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switched on his portable radio. “No, no!” Elmer cried.
    â€œWhat
now
?”
    â€œTurn that off this instant! The noise is bad for my plants!”
    â€œYour plants are closed up in the drawer!” Bruno yelled. “They can’t even hear it!”
    â€œNot
those
plants —
these
plants.” Elmer swept open the curtains to reveal a triple row of pots on the window sill.
    â€œI see,” sighed Bruno, and switched off his radio — more determined than ever that Elmer had to go.
    * * *
    When Boots returned from classes he found George on his hands and knees washing the room with alcohol.
    â€œGood, you’re back,” said George. “Watch carefully, please. Next week it will be your turn for sterilizing duty. It has to be done every second day.”
    â€œWhat do you wash?” Boots asked in amazement, wrinkling his nose from the strong odour.
    â€œEverything,” George replied.
    â€œCeiling? Walls?” asked Boots. “Furniture?”
    â€œAnd everything else,” George added.
    â€œWhat happens if I want to smoke in this fire trap?”
    â€œSmoke?”
George cried. “Smoking is hazardous to your health! I absolutely forbid it! Besides, it’s against the rules. You wouldn’t dare.”
    Boots, who had never smoked in his life, thought of taking it up just to irritate George. “All right,” he said when his anger had cooled. “Your idea of sterilizing the room is terrific.
You
do it.” He strode to the window and threw it wide, stifling George’s cry of protest with a look that would have melted steel. “It stinks in here,” he said bluntly, and sat down at his desk to do his homework.
    After a while George said, “May I please shut the window? It’s getting very chilly.”
    Boots, who was freezing but not ready to admit it, replied, “Certainly. I wouldn’t want you to catch pneumonia.”
    That was the end of their conversation for the rest of the evening.
    * * *
    Boots arrived at the cannon ten minutes early, to find Bruno already there. “All right, Bruno, this is it!” he declared. “Either you come up with an idea tonight or I go A.W.O.L.! The Third is driving me nuts!” He proceeded to describe in detail the fine points of sterilizing duty. “And this morning when I sneezed — you know how I sneeze when I wake up — he sprayed the room and put a quarantine screen up to isolate me. I just can’t stand any more!”
    â€œShh! Stop yelling,” Bruno whispered. “The old Walton brain came through. I have developed a glorious idea. Are you with me?”
    â€œI’ll do
anything
!” Boots vowed. “Tell me.”
    Bruno left the cover of the bushes to retrieve their bag of food from the cannon. They sat down together and began to chew on some dried-out bread.
    â€œIt’s really very simple,” Bruno said. “George and Elmer don’t like us very much. But what if they
hated
us? I mean really hated us — enough to go to The Fish and complain about us?”
    â€œWhat good would that do?” Boots protested. “We’d just get into more trouble.”
    â€œNow stop and think,” said Bruno. “The Fish is punishing us, not them. They’re the two best little boys in the whole school. If they demand to be rid of us, The Fish is bound to give in. And where does that leave us?”
    â€œChained to the office wall, probably,” Boots muttered.
    â€œWell, have you got a better idea?” Bruno demanded.
    â€œNo,” Boots admitted glumly.
    â€œWell then, this is it — starting tomorrow we make ourselves so obnoxious that good old George and sweet little Elmer will run screaming to The Fish to complain.”

Chapter 5
You Keep Ants ?
    Once again Elmer’s alarm went off with an ear-splitting shrill at 6 A.M. He rose promptly and began to dress, vaguely aware that