They needed no second invitation, for they had been fairly bursting with eagerness and curiosity.  Questions rained on him thick and fast. Their fists clenched when he told them of the cruelties to which he had been subjected.  They were loud in admiration of the way in which he had met and overcome his difficulties.  They roared with laughter when he told them of the alarm clock, and Tom himself, to whom it had been no joke at the time, laughed now as heartily as the rest.