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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41665 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 41665-h.htm or 41665-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41665/41665-h/41665-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41665/41665-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/winningtouchdow00chadgoog
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HE RAISED THE BALL IN HIS ARMS, AND PLACED IT OVER THE
+CHALK MARK.]
+
+
+THE WINNING TOUCHDOWN
+
+A Story of College Football
+
+by
+
+LESTER CHADWICK
+
+Author of "The Rival Pitchers," "A Quarter-Back's
+Pluck," "Batting to Win," etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Cupples & Leon Company
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BOOKS BY LESTER CHADWICK
+
+
+ =THE COLLEGE SPORTS SERIES=
+
+ 12mo. Illustrated
+
+ Price per volume, $1.00 postpaid
+
+ THE RIVAL PITCHERS
+ A Story of College Baseball
+
+ A QUARTER-BACK'S PLUCK
+ A Story of College Football
+
+ BATTING TO WIN
+ A Story of College Baseball
+
+ THE WINNING TOUCHDOWN
+ A Story of College Football
+
+ (Other volumes in preparation)
+
+ _Cupples & Leon Company, Publishers, New York_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Copyright 1911, by
+Cupples & Leon Company
+
+THE WINNING TOUCHDOWN
+
+Printed in U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ CHAPTER                           PAGE
+      I  A MYSTERY                    1
+     II  MORE BAD NEWS                8
+    III  ON THE TRAIL                19
+     IV  ANOTHER DISAPPEARANCE       26
+      V  FOOTBALL TALK               36
+     VI  IN PRACTICE                 43
+    VII  A NEW TIMEPIECE             53
+   VIII  ANOTHER IDEA                61
+     IX  A CLASH WITH LANGRIDGE      67
+      X  THE BIG CALIFORNIAN         73
+     XI  A NEW COMPLICATION          80
+    XII  THE MISSING DEED            89
+   XIII  THE FIRST GAME              98
+    XIV  THE HAZING OF SIMPSON      109
+     XV  THE MIDNIGHT BLAZE         120
+    XVI  ANOTHER CLEW               129
+   XVII  A CRASH IN THE GALE        136
+  XVIII  WITH HAMMER AND SAW        141
+    XIX  SUSPICIONS                 150
+     XX  THE CLOCK COMES BACK       158
+    XXI  SEEKING EVIDENCE           167
+   XXII  BASCOME DENIES             173
+  XXIII  HALED TO COURT             181
+   XXIV  DEFEAT                     188
+    XXV  BITTER DAYS                200
+   XXVI  MOSES IN PHYSICS           206
+  XXVII  THE DANCE CARD             213
+ XXVIII  THE LEGAL BATTLE           225
+   XXIX  ONE POINT LOST             233
+    XXX  AN UNEXPECTED CLEW         240
+   XXXI  AFTER THE CHAIR            249
+  XXXII  "THIS ISN'T OURS!"         260
+ XXXIII  A GREAT FIND               271
+  XXXIV  THE EXCITED STRANGER       276
+   XXXV  THE WINNING TOUCHDOWN      283
+
+
+
+
+THE WINNING TOUCHDOWN
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A MYSTERY
+
+
+"Great Cicero's ghost!"
+
+That was Tom Parson's exclamation.
+
+"It's gone!"
+
+A horrified gasp from Sid Henderson.
+
+"Who took it?"
+
+That was what Phil Clinton wanted to know.
+
+Then the three college chums, who had paused on the threshold of their
+room, almost spellbound at the astounding discovery they had made,
+advanced into the apartment, as if unable to believe what was only too
+evident. Tom came to a halt near his bed, and gazed warily around.
+
+"It's sure enough gone," he went on, with a long breath.
+
+"Somebody pinch me to see if I'm dreaming," begged Sid, and Phil gave
+him such a vigorous nip on the fleshy part of his leg that the tall
+youth howled.
+
+"Turn over; you're on your back," advised Tom, as he got down on his
+hands and knees to peer under the beds.
+
+"What are you looking for?" demanded Phil.
+
+"Our old armchair, of course. I thought maybe some of the fellows
+had been in here trying to be funny, and had hidden it. But it isn't
+here--it's gone."
+
+"As if it could be under a bed!" exploded Sid, rubbing his leg
+reflectively. "You must be getting batty!"
+
+"Maybe he thought it could be reduced to fractions or acted on by
+chemicals, like some of the stuff in the laboratory test tubes," went
+on Phil.
+
+"That's all right!" fired back the varsity pitcher, rather sharply,
+"it's gone, isn't it? Our old armchair, that stood by us, and----"
+
+"And on which _we_ stood when we couldn't find the stepladder,"
+interrupted Phil.
+
+"Oh, quit your kidding!" expostulated Tom. "The old chair's gone; isn't
+it?"
+
+"You never said a truer word in all your life, my boy," declared Sid,
+more gravely.
+
+"Sort of queer, too," declared Phil. "It was here when we went out to
+football practice, and now----"
+
+"Well, all I've got to say is that I'd like to find the fellow who took
+it!" broke out Tom, dramatically. "I'd make a complaint to the proctor
+about him."
+
+"Oh, you wouldn't do that; would you, Tom?" and Phil Clinton stepped
+over to a creaking old sofa, and peered behind it, brushing up against
+it, and causing a cloud of dust to blow out about the room. "You
+wouldn't do that, Tom. Why, it isn't Randall spirit to go to the
+authorities with any of our troubles that can be settled otherwise."
+
+"But this isn't an ordinary trouble!" cried the pitcher. "Our old chair
+has been taken, and I'm going to find out who's got it. When I do----"
+
+He clenched his fists suggestively, and began to strip off his football
+togs, preparatory to donning ordinary clothes.
+
+"It isn't back there," announced Phil, as he leaned upright again, after
+a prolonged inspection behind the big sofa. "But there's a lot of truck
+there. I think I see my trigonometry." Getting down on his hands and
+knees, and reaching under the antiquated piece of furniture, he pulled
+out not one but several books.
+
+"Oh, come out and let the stuff back of the sofa alone," suggested Tom.
+"We can clean that out some other time," for the big piece of furniture
+formed a convenient "catch-all" for whatever happened to be in the way
+of the lads. If there was anything they did not have any immediate use
+for, and for which room could not be found in, or on, the "Chauffeurs,"
+as Holly Cross used to call the chiffonniers, back of the sofa it went,
+until such time as the chums had an occasional room-cleaning. Then many
+long-lost articles were discovered.
+
+"Yes, there's no use digging any more," added Sid. "Besides, the chair
+couldn't be there."
+
+"Some of the fellows might have jammed it in back of the sofa, I
+thought," spoke Phil. "But say, this is serious. We can't get along
+without our chair!"
+
+"I should say not," agreed Tom, who was almost dressed. "I'm going out
+scouting for it. Bascome, Delafield or some of those fresh sports may
+have taken it to get even with us."
+
+"They knew we cared a lot for it," declared Sid. "Ever since we had that
+row about it with Langridge, the time we moved into these dormitories,
+some of the fellows have rigged us about it."
+
+"If Langridge were here we could blame him, and come pretty near being
+right," was Phil's opinion. "But he's at Boxer Hall yet--at least, I
+suppose he is."
+
+"Yes, he's on their eleven, too, I hear," added Tom. "But this sure is a
+mystery, fellows. That chair never walked away by itself. And it's too
+heavy and awkward for one fellow to carry alone. We've got to get busy
+and find it."
+
+"We sure have," agreed Phil. "Why, the room looks bare without it;
+doesn't it?"
+
+"Almost like a funeral," came mournfully from Sid, as he sank into the
+depths of the sofa. And then a silence fell upon the inseparable chums,
+a silence that seemed to fill the room, and which was broken only by the
+ticking of a fussy little alarm clock.
+
+"Oh, hang it!" burst out Tom, as he loosened his tie and made the knot
+over. "I can't understand it! I'm going to see Wallops, the messenger.
+Maybe he saw some one sneaking around our rooms."
+
+"If we once get on the trail----" said Phil, significantly.
+
+"It sure is rotten luck," spoke Sid, from the depths of the sofa. "I
+don't have to do any boning to-night, and I was counting on sitting in
+that easy chair, and reading a swell detective yarn Holly Cross loaned
+me. Now--well, it's rotten luck--that's all."
+
+"It certainly is!" agreed a voice at the door, as the portal opened to
+give admittance to Dan Woodhouse--otherwise Kindlings. "Rotten luck
+isn't the name for it. It's beastly! But how did you fellows hear the
+news?"
+
+"How did we hear it?" demanded Tom. "Couldn't we see that it wasn't here
+as soon as we got in our room, a few minutes ago? But how did you come
+to know of it? Say, Kindlings, you didn't have a hand in it, did you?"
+and Tom strode over toward the newcomer.
+
+"Me have a hand in it? Why, great Cæsar's grandmother! Don't you suppose
+I'd have stopped it if I could? I can't for the life of me, though,
+understand where you heard it. Ed Kerr only told me ten minutes ago, and
+he said I was the first to know it."
+
+"Ed Kerr!" gasped Phil. "Did he have a hand in taking our old chair?"
+
+"Your chair?" gasped Dan. "Who in the world is talking about your fuzzy
+old chair?"
+
+"Hold on!" cried Tom. "Don't you call our chair names, Kindlings,
+or----"
+
+"Tell us how you heard about it," suggested Sid.
+
+"Say, are you fellows crazy, or am I?" demanded Dan, looking about in
+curious bewilderment. "I come here with a piece of news, and I find you
+firing conundrums at me about a chair that I wouldn't sit in if you gave
+it to me."
+
+"None of us is likely to sit in it now," spoke Phil, gloomily.
+
+"Why not?" asked Dan.
+
+"Because it's gone!" burst out Tom.
+
+"Stolen," added Sid.
+
+"Vanished into thin air," continued Phil.
+
+"And if that isn't rotten luck, I don't know what you'd call it," put
+in the pitcher, after a pause, long enough to allow the fact to sink
+into Dan's mind. "Isn't it?"
+
+"Say, that's nothing to what I've got to tell you," spoke Dan.
+"Absolutely nothing. Talk about a fuzzy, musty, old second-hand chair
+missing! Why, do you fellows know that Ed Kerr is going to leave the
+football team?"
+
+"Leave the eleven?" gasped Phil.
+
+"What for?" cried Tom.
+
+"Is that a joke?" inquired Sid.
+
+"I only wish it were," declared Dan, gloomily. "It's only too true. Ed
+just got a telegram stating that his father is very ill, and has been
+ordered abroad to the German baths. Ed has to go with him. I was with
+him when he got the message, and he told me about it. Then he went
+to see Dr. Churchill, to arrange about leaving at once. That's the
+rottenest piece of luck Randall ever stacked up against. It's going to
+play hob with the team, just as we were getting in shape to do Boxer
+Hall and Fairview Institute. Talk about a missing chair! Why, it simply
+isn't in it!"
+
+Once more a gloomy silence, at which the fussy little alarm clock seemed
+to rejoice exceedingly, for it had the stage to itself, and ticked on
+relentlessly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+MORE BAD NEWS
+
+
+"And so Ed is going to leave," mused Tom, after a momentous pause. "It
+sure will make a hole in the team."
+
+"Oh, it's got me all broke up," gloomily declared Kindlings, who was
+captain of the recently organized eleven. "I don't know what I'm going
+to do to fill his place, and Mr. Lighton, while he says we'll make out
+somehow, feels pretty bad over it. But it can't be helped, of course,
+for Ed has to go."
+
+For the time being, the news of the loss of one of Randall's best
+football players overshadowed the matter of the missing chair. Tom had
+changed his mind about going out to see if he could get on the trail
+of who had taken it, and sat with Kindlings and his two other chums,
+discussing what could be done to replace Kerr as right half-back.
+
+"Bricktop Molloy might work in there," suggested Phil, "only he's too
+good a tackle to take out of the line."
+
+"Why can't you go there yourself, Phil?" asked Tom. "You've done some
+playing back of the line."
+
+"No, I need Phil at quarter," objected Dan. "We'll have to think of
+something else. If I didn't need you at end, Tom, I'd try you in Ed's
+place."
+
+"Oh, I'm no good bucking the line," objected the tall lad who pitched
+for the 'varsity nine.
+
+"What's the matter with one of the Jersey Twins?" asked Sid.
+
+"Both Jerry and Joe Jackson are too light," and Dan shook his head.
+There were many suggestions, and various expedients offered, and, while
+the discussion is under way perhaps a moment can be spared to make our
+new readers a little better acquainted with the main characters of this
+story.
+
+In the initial volume of this "College Sports Series," entitled, "The
+Rival Pitchers," there was told the story of how Tom Parsons, a rather
+raw country lad, came to Randall College, made the 'varsity nine, and
+twirled the horsehide in some big games, thereby doing much to help win
+the pennant for Randall. He had an uphill fight, for Fred Langridge, a
+rich bully, contested with him for the place in the box, and nearly won
+out. There was fierce rivalry between them, not only in baseball, but
+concerning a certain Miss Madge Tyler.
+
+In the second volume, called "A Quarter-Back's Pluck," there was related
+how Phil Clinton went into the championship game under heavy odds, and
+how he won out, though his mind dwelt more on a fake telegram in his
+pocket, telling him that his mother was dying, than on the game, and on
+the players whom he at last piloted to victory.
