wild-eyed.
"You sure did!" insisted Cateye, seeing a way out.
"Well, ... he put up such a fight we had to do something," explained
Benz, weepingly, "And I just said we never meant to drop hi
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