When the conductor
of the examination looked down that way Badger could not tell whether
the professor's gaze was fixed on him or on Agnew. Professor Barton had
fiercely penetrating eyes, anyway, and the peculiar manner in which he
looked at students in the classroom had always been especially
irritating to the Kansan.
Printed questions were used, and Badger found some of them pretty hard.
"I wish Barton wouldn't look me through and through!" he muttered,
noticing again and again that the professor's eyes were fixed on him.
"It makes me feel like a cat under the paw of a mouse, or a calf watched
by a coyote. I allow there are things pleasanter than Barton's eyes."
But Barton continued to look down that way.
"Is he watching me, or is he watching Agnew?" Badger grumbled, as he dug
away at the work cut out for him. "Hanged if I can tell. Perhaps it's
just a way he has. Maybe every poor devil in the room is feeling just as
I do. Whoever got up these questions must have lain awake of nights
trying to see how hard he could make them. I reckon the chances are
about two to one that I'll flunk."
In an interval when Barton's attention was turned in another direction,
Morton Agnew crumpled a piece of paper, and, with a deft toss, which he
made sure was not seen by any one, he threw it beneath Badger's desk.
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