e after another the boys came down
the rope.

Our hero lay at the foot of a large lilac bush.

It was this bush which had saved his life.

When the rope gave way, had he fallen on the ground he would most likely
have been killed.

Link brought some water, and he was soon revived.

In the meantime, from another window, overhead, Hoke Ummer watched
proceedings.

When he saw Mont get up his hateful face plainly showed his chagrin.

"How was it you didn't fasten the rope tightly?" asked Link.

"I thought I did," returned our hero. "In fact, I am certain I did," he
added.

"But it gave way and let you down."

Our hero shook his head. He couldn't understand it at all.

In a few minutes he was able to go with his friends and show them where
the root-beer and soda-water bottles were hidden.

Loaded down with the stuff, the crowd returned to the Hall, and the
feast began.

Nearly all of the boys of Mont's age had been invited in a general way,
and a lively time was had for fully an hour.

Hoke Ummer could not stand it to see his rival triumph over him, and so
slipped down to the room occupied by Moses Sparks, one of the under
teachers.

"Mont Folsom and his crowd are having a feast in one of the upper
rooms," he said.

At once Moses Sparks prepared to investigate.

The feast was at its height when a footstep was heard.

"Scatter!" whispered Carl Barnaby, who caught the sounds first, and all
of the boys hurried from the bedroom by side doors and managed to get to
their own rooms.

When Moses Sparks came up they seemed to be sleeping like so many lambs.

"Ummer has been fooling me," muttered the under teacher. "Or else he was
mistaken." And he went off and left the boys to finish the feast in
peace.

CHAPTER VI.

OUT ON THE BAY.

In a general way Mont suspected Hoke Ummer, not of the dastardly trick
he had played, but of playing the sneak and telling Moses Sparks.

"I'll get square," he said to Link and Carl.

Out in the fields he had picked up a dead snake, and he now resolved to
make use of it in a truly original manner. As soon as it was time to
retire that night Mont slipped upstairs and into the dormitory occupied
by Hoke Ummer, Goul, and their chums.

He had the dead snake with him, and put the reptile in the bully's bed.

Five minutes later he was in his own room awaiting developments.

They were not long in coming.

A murmur of voices ended in a wild shriek of terror.

"A sn