A faint noise in the school-house like the sound of splintered wood attracted his attention.

The master was evidently there.

If he was alone he would speak to him.
He went to the window, looked in, and in an instant his amiable abstraction left him.

He crept softly to the door, tried it, and then putting his powerful shoulder against the panel, forced the lock from its fastenings.

He entered the room as Seth Davis, frightened but furious, lifted himself from before the master's desk which he had just broken open.