+
+A winter of study followed the games on the gridiron, and with the
+advent of spring, longing eyes were cast toward the baseball diamond
+whereon, as soon as it was dry enough, the Randall lads gathered to
+prepare for the season.
+
+In the third book of the series, called "Batting to Win," there was told
+the story of how Randall triumphed over her rivals, though at first it
+looked as if she would lose. A loving cup had been offered, to be played
+for by members of the Tonoka Lake League, of which Randall College was a
+member, and how it was won forms the subject of the story.
+
+Incidentally, there was quite a mystery concerning Sidney Henderson, or
+"Sid," as he was universally called. From the opening of the season his
+conduct was peculiar, and there were many unjust suspicions regarding
+him. It was not until near the end, when he had been barred from the
+games, that the cause of his actions became known.
+
+Then, at the last moment, when Randall was losing the final game of the
+series, which was a tie between her team and that of Boxer Hall, the ban
+was removed, Sid rushed upon the diamond, and batted to win.
+
+The baseball season had closed, summer had come, and with it the long
+vacation. Now that was passed, and from mountains, lakes and seaside the
+students had come trooping back to Randall. All our old friends were on
+hand, and some new ones, whom we shall meet from time to time. As the
+weather became cool enough, the football squad had been put to work
+under the watchful eye of Captain Dan Woodhouse, and the coach, Mr.
+Lighton.
+
+Before I go on with the story I want to add, for the benefit of new
+readers, a little bit of history about the college.
+
+Randall was located in a town of the middle west, and not far from the
+institution ran Sunny River, a stream that afforded boating opportunities
+for the students. It emptied into Tonoka Lake, which body of water gave
+the name to the athletic league, made up of Randall, Boxer Hall, Fairview
+Institute,--the latter a co-educational place of learning,--and several
+other smaller academies. Haddonfield was the nearest town to Randall
+College, and thither the lads went whenever chance afforded.
+
+Venerable Dr. Albertus Churchill was the head of the college, and even
+though he was privately dubbed "Moses" by the lads, it was not in any
+spirit of disrespect, for they all loved and admired him. It was quite
+the contrary with Professor Emerson Tines, the "Latin dreadful," and
+when I state that he was called "Pitchfork," his character is indicated
+in a word. Hardly less disliked was Mr. Andrew Zane, the proctor, who
+seemed to have a sworn enmity against the lads. But they managed to have
+fun in spite of him. There were other members of the faculty, some liked
+and some disliked, and occasionally there were changes in the teaching
+staff.
+
+As for Randall itself, it was a fairly large institution. There was the
+main building, at the head of a large campus. Off to the left was the
+athletic field, and somewhat to the rear was Booker Memorial chapel, the
+stained glass windows of which were worth going miles to see.
+
+To the right of the college proper was Biology Hall, the endowment gift
+of an old graduate, and not far from that was the residence for the
+faculty. Directly in the rear of the main building were the dormitories,
+the east one for the freshmen and sophomores, and that on the west for
+the juniors and seniors.
+
+As for the lads who attended Randall, you will meet more or less of
+them as this story progresses. Sufficient to say that Tom Parsons,
+Phil Clinton and Sid Henderson roomed together, being called the
+"inseparables." Among their friends they numbered many, Dan Woodhouse,
+Billy or "Dutch" Housenlager, "Bricktop" Molloy, Jerry and Joe Jackson,
+dubbed the "Jersey Twins," because they came from some town in the
+Garden State. Then there was "Snail" Looper, so called because of
+his propensity to prowl about in the dark; Pete Backus, nicknamed
+"Grasshopper," because he aspired to be a jumper; "Bean" Perkins, who
+could always be depended on to make a noise at a game, and many more.
+
+There were some students not so friendly to our heroes, notably Fred
+Langridge, who, because of a serious scrape, had withdrawn from Randall
+and was now at Boxer Hall. Garvey Gerhart, his crony, who appeared in
+previous books, had also left, and Ford Fenton, whose uncle always
+formed a subject of boasting with him, because of the latter's former
+ability as a coach at Randall, was among the missing. For Ford played a
+mean trick on his classmates, and there was such a row raised over it
+that his relatives advised him to quit.
+
+And now, I believe, you have met all, or nearly all the lads of whom I
+propose to tell you more. Of course there were the girls, Miss Tyler,
+and Ruth Clinton--Phil's sister,--and Miss Mabel Harrison, who attended
+Fairview. I will introduce them more particularly in due season.
+
+"Say, how can you fellows stand that?" asked Dan, after a pause, during
+which they had all done much thinking.
+
+"Stand what?" asked Tom, starting out of a day dream, in which thoughts
+over the loss of the chair and the loss of Kerr on the football team
+were mingled.
+
+"That clock. It gives me the fidgets," and Kindlings grabbing a book,
+made as if to throw it at the timepiece.
+
+With a quick motion, Phil stopped him, and the volume fell harmlessly to
+the floor.
+
+"It doesn't give you a chance to catch your breath," went on the
+football captain. "Always seems to want you to hurry-up."
+
+"I wish it would make Sid hurry-up some mornings, when the chapel bell
+rings," remarked Tom. "The frowsy old misogynist--the troglodyte--lies
+abed until the last minute. It would take more than that clock to get
+_him_ up."
+
+"Slanderer!" crooned Sid, unconcernedly, from the depths of the sofa.
+
+"No, but seriously," went on Dan. "I can't see how you
+stand it. It gives me the fidgets. It seems to say
+'hurry-up--hurry-up--hurry-up--no-time--no-time--no-time'! Jove! I'd
+get one of those old Grandfather clocks, if I were you. The kind that
+reminds one of an open fire, in a gloomy old library, with a nice book,
+and ticking away like this: 'tick----tock--tick----tock.' That's the
+kind of a clock to have. But that monstrosity----"
+
+He simulated a shudder, and turned up his coat collar as if a wind was
+blowing down his back.
+
+"Oh, you're just nervous worrying about what's going to happen to the
+football team," spoke Phil. "Cheer up, old man, the worst is yet to
+come. Suppose you'd been robbed of the finest armchair that ever you sat
+in----"
+
+"Finest fiddlesticks!" burst out Dan. "That chair had spinal meningitis,
+I guess, or the dink-bots. Every time you sat in it you could tell how
+many springs there were in the seat and back without counting. Ugh!" and
+Dan rubbed his spine reflectively.
+
+"But it's gone," went on Tom, "and I'd give a five-spot to know who took
+it. Come on, fellows, let's go scouting around and see if we can get on
+the trail of it. I'm glad they didn't take the clock or the sofa," and
+he gazed at the two remaining articles which formed the most cherished
+possessions of the inseparables. They had acquired the clock, chair and
+sofa some time before, purchasing them from a former student on the
+occasion of their becoming roommates, and though they had since secured
+many new objects of virtu, their affections clung to these three
+originals.
+
+Their room was a typical college lads' apartment, hung with sporting
+prints, boxing gloves, foils, masks, baseball bats, fishing rods, and in
+certain places, like honored shrines, were the pictures of pretty girls.
+
+"Well, are you fellows coming?" asked Tom, as he started for the door.
+
+"Where?" inquired Phil, who still had on his football suit.
+
+"To hunt for the chair. It _must_ be somewhere around the college. I
+think it was taken for a joke, and if it was by any freshmen I'll make
+'em wish they'd never come to Randall."
+
+"I'm with you!" cried Sid.
+
+"Oh, let's stay and talk about what we're going to do for the eleven!"
+begged Dan. "But, for the love of cats, first stop that blamed clock, if
+you don't want me to go crazy!"
+
+His objection was so evidently genuine, that Phil halted the ticking by
+the simple process of jabbing a toothpick in the slot of the timepiece
+regulator.
+
+"That's better," observed Kindlings. "Now, about Ed Kerr, I think the
+best we can do is to----"
+
+He got no further, for the door of the room was fairly burst open, and
+in came the Jersey Twins.
+
+"Have you heard the news?" demanded Joe Jackson.
+
+"The news?" echoed Jerry.
+
+"Sure! We knew it first," said Phil. "You mean about our chair being
+stolen."
+
+"Oh, hang your chair!" cried Dan.
+
+"It's nothing about chairs," said Jerry, with a curious look.
+
+"Not a word," came the echo.
+
+"It's worse," went on Jerry.
+
+"Much worse;" the echo.
+
+"Oh, you mean about Ed Kerr having to leave," spoke Dan. "How'd you hear
+it so soon? It will be all over college to-night, I guess."
+
+"Ed Kerr going to leave?" gasped Jerry.
+
+"Ed Kerr?" also gasped the echoing brother.
+
+"Yes. Is that what you came to tell us?" demanded Sid, as he got up from
+the sofa, not without some rather strenuous gymnastics, for once you
+sank into the soft depths, it was difficult to arise unaided.
+
+"No, we don't know anything about Ed leaving," went on Jerry, as he
+looked from one to the other, "but Bricktop Molloy just told us that he
+was going to quit next week, and go to----"
+
+"Bricktop going to leave!" gasped Dan. "More bad news! Will it never
+stop raining!" and he clung heavily with his arms around Tom's neck.
+
+"Say, is this straight?" demanded Phil, excitedly.
+
+"Sure! Bricktop told us himself," answered Joe.
+
+"Where's he going?" inquired Sid.
+
+"To New York. Going to take a special post-graduate course at Columbia,
+he said. He's got a chance to get in with some big mining firm, and he's
+got to work up on a few special studies. Oh, Bricktop is going to leave
+all right."
+
+"Then what's to become of the Randall football eleven?" demanded Dan, in
+a tragic voice. "Two of her best players going to leave, and hardly time
+enough to break other fellows into their places before the big games!
+Oh, fellows, this is sure beastly luck!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+Oppressive silence once more filled the room--a silence unbroken by
+the ticking of the clock this time, for it was mute, because of the
+toothpick. But its accusing face seemed to look at the three chums, as
+though begging to be allowed to speak, even if it did but mark the
+passage of time.
+
+"Maybe we can prevail on Bricktop to stay until after the big game with
+Boxer Hall," suggested Tom, hopefully.
+
+Jerry Jackson shook his head mournfully.
+
+"I've tried it," he said. "I knew it would be a bad loss, so I asked
+Bricktop to stay, but he said his whole future depended on this chance,
+and he wouldn't feel that he was doing right if he let it slip."
+
+"Talk about futures," murmured Dan, "what of the future of Randall?"
+
+"It does seem sort of tough for Bricktop to leave just when we've all
+got so we play so well together," commented Sid. "And only to go to
+another college, too! It isn't like Ed, who has to go with his sick
+father. I tell you Bricktop isn't doing right! He's deserting in the
+face of the enemy, for both Boxer Hall and Fairview are after our scalps
+this fall, because of the walloping we gave them last season. Bricktop's
+a deserter!"
+
+"Oh, don't be ugly," begged Tom. "Maybe we don't know all the facts. I'm
+sure Bricktop wouldn't do anything mean."
+
+"Oh, of course not," Sid hastened to say, "but you know what I mean. If
+Bricktop----"
+
+"Who's takin' me name in vain?" demanded a voice at the door--a voice
+with just the hint of Irish brogue--and into the room was thrust a shock
+of auburn--not to say reddish--hair, which had gained for the owner the
+appellation of "Bricktop." "I say, who's desecratin' me reputation, of
+which I have but a shred left--who's tearin' down me character behind
+me back?" and Molloy, with a quick glance at his friends, entered and
+threw himself beside Sid on the sofa, thereby making the old piece of
+furniture creak most alarmingly.
+
+"Easy! For cats' sake!" cried Sid, in alarm. "Do you want to deprive us
+of our only remaining consolation, now that the chair is gone?"
+
+"Surely not," answered the Irish lad. "Captain, I salute thee," and
+Bricktop arose and bowed elaborately to Dan. "I gather from what I
+heard, as I made my entrance, that you have received the unwelcome
+news, my captain," and, though Bricktop was smiling, there was a sober
+look in his blue eyes.
+
+"Yes, we've heard it," answered Kindlings, shortly. "Is it true?"
+
+"It is, my captain, and it's infernally sorry I am to have to confirm
+it. But I've got to go, and that right soon."
+
+"Um!" murmured the captain. "Well, the sooner the quicker, I suppose.
+Kerr goes this week, also."
+
+"What! Kerr going?" Bricktop was manifestly surprised.
+
+"His father's sick--Europe--Ed's going with him," disjointedly declaimed
+Tom.
+
+"Whew!" whistled the Irish lad. "Now I _sure_ am sorry I'm leavin'. Not
+that I'm any better than any other player, my captain, but I know what
+it means to take two men out of the team at this late day."
+
+"You're not throwing any bouquets at yourself," spoke Dan. "It's the
+worst blow Randall has had in a long time. We were just at the point
+where we had begun to gain ground after the long practice, and now----"
+he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Is there no way you can stay on?" asked Phil, softly.
+
+Bricktop shook his head.
