CHAPTER IV: THE WORMS TURN


"I say, it's a shame, a beastly shame!" Ned Sankey exclaimed
passionately as the boys came out from school one day.

Generally they poured out in a confused mass, eager for the fresh
air and anxious to forget in play the remembrance of the painful
hours in school; but today they came out slowly and quietly, each
with a book in his hand, for they had tasks set them which would
occupy every moment till the bell sounded again.

"Every one says they know nothing about the cat. I don't know whether
it's true or not, for I am sorry to say some of the fellows will
tell lies to escape the cane, but whether it is so or not he's no
right to punish us all for what can only be the fault of one or
two."

That morning the cat, which was the pet of Mr. Hathorn and his wife,
had been found dead near the door of the schoolhouse. It had been
most brutally knocked about. One of its eyes had been destroyed,
its soft fur was matted with blood, and it had evidently been beaten
to death. That the cat was no favorite with the boys was certain.
The door between the schoolroom and the house was unfastened at
night, and the cat in her pursuit of mice not unfrequently knocked
over inkstands, and the ink, penetrating into the desks, stained
books and papers, and more than one boy had been caned severely
for damage due to the night prowlings of the cat.