"Come ahead, Jack," whispered Fred. "It won't do us any good to stay here, now that Glutts and Werner have discovered our presence."
"Right you are," was the answer. And a moment later the two Rovers slipped out of their seats and made their way to the rear of the showhouse. Here they were joined by the others of their crowd; and all went outside and across the street to a drugstore, where Jack treated the others to hot chocolate soda.
"They are hatching out something, that is sure," remarked Jack.
"As near as I could make out, Werner is going off into the woods on a hunt and wants Glutts to go with him," returned Fred. "I wonder where they are going?"
No one could answer that question, and presently the crowd began to talk of other things, and especially of the war play they had just witnessed.
"Gosh! but a play like that brings the war pretty close to a fellow," said Randy, with a sigh.
"Makes a fellow think of how our dads are making out over there, doesn't it?" said Fred.
"When they showed those ambulance scenes with all the dead and dying lying around it gave me the cold shivers," came from Andy. "I tell you what--war is a terrible thing."
"Yes, and you have got to see something like that to realize how really terrible it is," put in Jack.
Several days later the term at Colby Hall came to an end. There was something of an entertainment, with prize speaking in which Spouter distinguished himself, and then came the final drill and parade around the campus. Following this the cadets indulged in several snowball fights and in quite some horseplay, and then rushed off to their rooms to pack their suitcases and other baggage so as to be ready to depart for home in the early morning.
"Wow! but it feels good to know I haven't got to look at a grammar or an algebra for the next few weeks," cried Randy, with satisfaction.
"Say! it makes me feel as happy as a clown in a circus," declared Andy, and, in high spirits, he began a jig and ended by turning a flip-flap over one of the beds. Then he and his twin indulged in a pillow fight, in which Fred joined.
"Hi, you fellows! stop your rumpus," cried Jack, who was trying to pack his suitcase. "You keep on, and you'll have the ceiling of the floor below down."