+
+"It means a big thing to me," he declared. "I know it looks like
+desertin', as ye call it, but, fellows, believe me, I'm not. It--it goes
+to me heart as much as it does to yours," and Bricktop swallowed a big
+lump in his throat. When he was much affected he always "degenerated to
+the language of his forebears of the Emerald Isle," as he used to say.
+And he was much affected now--there was no doubt of that. "I wish I
+could stay--but I can't," he concluded, brokenly.
+
+"Well, Randall will have to do the best she can," spoke Dan, after a
+pause, and with a heavy sigh.
+
+"Isn't there plenty of good material in the scrub, and some in the
+Freshman eleven?" asked Sid.
+
+[Illustration: "ISN'T THERE PLENTY OF GOOD MATERIAL IN THE SCRUB?" ASKED
+SID.]
+
+"Oh, it isn't so much a question of material, as it is breaking them
+in," answered the captain. "The great fault with some of our playing in
+the past was that we didn't have team work. This season we have it, and
+after a lot of grind we fellows were playing together like one. Look how
+we walked away with Dodville Prep in the first game of the season. That
+showed what we could do. Now the team's going to be disrupted--two of
+the best men----"
+
+"Thanks, captain," interrupted Bricktop, with a short laugh.
+
+"I mean it," went on Kindlings, energetically. "Two of our best men
+leave, and it's almost too late to get others to run with the team like
+the perfect machine it ought to be. But, we've got to do our best. Come
+on, Bricktop, we'll go see Mr. Lighton, and hear what he has to say."
+
+"There are a couple of new fellows coming soon," remarked Joe Jackson,
+as he and his brother arose.
+
+"Who are they?" asked Tom.
+
+"One is Frank Simpson. I heard Bascome speaking of him the other day.
+He's played on some western eleven, I believe, and has quite a name."
+
+"Yes, those western fellows are big and strong," put in Jerry Jackson.
+
+"Oh, you can't tell anything about it," said Dan, despairingly. "A new
+fellow can't be broken in at this late day. I'll have to depend on some
+of the scrub. Who else is coming to Randall? Do either of you twins
+know?"
+
+"I heard Proc. Zane talking to Moses about some new students who were
+going to enter," replied Jerry, "but Simpson is the only one whose name
+I heard mentioned."
+
+"Come on, then," urged Dan. "We'll go see the coach. Maybe he has
+someone in mind, and you can stay on a few days and help break him in,
+Bricktop."
+
+"Sure, I'll stay as long as I can," agreed the Irish lad. "It ought to
+be easy to get someone to work in at left guard, where I play."
+
+"We can't get anyone to beat you," spoke Dan, sincerely. "Well, I'm
+going."
+
+"If you see our old armchair walking around the campus, send it home,"
+requested Phil, earnestly.
+
+"Sure!" chorused his chums.
+
+"Seriously though, fellows," said Tom, when the delegation had left the
+room, "we've got to do something. Let's go out and make some inquiries.
+It was a nervy thing for anyone to do, to come in here and carry off our
+chair. I don't believe it was any freshmen."
+
+"Neither do I," agreed Phil. "Wait until I dress and I'll be with you."
+
+"Same here," added Sid.
+
+"Oh, I can't wait!" cried Tom, impatiently. "I'll go out and see what I
+can learn. You fellows come when you get ready. We've got plenty of time
+before grub."
+
+Tom's first act was to seek out Wallops, one of the assistant janitors,
+or messengers, about the college. From that youth he inquired whether he
+had seen anyone taking the chair away, or whether he had heard of it
+being removed in a joke.
+
+"What, you mean that old big chair that was so--so----" and Wallops
+hesitated, evidently in embarrassment.
+
+"Yes, that's the one--the old rattletrap!" exclaimed Tom. "Don't be
+afraid to say it, Wallops. The chair was pretty well bunged up, but we
+think a lot of it, and we wouldn't have it lost for a good deal. Can you
+give us a clew?"
+
+"Well, Mr. Parsons, I didn't see any one take it, but there was a
+second-hand dealer around the college to-day. He comes every once in a
+while, to buy up the things the students don't want any more. He was
+here, and he took away a wagon-load of stuff."
+
+"He did!" cried Tom. "Why didn't you say so before? Was our chair on the
+wagon?"
+
+"I didn't see that one, though he had some small chairs, and a bureau."
+
+"Who was he? Where's his place? I'll go see him at once!" cried the
+pitcher. "I'll wager he sneaked in our room, and took it while we were
+out. Who was he?"
+
+"Isaac Komsky," replied Wallops. "He has a second-hand store on Water
+street, in Haddonfield. But I don't think----"
+
+"That's the fellow all right!" cried Tom, excitedly. "I'll make him give
+that chair up, if we have to tear his shop apart!" and he raced back to
+the room to tell his chums.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ANOTHER DISAPPEARANCE
+
+
+"Hello! What's up?" demanded Sid, as he and Phil, about to leave their
+apartment, were almost hurled from their feet when Tom burst in. "What
+in the name of the Gaelic Wars ails you, Tom? Has some one else left the
+team; or is the college on fire?"
+
+"Yes, why this unseemly haste?" came from Phil, as he sank back on the
+sofa and endeavored to recover his breath, which was almost at the
+vanishing point because of the suddenness of his chum's advent.
+
+"Haste? I guess you'd be in a hurry if you just heard what I did!"
+exploded Tom. "I'm on the track of our chair! What's the matter with you
+fellows, anyhow? I thought you were coming out and help me get on the
+trail of it."
+
+"Oh, Sid had to look at Miss Harrison's picture before he could venture
+out," replied Phil, with a mocking grin at his chum. And then he dodged
+to escape a book, while Tom murmured:
+
+"You old misogynist! And me working like a detective to get on the trail
+of our beloved chair! What kept you in, Phil?"
+
+"Couldn't get his tie fixed to suit him," responded Sid, thus getting
+one in on the quarter-back, who was rather noted for his taste in neck
+scarfs.
+
+"Well, come on, now!" urged the pitcher. "We've got time enough to get
+to town and back before the 'eats,' and if we go now Proc. Zane won't be
+so apt to spot us."
+
+"What's the game?" asked Sid.
+
+"Second-hand Shylock has our chair," explained Tom briefly, as he told
+of the information Wallops had given him. "We'll go talk to him like a
+Dutch uncle, and make him tell how he dared come into our rooms while we
+were at practice. Come on!"
+
+"The nerve of Komsky!" cried Phil. "I'm with you," and the three lads
+hurried from the college, crossed the campus, and were headed for a
+trolley that would take them to the village. They saw the car coming,
+and were about to sprint for it, when Tom became aware of the figure of
+a small, fussy little man striding toward them from behind a row of
+trees, holding up his hand as if to command a halt.
+
+"Zane!" gasped the pitcher.
+
+"The proctor," added Phil, in a whisper. "He hasn't any right to stop us
+now!"
+
+But whether the official had the right or not, he was evidently going to
+exercise it, and our heroes thought it better to obey.
+
+"Well, young gentlemen," began the proctor, as he strode up to the trio,
+"you are evidently going to the village."
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Tom, meekly.
+
+"There goes the car," remarked Sid in a low voice. "There won't be
+another for half an hour, and we'll sure be late for grub. Hang Zane,
+anyhow."
+
+"May I ask how long you intend to remain?" went on the obnoxious college
+official.
+
+"Not very long," answered Phil. "We are going on an errand. We didn't
+know it was against the rules not to leave the college grounds in
+daylight, Mr. Zane." It was a sarcastic reference to the many somewhat
+childish rules the proc. was in the habit of framing up from time to
+time.
+
+"There is no rule prohibiting students from leaving the grounds in
+daylight, Mr. Clinton," said the proctor, severely, "but the reason I
+stopped you is that I wish to point out that if you go to town now you
+will hardly be back in time for supper, and that means that you will
+probably get a meal in Haddonfield. Also, there is no set rule against
+that, but Dr. Churchill does not like it. Staying to supper in the
+village might mean that you would stay later, and I need hardly point
+out that there _is_ a rule about being out after hours. That is all,"
+and the little proctor walked stiffly away.
+
+"Well, wouldn't that get your goat!" murmured Tom, when the official was
+beyond hearing.
+
+"I should say so; and also frizzle your back teeth," added Sid.
+
+"Shall we go?" asked Phil, doubtfully.
+
+"Of course," asserted Tom. "And we'll fool Zane, too. It won't take
+us long to have it out with Komsky. Then we can go to one of those
+quick-lunch places, have a bite, and get back to college in plenty of
+time before locking up. We can arrange to have an expressman bring back
+the chair."
+
+"Good!" exclaimed Phil. "I was afraid you'd propose that we lug it back
+on the car, and while I'd do a good deal to get it again, I think we'd
+look foolish toting it home in our arms."
+
+"Afraid of meeting some girls, I suppose," sneered Tom.
+
+"Say, supposing Komsky hasn't got it," suggested Sid, while Phil
+blushed.
+
+"Perish the thought!" cried the pitcher. "We've _got_ to get our chair
+back, and if that Shylock hasn't it some of the other second-hand
+dealers in town have."
+
+They strolled along, talking of the chair, the chances for a good
+football team, and many other college matters until the next car came,
+when they hopped aboard, and were soon in Haddonfield.
+
+"Vell, young gentlemans, vot is it? Somedings nice vor de college room,
+ain't it? Yes! No? Vell, Isaac Komsky has it vot effer you like, und
+cheap! So help me gracious, I lose money on everyt'ing I sell! Now, vot
+it is?"
+
+Thus spoke the old second-hand dealer, when our three friends entered.
+Eagerly he had come forward, rubbing his hands and wagging his long,
+matted beard, while from under bushy eyebrows he peered at them with
+eager orbs.
+
+"We're looking for a chair, Komsky," said Tom, brusquely. "A nice, easy,
+soft, comfortable chair that we can sit in."
+
+"Oh, so! An easy chair is it? Vell, I haf many, und cheap! It is a shame
+about de cheapness. Look, here is one, vot is so--vot you call--easy,
+dot it vould make you schleepy efen ven you looket at it, ain't it?"
+
+He thrust forward a most uncomfortable wooden rocker, with gaudy cushions
+on the seat and back. The cushions were in Randall colors--yellow and
+maroon--and the chair had evidently been sold by some student, either
+because he needed the money or because he could afford better furniture.
+
+"No, that's not the kind we want," said Tom, whose eyes were roving
+about the cluttered-up shop. He and his chums had decided on the course
+of pretending to want to buy a chair, with the idea that if Komsky had
+taken theirs, by hook or crook, he would be more apt to show it if he
+saw prospective customers, than if he knew they had come demanding their
+rights. "We want an easier chair," went on Tom.
+
+"Oh, an easier vun? Den I haf it. See!" and he brought to light a big
+Turkish rocker, that was in the last stages of decay.
+
+Meanwhile Sid and Phil had been strolling about, leaving Tom to engage
+Komsky in conversation. The two looked in many corners, and peered under
+heaps of furniture, but they did not see their chair. Nor, if the dealer
+had it, did he show any desire to produce it. Tom looked at rocker after
+rocker that was brought out, and at last, convinced that his method was
+likely to prove a failure, he boldly stated the case, and demanded to
+know, whether by mistake or otherwise, the dealer had taken their old
+relic.
+
+The surprise of Mr. Komsky was pitiful to observe. He all but tore out
+his beard, and called upon his ancestors as far back as the sixteenth
+generation to witness that he had not even seen the chair. He was an
+honest man, he was a poor man, he was a man born to poverty and under an
+unlucky star, but never, never, _never_! not if you were to give him a
+million dollars, would he take a chair from a student's room, without
+permission.
+
+"For vy should I, ven I can buys dem efery day?" he demanded, with a
+pathetic gesture of his forward-thrust hands.
+
+"Well, I guess it isn't here," spoke Tom, regretfully, when they had
+exhausted all the possibilities. "Yet you were at college to-day,
+Komsky."
+
+"Vy, sure I vos at der college to-day. Nearly efery veek I am there,
+ain't it? Yet I have not your chair."
+
+It was evident that he was telling the truth. He did not have the chair
+then, though he might have had it, and have sold it to some other
+student, perhaps one from Boxer Hall or Fairview, for those lads also
+patronized the second-hand dealers, and Komsky was one of the largest.
+
+"Cæsar's grandmother!" cried Tom, in dismay, as this possibility
+suggested itself, "just suppose Langridge or some of those chaps had our
+chair! Say, maybe Langridge put up the game!"
+
+"Hardly possible," asserted Phil. "Come on, we'll have a look in some of
+the other shops, then we'll get grub and hurry back. I think I saw
+drops of blood in Zane's eye."
+
+"He sure _would_ like to get our names down in his little book," said
+Sid.
+
+But a round of the other second-hand dealers, where inquiries were made,
+developed nothing. There were many easy chairs on sale, but that of our
+heroes was not to be seen, and sorrowfully they returned to the college.
+
+It was long past the regular supper time, but they had satisfied their
+hunger in Haddonfield. And, in spite of their troubles--their worriment
+over the chair, and the mix-up that was sure to result in the football
+team--they had managed to eat a good meal.
+
+They saw Proctor Zane, as they strolled up over the campus, and the
+official glanced sharply at them.
+
+"He's just wishing we were coming in late," declared Tom.
+
+"I believe you," assented Phil.
