It is a dark, warm, overcast night as Jem and Scout head to the school for the Halloween pageant. Jem says it might rain later. The moon is not out. The children can hardly see, but Scout notes that they are over being afraid of supernatural creatures haunting the night.
Jem carries Scout's ham costume, for which she is grateful. She trips over a tree root. In the schoolyard, Cecil sees them. He has come by car and thinks they have come with Atticus. When he realizes they are alone and don't know he's there, he takes advantage of the opportunity to leap out at them, shine a light on them, and try to scare them. It works. They are startled, if only for moment. Scout admits that Cecil:
had given us a fright, and he could tell it all over the schoolhouse, that was his privilege.
All of this sets the scene for what is to follow when Jem and Scout meet real danger in the form of Mr. Ewell after the pageant.
Scout and Jem are on their way to the Halloween pageant at the high school auditorium. As they approach the Radley residence, Cecil Jacobs suddenly jumps out at them, giving Scout and Jem a bit of a fright. This particular scene is an example of foreshadowing, as it gives us a taste of what's about to happen.
On their way back from the Halloween pageant, Scout and Jem are attacked. This time, it isn't Cecil Jacobs playing a silly prank; this is much more serious. Scout doesn't know it at the time, but they've been attacked by Bob Ewell, still sore at Atticus for publicly humiliating him on the witness stand. In the midst of the ensuing melee, Scout is aware of someone pulling the attacker off her. She assumes it's Jem, but she finds out later that it was Boo Radley. Scout also sees the figure of a strange man carrying Jem to their front door. Once again, she doesn't know who the man is. But as before, it turns out to be none other than Boo Radley.
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