`` We can , uncle , and we will ! '' both answered , with a heartiness that gratified him much . `` Good ! now school is dismissed , and I advise you to go and refresh your 600,000,000 air cells by a brisk run in the garden . Come again whenever you like , Mac , and we 'll teach you all we can about your ` works , ' as you call them , so you can keep them running smoothly . '' `` We 'll come , sir , much obliged , '' and the class in physiology went out to walk . Mac did come again , glad to find something he could study in spite of his weak eyes , and learned much that was of more value than anything his school had ever taught him . Of course , the other lads made great fun of the whole thing , and plagued Dr. Alec 's students half out of their lives . But they kept on persistently , and one day something happened which made the other fellows behave themselves for ever after . It was a holiday , and Rose up in her room thought she heard the voices of her cousins , so she ran down to welcome them , but found no one there . `` Never mind , they will be here soon , and then we 'll have a frolic , '' she said to herself , and thinking she had been mistaken she went into the study to wait . She was lounging over the table looking at a map when an odd noise caught her ear . A gentle tapping somewhere , and following the sound it seemed to come from the inside of the long case in which the skeleton lived when not professionally engaged . This case stood upright in a niche between two book-cases at the back of the room , a darkish corner , where Brother Bones , as the boys would call him , was out of the way . As Rose stood looking in that direction , and wondering if a rat had got shut in , the door of the case swung slowly open , and with a great start she saw a bony arm lifted , and a bony finger beckon to her . For a minute she was frightened , and ran to the study door with a fluttering heart , but just as she touched the handle a queer , stifled sort of giggle made her stop short and turn red with anger . She paused an instant to collect herself , and then went softly toward the bony beckoner . A nearer look revealed black threads tied to the arm and fingers , the ends of threads disappearing through holes bored in the back of the case . Peeping into the dark recess , she also caught sight of the tip of an elbow covered with a rough gray cloth which she knew very well . Quick as a flash she understood the joke , her fear vanished , and with a wicked smile , she whipped out her scissors , cut the threads , and the bony arm dropped with a rattle .
Before she could say , `` XXXXX out , Charlie , and let my skeleton alone , '' a sudden irruption of boys , all in a high state of tickle , proclaimed to the hidden rogue that his joke was a failure .
Come advise cut go handle made revealed running understood whipped