+
+They entered their room, stumbling in the darkness over books and
+chairs, for they never took the trouble to put their apartment to
+rights.
+
+"I say, strike a light, some one!" exclaimed Tom, rubbing his shins
+where they had come in contact with a chair.
+
+There was a click as Phil turned the electric switch, and the
+incandescent glowed. For a moment the three chums stood in the middle
+of the room, gazing at each other.
+
+"Doesn't it seem lonesome without the old chair," spoke Phil at length.
+
+"Sort of makes the room look bigger though," declared Sid, as he threw
+himself on the sofa. It was a poor consolation at best.
+
+"I can't imagine what has become of it," said Tom, as he proceeded to
+get into some lounging clothes.
+
+"Well, now for some boning, and maybe we'll forget our troubles," went
+on Phil, as he scattered a pile of books, looking for his own.
+
+"Are you going to the football meeting to-night?" asked Tom, as he
+finished a hurried toilet, for a session of the squad had been called
+late that afternoon to consider the loss of Kerr and Molloy.
+
+"I may come over later," spoke Phil. "I think the best thing we can do
+is to----"
+
+He paused suddenly, and glanced quickly toward the shelf that served as
+a mantle. The gaze of his chums followed. The room seemed suddenly to
+become oppressively still. They could almost hear each other breathing.
+Then the same thought came to all three.
+
+"The clock!" they exclaimed in a tragic chorus.
+
+"It's gone!" gasped Tom.
+
+"Vanished!" added Phil, staring at the vacant space as though unable or
+unwilling to believe the evidence of his eyesight.
+
+"Another mysterious disappearance," exploded Sid, and then Tom remarked
+in significant tones:
+
+"I guess we'll have to chain the sofa if we want to keep that!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+FOOTBALL TALK
+
+
+"Fellows, there is just one thing about it," announced Tom, firmly, when
+a hurried search of the room had only made it more certain that the
+clock was nowhere in it, "either we are the victims of a practical joke,
+or there is some mystery here that we will have to fathom."
+
+"I'm inclined to think it's a joke," said Phil.
+
+"Same here," agreed Sid, "only it's a pretty poor sort of a joke. First
+thing we know we won't have anything left," and he looked down at the
+sofa on which he was stretched out, as if to make sure that it would not
+take wings unto itself, and fly out of the window.
+
+"Was the room locked?" asked Phil.
+
+"Sure," spoke Tom. "Whoever came in must have used a false key."
+
+"They're taking lots of risks," was Sid's opinion. "How could they tell
+but what we'd come back any minute and catch them red-handed?"
+
+"Well, this is no joke," insisted Tom. "We've got to do something. It's
+too much to have the chair and clock disappear the same day. I'm going
+to post a notice on the bulletin board, stating that the person who took
+them is known, and had better return them at once to avoid further
+trouble. That's how the ladies advertise in the newspaper when they
+don't know who took their best umbrella at a society meeting. I'll write
+out a notice."
+
+"No, don't!" urged Phil, quickly.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I think this thing is a joke on us, and the more fuss we make
+over it the more they'll laugh at us. Bascome, or some of that crowd,
+have had their fingers in this pie, and it's up to us to find out how
+they did it, and what became of our things. Now, let's work around
+quietly, get the evidence we need, get back the things if possible, and
+have the ha-ha on them."
+
+"Good idea," commented Sid.
+
+"I believe you _are_ right," agreed Tom, after thinking the matter over.
+"We'll keep quiet about it. Now let's get through with our boning, and
+go to the football meeting. They'll expect us, and, really, it's a
+serious matter. Randall has got to wake up considerably if she wants the
+championship this year."
+
+The meeting was held in the gymnasium, and was pretty well under way
+when our three friends arrived. Ed Kerr was not present, as he had to
+get ready for his trip to Europe, but Bricktop was on hand, and it
+required all his Irish wit to stand off the many appeals that were made
+to him not to desert in the face of trouble.
+
+There were tears in the eyes of the big left guard as he announced that
+his decision was final, and that he must leave for Columbia in two
+weeks.
+
+"I'd like to stay and play in the first big game against Newkirk
+College," Bricktop said brokenly, "but it's impossible, me lads."
+
+"Then we'd better get busy and consider how we're going to make up the
+team," declared Dan Woodhouse, and when the captain thus gave up hope of
+keeping Bricktop, his fellow players did likewise.
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Lighton, the coach, "we have none too much time to get
+at our team work in view of the changes. Now, Woodhouse, we'll hear what
+you have to say."
+
+"Wait until I make out a list, and do some thinking," spoke the captain,
+and while he retired to a comparatively quiet corner to do this, the
+coach gave the lads a little informal talk on the science of the game.
+
+Mr. Lighton illustrated several points. He showed how the guards and
+tackle could best work together to hold the line with the centre, he
+impressed on the ends the necessity for speed in getting down the
+field. To the backs he talked of the need for being ready to get into
+action on the jump, to take advantage of the holes made for them.
+
+"We have decided to play a game consisting of two halves instead of the
+four quarters," said the coach. "It is more satisfactory, I think. Of
+course, there is a certain advantage in three rest periods instead of
+one, but I believe that a faster, snappier game can be played by halves
+than by quarters. You don't run the chance of getting stiff, and you can
+keep limbered and warmed up."
+
+"What about the forward pass?" asked Phil Clinton.
+
+"I don't know that we will work that so much as we did last year,"
+said the coach, "but of course we will have to be guided by what our
+opponents do in the games. That will be something for the captain and
+the quarter-back to work out together. Of course we'll practice it."
+
+"Onside kicks," came suddenly from Sid, who had been somewhat quiet.
+"Are we going to do anything with them?"
+
+"That is another matter that will have to be settled when you play the
+games," declared the coach. "It will do no harm to try them. I'm for
+straight football, as near the old-fashioned sort as we can get it under
+the new rules. We have had some hard practice, and we'll have more, for
+practice is what you will need in team work, especially if we have two
+new players. Now has the captain anything to report?"
+
+"Well," remarked Kindlings, coming from his corner, with a puzzled look
+on his face, "it isn't so easy as you would think, and I just want to
+say that I hope no fellows feel badly because I don't select them in
+place of Kerr and Molloy."
+
+"Sure not," came in a chorus.
+
+"'Rah! 'rah! 'rah! for Randall!" yelled Bean Perkins in his loudest
+grandstand voice. "Wow!"
+
+"Can some of that, and save it for the Newkirk game," suggested
+Woodhouse, with a grin. "Now I've thought it all over, and I've decided
+that I'll put Sam Looper in Bricktop's place at left guard, and----"
+
+"'Rah for the Snail!" shouted the irrepressible Bean.
+
+"Oh, I can be quick enough when I want to," declared Sam, his face
+shining with delight at the honor that had come to him unsought. He had
+practiced hard on the scrub, and while he was not a bright and shining
+light, he had grit and stamina, and was very strong. There were some
+doubtful looks over his selection, but everyone was willing to admit
+that while he was not as good as Bricktop, he might do after some
+gruelling practice.
+
+"And to fill Kerr's place I'll name Pete Backus," went on the captain.
+
+"'Rah for Grasshopper!" cried Bean. "He'll jump over their heads and
+make a touchdown."
+
+"Quiet!" begged Mr. Lighton, for there was a pandemonium of yells and
+laughter at this.
+
+"And I want Pete to jump into plays when he has the ball," continued
+Kindlings. "Do you approve of those selections, Mr. Lighton?"
+
+"Certainly, Woodhouse. I only want to say that of course it all depends
+on how these new candidates make out in practice."
+
+"Oh, sure," assented the captain. "They've got to make good, or we'll
+put some one else in. You understand that, Pete and Sam."
+
+"Of course," they murmured, and each secretly determined to leave
+nothing untried that would win for him the coveted honor of playing on
+the 'varsity eleven.
+
+"Then everybody be on hand for practice on the gridiron at three o'clock
+sharp to-morrow," announced Kindlings. "We'll run through some hard
+plays, do some passing and tackling, and play a fifteen minute half
+against the scrub. Sharp work, everybody!"
+
+"'Rah for Kindlings!" yelled Bean, and the shout that followed, if it
+did not exactly raise the roof of the gymnasium, at least testified to
+the regard in which the captain was held.
+
+There was more talk from Mr. Lighton, who had worked out a new system of
+signals for the present season, and he gave the lads a short drill in it
+before the meeting adjourned.
+
+Meanwhile Phil, Tom and Sid had been keeping their ears on the alert,
+and their eyes open for any hint, in talk or action, that would give
+them a clew to who had taken their chair and clock. But they were not
+successful. If any of the football squad was guilty, the fact was
+successfully concealed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN PRACTICE
+
+
+There was a crisping tang in the air. The wind had in it just the hint
+of winter, but the sun shone bravely down and glinted on the green grass
+of the football field--a field marked off in white lines, so meaningless
+to one not familiar with the game, yet so full of meaning to a player.
+
+Soon what a struggle there would be to cross those same white
+lines--especially the last, whereon were the goal posts, and to gain
+which every last ounce of strength, every atom of breath, every nerve
+and sinew that could be urged to lend speed to the runner would be
+called upon to do the utmost that the ball might be shoved over for a
+touchdown.
+
+Now, however, the gridiron of Randall College lay peaceful and quiet
+under the October sun. The grass seemed to shiver in the breeze, as if
+in anticipation of the struggles it would soon have to bear.
+
+The silent grandstands were but waiting the cheering, yelling, singing,
+sport-maddened and enthusiastic throngs that would shortly occupy them,
+to cause them to sway as in a gale with the stress of their applause, to
+echo to the thunder of thousands of stamping feet.
+
+But now the gridiron was deserted. It was like a battle-field whereon
+had taken place many a conflict, but which, like the arena of old, had
+been swept and garnished with sand, effacing the marks of strife, that
+those who came might not see them. It was all ready for the next battle
+of brawn, practice for which would soon take place.
+
+Out from the gymnasium came rushing a crowd of lads--in canvas trousers
+and jackets, and in sweaters, the shoulders of which bulged with great
+leather patches. Some of the warriors had on leather helmets, and others
+swung rubber nose-guards from their arms by dangling strings.
+
+"Line up! Line up!" came the cry.
+
+"Come on for some punts!"
+
+"Hey, Phil, send out some drop kicks!"
+
+"Pass the ball!"
+
+"Fall on it! Fall on it!"
+
+The lads were racing about, leaping and jumping. Some were punting,
+others sending the ball swiftly around by a quick arm and hand motion.
+Still others, in the excess of their exuberance, were wrestling or
+tackling.
+
+For it was the first day of practice with the newly-organized team, and
+everyone was anxious to see what the result would be. Kerr had gone from
+Randall, after an affecting good-bye to his classmates, bearing with him
+their sincere wishes that his father would speedily recover, and that Ed
+would return.
+
+Bricktop, for the first time since the season had opened, was without
+his football togs, and he felt it keenly. But once he had made up his
+mind, he decided to forget practice, though he consented to stay on
+about a week, and help Mr. Lighton coach Snail Looper in his work behind
+the line.
+
+"Here you go, Tom!" called Sid, and he sent a puzzling spiral down the
+field. The plucky left end was down after it like a flash, extending his
+arms to gather it in. So swift was it, however, that it went right
+through his grasp, and bounded on the grass. Tom, like a flash, fell on
+it.
+
+"Good!" cried the coach, who seemed to be watching every preliminary
+play, though regular practice had not yet been begun. "That's the way to
+do it."
+
+There was some warm-up work, while Mr. Lighton and Dan Woodhouse
+consulted, and while the captain of the scrub was getting his men
+together. Then came the cry again:
+
+"Line up! Line up!"
+
+"We'll play a ten minute half," said the captain, and he glanced at a
+list in his hand. "Here's how the 'varsity will line up," he added.
+"Tom Parsons will play at left end, Bert Bascome at left tackle, Sam
+Looper at left guard, Holly Cross at centre. Billy Housenlager will be
+right guard. I'll play at right tackle, as usual. Joe Jackson will be at
+right end, and his brother can try it at full-back, only I wish he'd put
+on more weight. Phil, you'll go to quarter. Pete Backus will play right
+half-back, and Sid Henderson at left half. Now, I guess that completes
+the team. Get in line and see what we can do."
+
+"And remember what I told you about fast, snappy playing," cautioned the
+coach. "I'm going to have the scrub do its best to make a touchdown on
+you, so watch out. Line up!"
+
+The ball was placed in the centre of the field, and, as the 'varsity
+wanted to get into offense as soon as possible, the scrub was to kick
+off.
+
+"All ready?" asked Ned Hendrix, who was captain of the scrub, as he
+looked across the field to see how his own players were bunched.
+
+"All ready," answered Kindlings.
+
+Ping! That was the nerve thrilling sound of the toe of Hendrix's shoe
+making a dent in the side of the ball. Straight and true it sailed, and
+into the arms of Jerry Jackson it fell.
+
+"Now, fellows, come on! Make up some interference for him! Don't let
+them get through on us!" yelled the captain of the 'varsity, as the
+Jersey twin tucked the ball under his arm, lowered his head and started
+back with the pigskin.
