midnight
Every one laughed at Snubby and felt himself inspired by the example to yell louder and contribute with more abandon to the demonstration around the fire . As Teeny-bits looked at Snubby , he said to himself again that it was impossible that this genial and loyal son of Ridgley was guilty of stealing from members of the school or being in any way connected with the incidents that had contributed to his own former unhappiness . He made up his mind that he would , within the next twenty-four hours , have a talk with Snubby and attempt to arrive at an explanation of the mysterious events which were still puzzling his mind . Until midnight the red sparks mounted above the tops of the Ridgley maples , -- mounted until they seemed to join with the stars that on this crisp autumn night looked down from clear skies upon the scene of revelry . Only two members of Ridgley School were absent from the celebration and no one at the time missed them , -- Tracey Campbell , substitute left half-back of the football team , and Bassett , the self-named Western Whirlwind . Parades and speeches and cheering , torchlight wavering against the white buildings , huge banners held aloft with the stirring figures , 20 to 14 , emblazoned in red upon them , and then gradually as the night grew old , a lessening of sound and a dimming of light , -- that was the way of Ridgley 's festivity . Finally the members of the school made their way back to the white dormitories ; the great day was over ; the pleasure that remained was the pleasure of retrospection , of thinking over each detail of the victory , of re-living the struggle and of reading the accounts of the game in the newspapers .