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.