+
+Before him ran his fellows, and speeding toward them came the eager
+scrub, thirsting for tackles. Jerry managed to run back twenty yards
+before he was downed, and as the two teams lined up for the first
+scrimmage, the coach shook his head rather dubiously.
+
+"The scrub is a bit quicker than the 'varsity, I'm afraid," he
+whispered. "I've got to whip them into shape. Well, now to see how they
+tear through the line."
+
+Phil Clinton was kneeling down behind Holly Cross to receive the ball.
+He gave a quick glance behind him, and decided to try out the mettle of
+Pete Backus.
+
+"Seventeen--eighty-four--ready
+now--twenty-two--four--sixteen--eighty-three," counted Phil, but before
+he had called the last number he had given the signal for the ball to
+come back.
+
+It was for Pete to take the pigskin in between tackle and guard, and, as
+he received the leather, Pete made a spring through the hole that was
+opened for him. He gained two yards, seeing which the coach murmured:
+
+"He's got the strength, but he needs to be a bit quicker. Well, we've
+got time enough to get speed out of him, I guess."
+
+The piled-up players slowly emerged from the heap, and Kindlings
+whispered to his new man:
+
+"Good work, old fellow. That's the way to tear through them."
+
+Phil was already calling off the next signal. He had found that quick,
+snappy work in beginning the signal, even though it was not quite yet
+time for the play, had the effect of somewhat demoralizing the other
+players, and also hastened the actions of his own men. Once more the
+ball went to the Grasshopper, but he failed to gain, and was thrown for
+a slight loss, for the scrub players were eager in breaking through.
+
+"That won't do," objected the captain, gloomily.
+
+"I--I didn't know he was going to give it to me so soon again," spoke
+Pete, pantingly.
+
+"You must always be ready," was the comment.
+
+Phil was calling for a kick now, on the last down, and Joe Jackson
+dropped back for it. The ball was sent out of danger, but coach and
+captain shook their heads. The 'varsity had not gained as much ground as
+they should have done.
+
+"Better luck next time," said Kindlings hopefully.
+
+"Your men need it," responded Mr. Lighton.
+
+It was now the turn of the scrub to see what they could do, and they
+quickly formed over the pigskin, while their quarter-back called off the
+signals. At the sturdy line of the 'varsity, they plunged, trying to
+tear a hole between the left guard and tackle. They had quickly found
+the weakness of Pete, and Bert Bascome was not a tried warrior of the
+gridiron. The scrub penetrated for a couple of yards, and then, seeing
+what the danger was, the other players massed their strength there, and
+stopped the advance of the man with the ball.
+
+Again the scrub hurled themselves against the line, trying on the other
+side this time. They could not gain, and Joe Jackson dropped back to
+receive the kick he expected would come.
+
+But the scrub's quarter gave the signal for a fake punt, and when the
+'varsity had spread out, the right half-back was sent forward with the
+ball. But they did not gain what they expected, for Kindlings, ever on
+the alert for a play like that, was watching, and, cleverly dodging
+through the interference, he downed the man with the ball in a fierce
+tackle. The scrub had gained their distance, however, and still had
+possession of the pigskin.
+
+"Hold 'em this time!" begged the captain, as he got rid of some dirt
+that had been ground into his mouth under his nose-guard.
+
+And hold the 'varsity did after that. Not an inch could the scrub
+gain, for the wall in front of them was like stone, and they were
+relentlessly hurled back. Twice they tried it, and on the third down
+they kicked--no fake affair now.
+
+The 'varsity had the ball again. Phil did not try Pete this time, but
+gave the leather to Sid, who, like an old time warrior, lowered his head
+and plunged into the line for three yards.
+
+"Come on! Come on!" yelled Phil, pushing and pulling on his chum to help
+him through. There was a mass of crowding, struggling players all about
+Sid. The scrub, with desperate energy, tried to stem the progress of the
+human tide. Still Sid worked on, worming to get every inch, and he broke
+through the scrub line, staggered on and on, and when he was finally
+downed, with half a dozen of the players clinging to him like hounds to
+a stag, he had gained three yards, through a hard defense.
+
+"Wow! Wow!" yelled Bean Perkins.
+
+"That's what I ought to have done, I suppose," murmured Pete,
+regretfully, as he saw what a gain Sid had made.
+
+"Oh, you'll do it yet," said Tom consolingly. "It takes a little
+practice. Those fellows are out for blood to-day. A lot of them are
+hoping to get on our team."
+
+"Well, they won't!" declared Pete, and when he was given a chance with
+the ball a little later, he tore through for a two-yard gain in great
+fashion.
+
+The 'varsity was now playing fiercely, and had the "measure" of the
+scrub. Those unfortunate lads tried in vain to stem the human torrent.
+The first team had the ball, and were not going to give it up. Down the
+line they rushed, shoving the second lads to one side--bowling them
+over.
+
+"Touchdown! Touchdown!" came the cry when the five-yard line was
+reached. "Touchdown!"
+
+And a touchdown it was, Sid being pushed and dragged over the line. It
+took eight minutes of play to make it, though, and the scrub felt in
+their hearts that they had done good work, as indeed they had.
+
+There was another line-up, after a kick-off, and the scrub had another
+chance to show what they could do, but they failed to gain in two
+trials, and kicked. Then the 'varsity once more had the ball, and in the
+little while remaining to play, for the half had been lengthened to
+fifteen minutes, they rushed it up the field. A forward pass was tried,
+but did not work well, nor did an onside kick, and Mr. Lighton wisely
+decided to defer these plays until the team worked together better in
+straight football.
+
+"Well, what do you think?" asked Kindlings, as he walked to the
+gymnasium with the coach.
+
+"It might be worse," was the non-committal answer. "But they all mean
+well, and as soon as Sam and Pete get more confidence, they'll do
+better. But--oh, well, what's the use of crossing a bridge until you get
+out of the woods, as Holly Cross would say. We have a game with Newkirk
+in two weeks, and if we can't beat them, even with the team we have----"
+
+"We'd better go out of business," finished Dan.
+
+"Exactly," agreed the coach, with a shrug of his shoulders.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A NEW TIMEPIECE
+
+
+"Anything on for to-night fellows," asked Tom Parsons, as he limped
+along with Sid and Phil.
+
+"No. Why?" inquired the quarter-back. "Are you going to see a girl? If
+you are, I heard Ruth say that she and Madge had a date at some Fairview
+affair, or something like that."
+
+"No, I'm not going to see a girl," retorted Tom somewhat savagely, and a
+spasm of pain shot over his face. "I'll leave that for you and Sid this
+time. I'm going to lay off and bone."
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Phil, anxiously. "Sick?"
+
+"No, but I'm tired, and some one stepped on my ankle in that last
+mix-up."
+
+"By Hannibal! I hope you don't go lame," put in Sid. "The team is
+crippled enough as it is."
+
+"Oh, I'll be all right," asserted Tom. "All it needs is a rest and some
+liniment."
+
+"I wrenched my knee a bit," spoke Phil, "but it doesn't bother me now."
+
+"And I'd like to get hold of the fellow who rubbed my nose in the dirt,"
+came wrathfully from Sid. "I must have chewed up about an ounce of it."
+
+"It's good for your digestion," asserted Tom, with a wry face. "But say,
+fellows, doesn't it strike you as rather queer that we didn't get a hint
+about our missing chair and clock?"
+
+"It is sort of so-so," admitted Phil.
+
+"You'd have thought," went on Tom, as he stopped for a moment in the
+shadow of biology hall to favor his bruised ankle, "you'd have thought
+that if it was some of the boys putting up a job on us that they'd have
+given it away."
+
+"Yes, such as asking what time it was, or if we rested well in our room,
+or something like that," added Sid. "But there wasn't even a look to
+give us a clew."
+
+"Which means," declared the 'varsity left end, as he limped on, "that
+either none of our fellows have had a hand in it, or that they can keep
+a secret better than we fellows could. If this bunch had done anything
+like that we'd be wanting to rig the victim. But I can't understand this
+silence."
+
+"It means something," declared Phil. "There's some mystery about this
+that's deeper than we have any idea of."
+
+And there was a curious mystery which was destined to have quite an
+effect on Randall College.
+
+"Well, let's forget all about it for a while," suggested Sid. "Maybe if
+we do, it will be like one of those problems in solid geometry, and the
+solution will come to us when we least expect it. Many a time I've
+stared at the figures and letters until they did the Blue Danube waltzes
+up and down the pages. Then I've just chucked it aside, taken up
+something else, and, all at once, it's as plain as----"
+
+"The nose on Tom's face," interrupted Phil, for Tom was well blessed in
+that feature.
+
+"Go ahead. Have all the fun you like," the pitcher invited, for his
+ankle was beginning to pain him more severely, and he did not feel equal
+to skylarking with his chums. "But as to forgetting about our chair, I
+can't do it. Queer, isn't it, how you'll get attached to an ordinary
+piece of furniture like that?"
+
+"It wasn't an _ordinary_ piece, you sacrilegious vandal!" exploded Sid.
+"There isn't another chair like that in college. I have it on good
+authority that it was a family heirloom before we bought it of Hatterly,
+the big senior. It belonged in the Hess family, which was quite some
+pumpkins around here about the time of the wreck of the _Mayflower_."
+
+"The _Mayflower_ wasn't wrecked, you chump!" cried Tom.
+
+"Well, what of it? Something happened to it, anyhow. It was stranded, or
+ran ashore, or else people landed from it. I never can keep those things
+straight in my head. At any rate, the chair is quite a relic, and I wish
+we had it back."
+
+"I'm with you," declared Tom, feelingly. "I could just curl up in it in
+comfort to-night."
+
+"Only you won't," retorted Phil.
+
+"Nor yet listen to the clock tick," added Sid. "Now, let's talk of
+something else."
+
+"Football," suggested Phil, quickly. "What do you fellows think about
+our chances, anyhow?"
+
+"Not much," asserted the end. "Sam and Pete aren't doing as well as they
+used to do on the scrub."
+
+"Stage fright, maybe," came from Sid.
+
+"It's likely," admitted the quarter-back. "I remember when I first
+played on the 'varsity, I couldn't seem to see straight, I thought I was
+going to miss every tackle I tried for, and I was mortally afraid of
+dropping the ball. They'll get over it."
+
+"I hope so," spoke Tom. "I wish Bascome wasn't playing on my end."
+
+"Why?" asked Phil, quickly.
+
+"Well, you know he rather stood in with Langridge and Gerhart when they
+were here, and, though he isn't as mean as they were, he isn't exactly
+in our crowd. I can't play with him the same way I can go into a game
+with the other fellows. I think I'll ask Kindlings to let me shift to
+the other end."
+
+"Don't you do it!" cried Sid, quickly. "Look here, Tom Parsons, the
+surest way to have a team go to pieces is to have personal feelings crop
+out among the players. We've got to play together, or----"
+
+"'Play separately,' as one of the signers of the Declaration of
+Independence said," interrupted Phil, with a laugh.
+
+"No, I'm serious," protested Sid. "If we're going to act that way, Tom,
+we might as well give up the team now, and also all hopes of ever
+winning the championship this year. It's bad enough to have Bricktop and
+Ed off, without having you kicking up a fuss about Bascome."
+
+"Who's kicking up a fuss, you old misogynist?" demanded the end, limping
+along. "I only said I couldn't play with Bascome as well as I could with
+Dan, and I'd like to shift."
+
+"And if you do that it means that some one else will have to shift, and
+that will throw the whole team into confusion. No, you stick it out,
+Tom."
+
+They walked on in silence for a few minutes, each busy with his own
+thoughts. The sun slanted across the campus, and glinted through the
+stained glass windows of Booker chapel, coloring the sward with a
+wonderful combination of violet and red. Back of the main college was a
+bank of purplish and olive tinted clouds, which Tom paused to gaze at in
+admiration.
+
+"Look, fellows!" he exclaimed, softly. "It's just like one of those
+pictures of Venice, painted by what's his name."
+
+"Yes, great artist," put in Phil. "Second cousin to 'who's this.'"
+
+"No, but look at those colorings," protested Tom. "Did you ever see such
+cloud masses? The only thing about them is that they tell of fall coming
+on, and winter and leafless trees, and----"
+
+"Oh, for cats' sake cut it out!" groaned Sid. "You must be in love
+again. Got a new girl?"
+
+"Shut up!" ordered Tom, peremptorily, as he started toward their
+dormitory. "The next time I try to elevate the minds of you fellows by
+pointing out the beauties of nature you'll know it!"
+
+"All right, old chap," came in soothing accents from Phil. "Those clouds
+_are_ worth looking at, for a fact. Sid has no soul for anything above
+the commonplace."
+
+"Neither would you have, if you'd been chewing on mud," declared the
+other. "It strikes me that we are getting silly, or sentimental, in our
+old age. Come on up and get into a bathrobe and we'll take it easy. I
+have some imported ginger ale, and some prime cheese in the closet."
+
+"You rat! And you never spoke of it before!" cried Phil, clapping his
+chum on the back. "Come on, let's see who'll get there first, as the
+wolf said to Red Riding Hood," and he started up the stairs on the run,
+followed by Sid, while Tom limped on more slowly.
