“Don’t go home yet; there’ll be more doing before long.”
“What do you mean?” repeated Wolcott, eagerly.
He questioned, not from prudence, but from eager curiosity. The noise, the blaze of lights, the fervor of enthusiasm, the dazzle of hero-worship, the hilarity, the freedom and comradeship of the merrymaking, had piled their impressions on his excited brain till his personal patriotism flamed and roared; his chief desire for the time being was to lose nothing of this night of exultation. If he recognized Marchmont among the group, no suspicion of evil occurred to him. He felt only that it was a great day for Seaton, that all Seatonians were brothers, and that at this time of universal joy all differences should be forgotten.
“We’re going to show John Drown how to celebrate,” replied Whitely. “Come on and see the fun.”
The troop started, and Wolcott, who was out to see, started with the troop down Hale Street and toward the stables whence the barge had gone forth early in the evening. As they passed the stable entrance they met a big, square-shouldered fellow whom Wolcott recognized in the semi-darkness as Laughlin, and who by the same token recognized Wolcott overtopping by half a head his nearest neighbors.
“Lindsay!” called Laughlin, sharply, halting and turning round.
“Well, Dave,” called back Wolcott, jovially, “fall in if you want some fun.”
“Come here a minute, won’t you, please?” continued Laughlin.
The exclamations which this interruption called forth in Whitely’s company, Wolcott did not notice.
“What are you up to with those fellows?” demanded Laughlin, earnestly.
“We’re going over to get a rise out of John Drown,” replied Wolcott, innocently.
“Oh, Whitely and Reeves, and Marchmont, I think, is with them. Want to come along?”
Laughlin laid his hand on Wolcott’s arm. “Wolcott, don’t do it. You’ll get into trouble or do something you’ll be everlastingly ashamed of when you wake up to-morrow. They aren’t out to-night on any good errand. Don’t go with them!”
“Nonsense!” cried Wolcott. “I shan’t do anything out of the way. It’s just a little fun.”
“I know better about that than you do. It’s something wrong, or they wouldn’t be in it. Let it alone and come back with me.”