There were dark frowns of indignation and suspicion among the group. The
Banbury crowd were making off with glum faces and uneasy haste.

"Stop!" sharply shouted Ritchie after them. "I accuse nobody, but I want to
say right here and now, and I want everybody to hear me, that I'm going to
ferret out the low sneak who put those brads in Bob Upton's shoes. When I
do, he leaves this school or I do, and one of us will have reason to
remember the drubbing of his life."

"They're a fine set, aren't they?" spoke Purtelle. "Fellows, I think this
circumstance should be reported to the faculty."

"No," dissented Bob Upton decidedly. "The rascals will reach the end of
their tether some time, and we can't prove who worked this mean trick."

They got Bob to his room. Ned did not go there with the crowd, but he
appeared a little later with a box of salve and some strips of cloth. He
fixed up Bob's injured foot so skilfully that Ritchie complimented him as
an expert surgeon.

Frank stayed with his friend, reading to him for a time. All the others had
gone away. Finally Bob fell asleep, and Frank strolled out on the grounds.
As he again entered the building bound for his room, he ran directly
against Ned as he turned down a corridor near the reception-room.

"Why, Ned," he exclaimed, "what are you doing here?"

Ned Foreman was almost crouching in a dark corner. He was trembling, and
his lips were white, and there was a marked terror in his eyes. Frank was