+
+When the end reached their apartment he found the door open, and his two
+chums standing on the threshold as though afraid to enter. It was dark
+inside, for the shades were drawn. Tom looked at his two companions in
+some surprise.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked. "Snake in there? Why don't you go on in?"
+
+"Listen!" exclaimed Phil, softly.
+
+They stood expectantly. Through the stillness there came to them a
+rhythmetic tick-tick, which floated out of their room and into the
+corridor.
+
+"The clock!" gasped Tom.
+
+"Our clock!" whispered Phil, as though to speak aloud would break the
+magic spell.
+
+"It's come back," went on Sid, taking a step forward in a stealthy
+manner, as if he expected to surprise a burglar in the act. "Fellows, to
+all the gods that on Olympus dwell most everlasting praises be! Our
+clock's come back!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+ANOTHER IDEA
+
+
+Making ready as though to greet an old friend who had long been absent,
+the three lads advanced to the middle of the room in the semi-darkness.
+Louder ticked the clock, and it was like music to their ears. Tom
+snapped on the electric lights, and the gaze of our three heroes went
+together toward the mantle shelf.
+
+Then there came three simultaneous gasps of astonishment, a starting
+back in surprise, a catching of breaths.
+
+"The clock!" spoke Tom, aghast.
+
+"It isn't ours!" added Phil, gaspingly.
+
+"They've brought back the wrong one!" exclaimed Sid.
+
+Then, as they looked at the new timepiece, a smart one in a new and
+dull-polished mahogany case--an expensive clock--one they never would
+have thought of possessing, as they looked at it, there was a musical
+tinkle of a bell, and five strokes rang out as if in welcome.
+
+"A new clock!" went on Phil, in accents of horror. "A clock that
+strikes!"
+
+"'Come plump, head-waiter of the cock, to which I most resort. How goes
+the time? 'Tis five o'clock? Go fetch a pint of port!'" quoted Sid.
+
+"Oh, what are we up against?" cried Tom. "The plot thickens! There is
+more of the direful mystery here! Talk about the Arabian Nights' tale of
+new lamps for old! Some one has taken our old clock and left in its
+place this new choice specimen of the art of the horologiographer."
+
+"The art of whom?" asked Phil, in wonder.
+
+"Clock-maker," translated Tom. "They say a fair exchange is no robbery,
+but this was an unfair exchange. We don't want a striking clock."
+
+"No, give us back our own fussy little alarm," begged Sid. "I say,
+though, fellows, this is no slouch of a piece of horologiographic work,
+though. It must have cost eight or ten bones, and it's brand new. Do you
+guess some one's conscience smote 'em, after they'd made away with our
+ticker, and they wanted to make amends?"
+
+"I don't know what to think," admitted Phil.
+
+"Me either," came from Tom. "But if they bring back one of those
+new-fangled Turkish rockers in place of our old chair, I'll fire it out
+of the window. We can stand the clock, though I'll be hanged if I like
+that striking arrangement."
+
+"Me, either," agreed Sid. "But maybe we can get some clew from this
+clock. Let's have a look."
+
+He turned the clock around on the shelf, thereby disturbing its
+mechanism and stopping the ticking, but he little minded that. He was
+looking for the maker's name.
+
+"Say, was our door locked when you fellows got here?" asked Tom, who had
+been a little in the rear of his companions, due to his injured ankle.
+
+"Sure it was locked," asserted Phil. "I opened it with my key. Whoever
+sneaked in here and left the new clock while we were at football
+practice must have had a duplicate key. How are you making out, Sid?"
+
+"The clock, according to a card pasted on back, was made or sold by Amos
+Harding, of Chicago."
+
+"Chicago!" cried Tom, in some excitement. "That's where Langridge came
+from! Is it possible that he could have come over from Boxer Hall, and
+played this joke?"
+
+"It's possible, but not probable," declared Sid. "But we could write to
+Chicago, and see if Mr. Harding could give us any clew."
+
+"Oh, what's the use?" asked Phil. "Chicago is a big place, and it's
+hardly likely that a dealer there would remember to whom he sold a
+particular clock, when there are a whole lot like it. This clock is of
+fairly common pattern, though it's rather expensive. I'm inclined to
+think that we'll never get on to the game that way."
+
+"What have you got to suggest?" asked Tom, as he prepared to bathe his
+ankle, while Sid set the clock going again.
+
+"I was going to say that we might post a notice on the bulletin board,
+stating that we'd had enough of the joke, and would exchange clocks back
+again."
+
+"Say, I've just thought of something!" exclaimed Sid. "Maybe there's a
+thief in college, and he's been going around snibbying things from the
+fellows' rooms. He's been found out, and made to put the things back. He
+got our clock mixed up with another, and the other chap has got our
+ticker."
+
+"Not a bad idea," assented Phil. "In that case a notice on the bulletin
+board would be all right, and we'll wait about writing to Chicago. But
+Langridge is out of it, I think."
+
+"Well, I don't," declared Tom, half savagely, for his ankle hurt him
+when he rubbed it vigorously. "You'll find that he's been mixed up in
+this somehow. The clock is from Chicago, he comes from Chicago, and
+there's some connection there, you can depend on it!"
+
+"Well, maybe," admitted Phil. "But let's get at the notice, and then it
+will be grub time. Might as well say something about our chair while
+we're at it; eh, fellows?"
+
+"No," came from Tom, "let that go. I think the clock and chair were two
+different propositions. We'll work the chair ourselves."
+
+After some talk his chums were inclined to agree with Tom, so Phil wrote
+out a notice about the timepiece, while Sid interestedly examined the
+clock, making various speculations concerning it, while Tom doctored his
+ankle.
+
+"There, I guess that will do for a while," he announced, with a wry
+face, as he pulled on his shoe. "I hope I'm not lame for practice
+to-morrow."
+
+"Well, here's the notice," exclaimed Phil, a little later. "I'll read
+it. 'For exchange: one mahogany-case clock, new; striking the hours and
+half hours----'"
+
+"Hold on!" interrupted Sid. "_Does_ it strike the half hours?"
+
+"Sure, they all do," asserted Phil, and as if in confirmation of his
+words, there tinkled out a silvery stroke at five-thirty. "What'd I tell
+you?" he asked, in triumph. "Where was I?" as he looked at the piece of
+paper. "Oh, yes: 'strikes the hours and half-hours. The undersigned
+will give it back for their small nickel-plated alarm clock, rather
+battered, but still in the ring. Doesn't strike at all.' How's that,
+fellows?"
+
+"All right," said the end, as he laced his shoe loosely, for he had
+bandaged his ankle. "Let's have it, and I'll put my name down, then you
+fellows can go down and stick it up. I'm going to stretch out;" and,
+scribbling his name on the notice, Tom threw himself on the couch, with
+due regard for its age and weakness.
+
+"I'll fix it up," volunteered Phil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A CLASH WITH LANGRIDGE
+
+
+In the meanwhile football practice went on, and the team seemed to be
+getting into better shape, though there was much to be desired. Sam and
+Pete did better, though they were uncertain, and there was much ragged
+work, both in offensive and defensive plays, over which coach and
+captain shook their heads.
+
+"Randall has got to do better than that," said Mr. Lighton, "if she
+wants to stay at the head of the league."
+
+"Right!" agreed Kindlings. "Bricktop is coaching Sam all he can, but it
+needs more than coaching to make a guard."
+
+"Hope for the best," suggested the coach. "I wonder how our freshmen
+will make out Saturday against Boxer Hall?"
+
+"They'll win, of course," declared Dan, energetically.
+
+The game between the two freshmen elevens of Boxer Hall and Randall was
+quite an event, almost approaching the 'varsity struggles, and there
+was a big crowd on hand at the Boxer Hall gridiron the following
+Saturday when the contest was about to begin. Nearly all of the 'varsity
+squad was present to lend moral and vocal support, and Bean Perkins was
+in his element.
+
+It was a hot battle from the very kick-off, and the two teams fought
+each other up and down the field. There was considerable kicking and
+open playing, but Randall depended on old-fashioned football, modified
+by Mr. Lighton, and secured the first touchdown. Boxer Hall got
+one before the initial half was finished, and then there was much
+speculation during the intermission as to which side would win.
+
+By tremendous efforts, ploughing through the line, bucking great holes
+between their opponents, and by putting up a great defense, Randall
+succeeded in getting another touchdown, and a goal from the field, while
+Boxer Hall was unable to score in the last half. It was a glorious
+victory, all the more so because Randall had lost the contest the
+previous season.
+
+The game was over. There had been cheers for the winners and losers, and
+college cries and songs galore.
+
+"Come on over this way," urged Tom to Sid and Phil, who had sat with him
+during the game. "I think I see Madge, Ruth and Mabel. There are a lot
+of Fairview girls here."
+
+"Oh, trust you for seeing the lassies," half-grumbled Sid, yet he
+followed, for he had more than a passing liking for Miss Harrison.
+
+As the trio approached the three girls, who were standing together on
+the side lines, Tom suddenly plucked his companions by their sleeves.
+
+"What's up?" demanded Sid.
+
+"There's Langridge and Gerhart going to speak to them," said the end.
+
+"What?" cried Phil, and a red glow suffused the quarter-back's face as
+he saw the former bully of Randall speaking to his sister. "I'll not
+stand for that! I don't want Ruth to have anything to do with him!" For
+Langridge was not the kind of a chap any fellow would want his sister to
+associate with. In times past Langridge had been quite friendly with
+Miss Madge Tyler, but when she had discovered certain things about him,
+she had cut his acquaintance.
+
+"Guess he's trying to get in with her again," suggested Sid.
+
+"I'll put a stop to that!" exclaimed Phil, grimly, as he strode forward.
+Then he called peremptorily: "Ruth!"
+
+His sister looked up, caught his eye, blushed a little and, with a word
+to Langridge and Gerhart, moved off. Her two girl friends followed, and
+seemed glad of the chance to get away from the two sportily-dressed
+lads.
+
+Langridge swung around, and at the sight of the three lads who, more
+than any others, had been instrumental in causing him to leave Randall,
+his face turned a dull red.
+
+"What's wrong, Clinton?" he called, sharply. "Do you think your sister
+is too good to speak to me?"
+
+"He evidently does," sneered Gerhart.
+
+"Since you ask me--I do," replied Phil, calmly, and then he turned his
+back on the angry Boxer Hall students and began to talk to his sister
+and her friends, Tom and Sid joining in the conversation, not without a
+little sense of embarrassment.
+
+"Look here, if you think I'm going to stand for being insulted publicly
+this way, you're mistaken, Clinton!" cried Langridge, hotly. He strode
+forward, while Gerhart tried in vain to hold him back.
+
+"Oh, Phil!" cried Ruth, reaching out her hand to halt her brother, but
+in an instant he had gone beyond where she stood. She clasped her hands
+in alarm, and Madge and Mabel, with heightened color, gathered close to
+her.
+
+Langridge and Phil faced each other with flashing eyes, and Gerhart
+stood just behind the former bully of Randall, looking a bit alarmed,
+for Langridge had torn from his grasp with considerable force.
+
+"Look out, Phil," spoke Sid, in a low voice, but Langridge heard him.
+
+"You keep out of this!" he snapped. "I'll settle with Clinton first, and
+then if you or Parsons want anything, you know where you can get it."
+
+"Yes, and so do you!" declared Tom, stung by the bully's words. More
+than once had the plucky end proved his words, too.
+
+"Oh, Tom!" breathed Madge, and she laid a gentle hand on his coat
+sleeve. "Don't--don't let them--fight!"
+
+Tom slowly turned his gaze from the flushed and angry face of Langridge
+to that of the beautiful girl at his side. She was pale, but smiled
+bravely. It was a tense moment. Phil and the bully still stood facing
+each other, neither willing to give way. A little crowd, attracted by
+the impending clash, was approaching.
+
+Tom caught Sid's eye, and the latter, with a quick motion, indicated
+that he and Tom must interfere to prevent an encounter, at least thus
+publicly.
+
+"You--you insulted me," mumbled Langridge, his fists clenched, as he
+glared at Phil.
+
+"Impossible," murmured Tom.
+
+"I told you the truth, in answer to your question," retorted the
+quarter-back. "You brought it on yourself."
+
+"But why you should consider that my speaking to your sister was an
+insult, I can't quite make out," declared Langridge, with a sneer.
+"Neither she, Miss Tyler nor Miss Harrison resented it. But perhaps you
+consider yourself the knight errant of all girls. If so----"
+
+"That will do!" interrupted Phil, sharply. "Leave my sister and her
+friends out of this discussion, if you please!"
+
+"And if I don't please," sneered Langridge, "for I assure you that I do
+not, and----"
+
+Phil fairly jumped for the bully and Ruth uttered a little cry. In
+another instant there would have been a scene which Phil, in his calmer
+moments would have regretted as greatly as any one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BIG CALIFORNIAN
+
+
+Tom saw what was about to happen, and his ready hand fell on his chum's
+shoulder.
+
+"Not here! Not now!" he whispered into his ear. "Some other time, Phil.
+Think of your sister--of the other girls. A crowd is gathering. Not now!
+Not now!"
+
+Phil made a motion as if to shake off the restraining grasp, and then
+thought better of it. In the meanwhile, Sid had casually stepped in
+front of Langridge. The left half-back motioned to Gerhart to call aside
+his chum, and the bully's crony was only too glad to do this, for he was
+somewhat of a coward, and he feared lest he, too, be entangled in the
+quarrel which seemed imminent.
