Chapter 26

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.