noon
In the centre of the freshman corner one seat only was vacant , and that to John Burnham suggested the emptiness of even more than death . Among the girls one chair , too , yawned significantly , for Mavis was not there and the two places might have been side by side , so close was the mute link between them . But no word of Jason reached any curious ear , and only a deeper feeling in the old president 's voice when it was lifted , and a deeper earnestness in his prayer that especial guidance might now be granted the State in the crisis it was passing through , showed that the thought of all hearts was working alike in his . At noon the news of Jason 's escape and flight spread like fire through town and college -- then news that bloodhounds were on his trail , that the trail led to the hills , and that a quick capture was certain . Before night the name of the boy was on the lips of the State and for a day at least on the lips of the nation . The night before , John Burnham had gone down to the capital to see Jason . All that day he had been hardly able to keep his mind on book or student , all day he had kept recalling how often the boy had asked him about this or that personage in history who had sought to win liberty for his people by slaying with his own hand some tyrant .