+
+"Go away, Langridge," advised Sid, in a low voice. "If you want
+satisfaction later I'm sure our friend will give it to you. But not
+now."
+
+"Yes, come on," urged Gerhart, linking his arm in that of his friend.
+He swung him around, and Langridge, with a vindictive look at Phil,
+allowed himself to be led away. At the same time Tom, with a forced
+laugh, for the benefit of the crowd, walked Phil to one side.
+
+"Say something!" he whispered, hoarsely. "Laugh, Phil, if you don't want
+to make it unpleasant for the girls. The people are beginning to ask
+questions."
+
+The quarter-back at once rallied to save the situation. He clapped Tom
+on the back, and exclaimed:
+
+"That's pretty good, old fellow! Pretty good. You must tell that story
+at the next frat. dinner. But it was a great game, wasn't it? Now, come
+on, Ruth, and we'll all go and have something to drink. Hot chocolate
+wouldn't be bad."
+
+"Most delightful," chimed in Miss Harrison, with a grateful look at Sid
+and Tom, as she gallantly threw herself into the breach.
+
+"So good of you," murmured Ruth, smiling, though her paleness belied her
+meaningless words, and she was trembling.
+
+The three lads, each walking beside one of the girls--Tom with Ruth,
+Phil with Madge Tyler, and Sid with Miss Harrison--strolled toward the
+entrance gate of the football field.
+
+"Nobly done, old chap," whispered Tom.
+
+The crowd began to melt away.
+
+"I thought there was going to be a fight," murmured one disappointed
+lad, whose "loud" clothes bespoke his sporting proclivities.
+
+"There was," answered a companion, "only something stopped it."
+
+"Who are those three fellows?" asked another lad from Boxer Hall--a
+freshman evidently.
+
+"What--don't you know the three inseparables?" inquired the "sport."
+"Not to know them argues yourself unknown."
+
+The girls were more at their ease now, and Phil, who had started what
+had so nearly been trouble, did not refer to it, to the great relief of
+his sister. Really, the interview with Langridge had been unsought on
+the part of the girls, and they had done their best to avoid speaking to
+him, without being downright insulting.
+
+Miss Tyler and Miss Harrison began a series of gay nothings, and Ruth
+was soon drawn into the conversation, to which Tom, Phil and Sid
+contributed their share.
+
+"Oh, tell us about the clock and chair mystery, boys," begged Ruth, when
+they had left the place where they had partaken of hot chocolate. "Phil
+said something about it, but I had to drag it out of him like a lawyer
+cross-questioning a reluctant witness."
+
+"My! Listen to Portia!" cried Madge. "But we should dearly love to hear
+about the queer happenings."
+
+Thereupon the three young men together and separately, told of the
+disappearance of their beloved chair, the missing clock, the appearance
+of the mahogany timepiece, and their ineffectual search for clews.
+
+"And if Langridge didn't have a hand in it, I'll eat my hat, saving the
+presence of you ladies," declared Tom. "Only I can't get Sid or Phil to
+agree with me."
+
+"What about, eating your hat?" demanded the quarter-back. "Don't let us
+interfere with that pleasure. Go ahead. If yours isn't enough, you may
+have a couple of bites out of mine."
+
+"Oh, you know what I mean," declared Tom, in a little huff.
+
+"If you mean about Langridge, I _don't_ agree with you," put in Sid. "He
+never had his finger in this pie."
+
+"Right, Oh!" exclaimed Phil, and then the discussion started all over
+again, and lasted until the girls declared that they must return to
+Fairview.
+
+"Well, what do you think of it, fellows?" asked Tom, some time later,
+when the three chums were on their way back to their rooms. "Think
+Langridge will start anything?"
+
+"No," was Sid's opinion. "I guess he'll be glad to let well enough
+alone."
+
+"I suppose you think I didn't do exactly right to make the break I
+did," ventured Phil, "but I couldn't stand it to see him talking to
+Ruth."
+
+"Me, either!" declared Tom, so heartily that the other two laughed, and
+the little strained feeling that had manifested itself passed away.
+
+As they strolled down the corridor the three lads nearly ran into a
+youth who turned the corner of the hall suddenly.
+
+"I beg your pardon, strangers!" he exclaimed, in a full, rich voice. "I
+sure didn't see you coming, nor yet hear you. I guess I'm in the wrong
+pew."
+
+Tom and his chums saw confronting them a tall, well-built lad--big would
+be the more proper term, for he was big in every way. Six feet if he was
+an inch, and broad in proportion. He stood regarding them without a
+trace of embarrassment, a stranger in a strange place, evidently.
+
+For a moment Tom had a wild idea that the mystery of the chair and clock
+was about to be solved. He had not seen the youth before, and he might
+be a clever thief who had sneaked into the college.
+
+"What did you want?" asked Phil, quickly.
+
+"And who are you?" demanded Tom.
+
+"I beg your pardon," went on the stranger. "I've just arrived at
+Randall, and Mr. Zane showed me to my room. I left it and went outside,
+but when I came in again, either someone took my apartment, or, as I
+said, I'm on the wrong front stoop. Simpson is my name, Frank Simpson.
+I'm from California, and I've been attending Leland Stanford University,
+but father's business called him East permanently, and so I decided to
+come to Randall. I've just arrived," he concluded.
+
+"Simpson," murmured Phil, wondering where he had heard the name before.
+
+"With a capital 'S'," put in the strange student, with a whimsical
+smile.
+
+"Oh, you're the fellow Jerry Jackson was speaking of," exclaimed Tom,
+recalling the Jersey twin's reference to some new students who were due
+to arrive at Randall.
+
+"Much obliged to Mr. Jackson, whoever he may be," spoke the tall youth,
+"but I haven't the honor of his acquaintance."
+
+"Oh, you'll soon know him," added Sid. "And so you're from California,
+eh?"
+
+"Yes, but I think I'm going to like it here," was the response. "They
+tell me there was a Freshman football game to-day. Did our boys win?" he
+asked, eagerly. "You see, I'm making myself right at home, calling 'em
+_our_ boys."
+
+"That's the way to do," declared Tom, who, somehow, felt a sudden liking
+for the stranger. "Are you interested in football?"
+
+"I played--some--at Stanford," was the modest reply, "but I suppose
+it's too late to get on the team here. You're all made up, I hear."
+
+"Made and unmade," murmured Tom, in a low voice. "Jove!" he added under
+his breath, as he took in the proportions of the big Californian, "what
+a guard or tackle he'd make!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A NEW COMPLICATION
+
+
+"Oh, hang it all!" burst out Phil Clinton, as he tossed aside his
+trigonometry.
+
+"What's the matter?" inquired Tom, looking up from his Latin prose.
+
+"Have you got the dink-bots?" was Sid's gentle question, as he kept on
+carefully mounting a butterfly, one of the specimens he had captured
+during the summer, and had laid aside until a leisure moment to care for
+properly.
+
+"I don't know what it is, but I can't get my mind down to study," went
+on the quarter-back.
+
+"You never could," declared Tom, fortifying himself behind the sofa in
+case Phil should turn violent.
+
+It was the evening after the Freshman game, and the three chums were
+in their study, after the meeting with the big Californian, as Frank
+Simpson had at once been dubbed. He had been directed to his room, which
+was on the floor above the apartment of our heroes, and he had gone off
+thanking them warmly.
+
+"What's the main trouble?" asked Tom.
+
+"Oh, nothing in particular; but I guess I'm thinking of too many other
+things. There's that little run-in I had with Langridge, seeing the game
+to-day, worrying about the clock and chair mystery, and wondering how
+our eleven is going to make out."
+
+"It's enough to drive you to--cigarettes," admitted Tom. "But I----"
+
+"Say, I'll tell you what let's do," broke in Sid. "Let's invite that
+Simpson chap down here. He must be sort of lonesome, being a stranger
+here. I saw him going off to his room after grub, and none of the
+fellows spoke to him. Now, Randall isn't that kind of a college. True,
+we don't know much about him, but he looks the right sort. It won't do
+any harm to have him down here and talk to him."
+
+"Sure not," agreed Phil at once.
+
+"Good idea," declared Tom. "Shall we all go and invite him down, as a
+committee of three, or will one be enough?"
+
+"Oh, one," replied Phil. "You go, Tom, you're the homeliest. Have it as
+informal as possible."
+
+"I like your nerve!" exclaimed the end. "However, I will go, for I like
+Simpson. I wish he was on the eleven. Wonder if he was any good at
+Stanford?"
+
+"Never heard of him setting the goal posts on fire," came from Sid,
+"but you never can tell. If he has any football stuff in him Lighton
+will bring it out. We can tell Simpson to get into practice, anyhow."
+
+"Randall needs just such material as he looks to be," went on Tom, as he
+arose to go to the room of the Californian. "I rather hope he makes the
+'varsity."
+
+Frank Simpson very much appreciated the invitation he received, and a
+little later he was accorded a seat of honor on the sofa, and made to
+feel at home by our heroes, who plied him with questions about his
+native State, and what sort of a college Leland Stanford was. The
+newcomer at Randall answered genially, and, in turn, wanted to know many
+things. Particularly he was interested in football, and in response to
+Tom's urging that he practice, he said that he would.
+
+"You fellows have quite a place here," went on Frank, as his gaze roved
+admiringly about the room. "Quite a tidy shack."
+
+"You don't see the best part of it," spoke Sid.
+
+"How's that?" inquired Frank.
+
+"Our old easy chair was mysteriously taken, and in place of a clock
+whose tick, while an aggravation, made us all feel at home, that timer
+was left in its place," remarked Phil, before his chum had a chance to
+answer. And then the story of the queer happenings was told again.
+
+"Somebody's rigging you, I guess," was the opinion of the lad from
+Stanford. "I wouldn't let 'em see that I was worried."
+
+"Oh, we're not, but we'd like to get our chair back," replied Tom.
+
+"Something like that happened out in our college, when I was a freshman,"
+went on the newcomer, who, it developed, was in the Randall sophomore
+class. "We fellows missed things from our rooms and made quite a row
+about it, thinking a thief was busy. But it developed that there was a
+secret society of seniors whose sworn duty it was to furnish up their
+meeting-room with something taken from every fellow's apartment in the
+college. Jove! But those fellows had a raft of stuff, every bit of it
+pilfered, and when we got next to it we stripped their meeting place as
+bare as a bone, and got our things back. Maybe that's what's happened
+here."
+
+"It's possible," admitted Phil, "but we haven't heard of any senior
+secret society like that. It's worth looking up."
+
+There was a knock on the door, and Holly Cross and Dutch Housenlager
+entered. They were introduced to Frank, and the congenial little party
+of lads talked of various matters, mostly football, until the striking
+of the new clock warned them that it was time for the proctor to begin
+his nightly rounds of discovery.
+
+Frank Simpson began football practice with the scrub eleven the next
+day, and though he was sneered at by some, Tom and his friends on the
+'varsity at once saw that the Californian knew the game. Mr. Lighton did
+not have to have his attention called to the work of the newcomer, for
+he picked him out at once, and kept his eyes on him during the warm-up
+play.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder but what there'd be 'varsity material there," the
+coach confided to the captain after the practice game was over, when the
+scrub had rolled up two touchdowns against their mates.
+
+"The land knows we need something to brace us up," replied Kindlings,
+somewhat despondently. "Sam Looper is getting worse instead of better.
+They tore big holes through him to-day."
+
+"I know it," admitted Mr. Lighton. "And what will happen when Boxer Hall
+tackles us can be more than imagined, unless there's a big improvement.
+But I'm going to watch Simpson."
+
+The big Californian was of a genial temperament, and he endeavored to
+make friends with his fellows on the scrub, but, somehow or other, they
+rather resented his advances, and turned the cold shoulder to him. Hurt,
+but not despairing, Frank "flocked by himself" for a few days. He was
+becoming known as a "dig," for he did well in the classroom.
+
+Then Tom, and his two mates, seeing how the wind was blowing, made a
+special point to invite the newcomer to their room more frequently. They
+took him to their bosoms, and their warm welcome more than made up for
+the coldness on the part of some of the others.
+
+It was not an intentional slight by those who did not welcome Simpson.
+Don't get that impression, for there was a warm school spirit at
+Randall. Only, somehow, it took a little longer for a stranger to make
+friends, coming in after the term had started, than it did before. Then,
+too, the fact that he had not passed his freshman year there was a bit
+against him. But Tom, Phil and Sid minded this not in the least, and
+soon Frank was made to feel quite at home, for which he was duly
+grateful.
+
+"It's mighty white of you fellows, to treat me this way, like a friend
+and a brother," he said, feelingly, one night, after a session in the
+room.
+
+"Oh, get out! Why shouldn't we?" demanded Sid.
+
+"Of course," spoke Tom.
+
+"Well, lots of fellows wouldn't go to the trouble, and I appreciate it,"
+went on the lad from the Golden Gate. "All I want now is to make the
+'varsity, and I'll be happy!"
+
+"You may be nearer getting on than you think," murmured Phil, for in
+practice that day Snail Looper had done worse than ever, while Frank was
+a tower of strength to the scrub, which had almost beaten the first
+team.
