“Worse than this!” exclaimed Harry. “You’d think we were going to haze him to hear you talk! Instead of that we’re doing him a real kindness; finding him a nice comfortable room and charging nothing for our services!”
“Guess we’d be doing a heap better,” muttered Bert as they went downstairs, “if we minded our own business!”
There was a half moon in the sky and it was very easy to follow the path across the terrace and the green. They made good time and were soon in the village. When they reached the building they sought, they found all its windows dark.
“That’s funny,” said Hansel, peering up. “Where do you suppose they are?”
“Visiting,” answered Bert. “Come on; I’m going back. I’ve got work to do. The next time I start out on a wild-goose chase with you fellows----”
“Hold on!” said Harry. “There’s a light up there, I think. They’ve got a heavy curtain at the window. Let’s go up, anyhow, and make sure.”
So they climbed the two flights of narrow stairs, dimly illumined by a bracket lamp on the first landing, and found that Harry was right. Above the door of the room at the front of the building the transom was a dim yellow oblong. Bert knocked and a voice bade them enter.
There were two occupants of the room. One, presently identified as Johnny Sanger, was seated in an easy chair, a book in his lap and his slippered feet on the edge of the study table. He was a rather large youth of sixteen years, with a somewhat flat face, prominent brown eyes, a large mouth, and hair of a coppery brown. At the other side of the table sat Shill, tall, narrow, dark-complexioned, and black-haired. Both boys looked surprised when they saw who their visitors were, and as Sanger dropped his feet to the floor and got out of his chair, his expression did not suggest overwhelming delight. Introductions were quickly effected, and the three visitors found seats.
The room, which was poorly lighted by a student’s lamp, was larger than appeared from outside, and although the ceiling sloped down on either side to within four feet of the floor, there was a good deal of room there. Two cot beds occupied one end of the room, a washstand was tucked under a dormer window, there was a study table, several chairs, two trunks and a bookcase, and although everything looked very cheap, there was an air of hominess about the place that the visitors found pleasant.