+
+In spite of their work on the gridiron, our heroes did not forget to
+look for clews to the missing chair and clock. Only none developed,
+search and pry about as they did. The big Californian helped them
+by suggestions, but there proved to be nothing in his theory of a
+purloining secret society, and Tom and his chums did not know which way
+to turn next.
+
+The date for the game with Newkirk was drawing closer, and practice was
+correspondingly harder. It was one afternoon, following a gruelling hour
+on the field, that as Tom, his two chums, and Frank were walking toward
+the gymnasium, they saw several members of the faculty entering the
+house of President Churchill.
+
+"Hello! What's up?" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Something, evidently," answered Phil.
+
+"Have any of you fellows been cutting up?" asked Sid, with suspicious
+looks at his companions. They quickly entered denials.
+
+Clearly there was something extraordinary in the meeting that had
+evidently been called, for the professors wore grave looks as they
+entered the residence of the head.
+
+"I hope none of the 'varsity crowd has been misbehaving himself, and
+will get laid off the team," went on Phil, who felt that he carried the
+weight of the eleven on his shoulders. "We're in bad enough shape now."
+
+"Here comes Wallops, let's ask him," suggested Tom, and when the
+messenger approached they plied him with questions.
+
+"I don't rightly know what it is," answered Wallops, "but it is something
+important and serious, so I heard Mr. Zane saying to Professor Tines,
+when he gave him word about the meeting. It has something to do with the
+title to the land on which the college is built. I believe some one has
+laid claim to it, on account of a cloud on the title, but I really don't
+understand legal terms."
+
+"Do you mean that Randall College is in danger of losing some of the
+property?" gasped Phil, as he looked around at the fine campus, the
+athletic field, and the group of buildings.
+
+"It's something like that," went on the messenger. "I heard Mr. Zane say
+the land might be taken by the heirs of some old man who once had a
+claim on it."
+
+"Well, what would happen if he could make good his claim?" asked Sid.
+
+"I don't know, but I suppose the heirs could say the college was theirs,
+being built on their ground, or they could tear it down. But I don't
+rightly know," concluded Wallops. "Probably it will be known after the
+meeting."
+
+"More trouble for old Randall!" groaned Tom, as he and his chums watched
+the gathering of the solemn professors.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE MISSING DEED
+
+
+Bad news, they say, travels fast, and certainly it must have made a
+record trip throughout the length and breadth of Randall that afternoon.
+
+Tom and the others had scarcely changed from their football togs into
+ordinary clothes before half a score of their fellows demanded to know
+if they had heard the rumors that were flying around.
+
+"We sure have," replied Tom. "How much truth is there in them, Jerry
+Jackson?"
+
+"I don't know," replied the Jersey twin.
+
+"We only heard as much as you did," echoed his brother.
+
+"Prexy will make an announcement at chapel to-morrow morning, if there's
+anything in it," declared Dutch Housenlager.
+
+"Then I wish it was chapel time now," murmured Phil. "I don't like this
+suspense."
+
+"Me either," declared Sid.
+
+"Well, there's one consolation," put in Frank Simpson. "If it's got
+anything to do with the law there's no present danger that the college
+will be torn down--not before the football season is over, anyhow."
+
+"Why not?" demanded Tom.
+
+"Because the law is so slow. If it's a question of title to land it can
+go through several courts before it's definitely decided. I know because
+my father's a lawyer, and he's had several cases of disputed titles."
+
+"Well, there's something in that," declared Phil. "But I don't like to
+think of old Randall being in any kind of danger. It makes me uneasy."
+
+The talk became general, and there were many speculations as to what the
+trouble really was, and what the outcome would be. The conversation
+continued after our friends had gone to their room, whither flocked a
+number of their chums to discuss the situation. For the time being
+football was forgotten, and the trouble of Randall held the centre of
+the stage.
+
+"Well, there's no use worrying about a bridge, until you hear the rustle
+of its wings," said Sid at length.
+
+"What we fellows need to do is to get out and make a noise like having
+some fun," opined Dutch Housenlager. "When the cat's gone on her
+vacation, the mice eat bread and cheese, you know. Proc. Zane is
+closeted with the bunch of highbrows, and so what's the matter with
+cutting up some?"
+
+"Dutch, I'm surprised at you!" exclaimed Tom, reproachfully.
+
+"Why? What's the matter?" asked the fun-loving youth, innocently.
+
+"Wanting to skylark at a time like this, just because the authorities
+are in _statuo quo_," went on Tom. "Not on your life, Dutch! It's fun
+enough to play some tricks when you're taking chances on getting caught.
+Now it would be like taking pie from a baby in arms."
+
+"I guess you're right," admitted Dutch Housenlager, contritely. "We'll
+defer the operation," he went on, in solemn tones. "I think the patient
+will survive until morning."
+
+Seldom had there been such an attendance at service as greeted Dr.
+Churchill when he stood on the platform in the Booker Memorial Chapel
+the next morning. The early sun glinted in through the stained glass
+windows, and seemed to pervade the room with a mystic light that added
+to the solemnity of the occasion.
+
+The Scriptural selection was from one of the Psalms of David--one of
+those beautiful prose poems which are such a comfort in times of
+trouble. And as the vibrant tones of the venerable president's voice
+rose and fell, when he feelingly spoke the words, it seemed to the boys,
+careless and happy-go-lucky as they might be ordinarily, that a new
+dignity and depth of appreciation was theirs.
+
+After the prayer, which was in keeping with the Bible reading, Dr.
+Churchill arose, and came slowly to the edge of the platform. He stood
+for a moment, silently contemplating the throng of earnest young faces
+raised to his, and then he spoke.
+
+"Men of Randall," he began, solemnly, "we are facing a crisis in the
+history of our college. Men of Randall, it behooves us to meet it
+bravely, and with our faces to the enemy. Men of Randall, we may be at
+the parting of the ways, and so, being men together, I speak to you as
+men."
+
+The good doctor paused, and a sound, as of a great sigh, passed through
+the assemblage. Usually when the doctor had any announcement to make, he
+addressed the students as "young gentlemen." They felt the change in the
+appellation more than any amount of talk would have impressed them.
+
+"Doubtless you have heard rumors of the crisis in our affairs," went on
+the president, after taking off his glasses, slowly wiping them, and
+replacing the frames back of his ears, over which the white locks fell.
+"Whatever you have heard I beg of you to disregard to this extent, that
+you do not repeat it. In evil times words increase trouble. I will tell
+you the truth as nearly as I and the gentlemen associated with me can
+come at it.
+
+"Randall College, as you know, was built many years ago. The land was
+purchased from a fund left by a gentleman who had the good of the youth
+of this land at heart. Other endowments enabled buildings to be put up.
+In all these years no hint of trouble has come to us, but now we are
+confronting a fact, not a theory, as your political science teaches you.
+
+"The land whereon Randall and the various buildings stand, yes, where
+there is laid out the fields for the pursuit of baseball and football,
+and I think I am right in assuming this to be the football season?"
+
+The president paused, and glanced questioningly at the proctor, whom he
+evidently took for an authority on sports. For Dr. Churchill, while an
+enthusiastic supporter of every team in the college, knew rather less
+about the various terms, and times of games than the average baby. The
+proctor nodded in acquiescence.
+
+"Even the very football field is under suspicion," continued the
+president, and there was another great sigh, mainly from that section of
+the chapel where sat Tom and his chums. "In fact the entire ground on
+which the college is built has been claimed by outsiders.
+
+"The facts, in brief, are these: When the land was purchased there were
+several persons who had interests therein. From them releases, in the
+form of quit-claim deeds, were obtained, and then it was thought that
+the corporation of Randall had a clear title. Now it develops that a
+certain Simon Hess was one of the persons who gave a quit-claim deed,
+after being paid for his share in the land.
+
+"That deed, I regret to say, can not be found, and in the absence of it,
+it is as if it never existed. Simon Hess is dead, but he left several
+heirs, and they are now making a claim against the college. Perhaps
+they might not be so eager, were it not for certain lawyers who are
+apparently urging them on.
+
+"An attempt was made to settle with them when they made their claim
+known, but the lawyers insisted that their clients prosecute their
+suits, and so the hope of compromise was abandoned. It seems that they
+want the life's blood of our college, and, as you know, we are not a
+wealthy institution.
+
+"Yesterday I received from Mr. Franklin Langridge, the lawyer who
+represents the claimants, a demand for a large cash settlement if their
+claim was abandoned. I need hardly say that Randall is in no position to
+pay a large amount in cash. I called a meeting of the faculty, and we
+came to that conclusion. I have so notified Mr. Langridge."
+
+At the first mention of that name there had been an uneasy movement
+among the students. At its repetition, when it was whispered around that
+this was the father of Fred Langridge, the former bully of the college,
+the movement became more pronounced.
+
+"Mr. Langridge," went on the president, when he was suddenly interrupted
+by a series of hisses. Dr. Churchill started. Mr. Zane hurriedly
+whispered to him, explaining that it was only the name of Langridge that
+thus met with disapprobation. The venerable president raised his hand
+for silence.
+
+"Men of Randall," he said, solemnly, "that was unworthy of you."
+
+The hissing stopped instantly.
+
+"And so our college is in danger," continued the good doctor, after a
+pause, "but we must face it bravely. We will not give way to it. We will
+meet it like men! We will fight the good fight. We will----"
+
+"Three cheers for Randall College and Dr. Churchill!" yelled
+Bean Perkins, leaping to his feet and forgetting that he was in
+chapel--forgetting that it was a solemn occasion--forgetting everything
+save that he was wrought up to the point of frenzy. "Three cheers, and
+the biggest tiger that ever wore stripes, fellows!"
+
+Oh, what a shout there was! Every student was on his feet in an instant,
+yelling at the top of his voice. Even some of the faculty joined in, and
+Dr. Emerson Tines was observed to be wildly waving his hands. How the
+cheers rang out! And then the tiger!
+
+Dr. Churchill blew his nose violently, and wiped his glasses several
+times, for there was a mist of tears on them. He tried to speak--to go
+on--but he was too affected.
+
+Slowly he turned, and walked back to his seat amid the faculty. And then
+Bean Perkins did what forever covered him with glory, wherever, in after
+years, the stories of Randall College were told.
+
+Jumping up on one of the pews, he raised his hand for silence. Then, in
+a voice that was singularly sweet and clear, he started that school
+song: "_Aut Vincere, Aut Mori!_"
+
+Welled out the strains from hundreds of throats--the song of songs--the
+song that was always sung in times of victory, or when the teams on
+diamond or gridiron seemed to be putting up a losing fight--the song
+that had snatched many a victory from defeat.
+
+Forth it rolled, deep-voiced and solemn, sung in the original Latin,
+in which it had been composed years ago by a gifted graduate: "_Aut
+Vincere, Aut Mori!_"--"Either We Conquer, or We Die!"
+
+It was the rallying cry to the battle that confronted the college.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE FIRST GAME
+
+
+Silence followed what was probably the most remarkable scene that had
+ever taken place at chapel in the history of Randall. A deep, heart-felt
+silence, which was almost as impressive as the unexpected singing had
+been. Some of the students were fairly panting from the emotion which
+had racked them, for they had been stirred as they seldom were before.
+
+Slowly Dr. Churchill arose from the chair, and again approached the edge
+of the platform. His voice broke as he spoke a few words.
+
+"Men of Randall, I thank you," he said impressively and simply. "You may
+rest assured that nothing will be left undone to save the old college,
+which has no more loyal supporters than yourselves, and, I may add, than
+the gentlemen associated with me on the faculty."
+
+He paused a moment, as if he would say more, and then, with a motion of
+his hand, dismissed the assemblage. In silence the students filed out,
+and it was not until they were some distance away from the chapel,
+broken up into little groups, that they began discussing the situation.
+Even then it was in hushed voices, as if the enemies of Randall might
+be hiding about, listening for something of which they could take
+advantage.
+
+"Wallops wasn't far out," remarked Tom, who, with Phil, Sid and some
+other friends, was walking slowly along.
+
+"No," came from the quarter-back, "but wouldn't it get your Angora,
+though? To think of there being a flaw in the title all these years, and
+someone only just now taking advantage of it!"
+
+"I wonder what can have become of the missing quit-claim deed?" ventured
+Sid.
+
+"No telling," remarked Holly Cross.
+
+"Prexy said it was given by a Simon Hess," went on Tom. "I've heard that
+name before, somewhere, but I can't recall it."
+
+"I was telling you about our chair having been in the Hess family,"
+explained Sid. "Don't you remember, I said it was one of the Hess
+heirlooms when we bought it of Hatterly, the Senior."
+
+"That's right," agreed Tom. "Fancy that now! Maybe next they'll be
+accusing us of having the missing deed, because we have some of the Hess
+property."
+
+"We _haven't_ got it, you mean," put in Phil. "Our chair is still in a
+state of _non est_."
+
+"Haven't you located that venerable piece of architecture yet?" asked
+Dutch Housenlager, with a sly putting forth of his foot, in an effort to
+trip Tom. Dutch was always up to some horse-play.
+
+"No, we haven't found it, and I guess we're not likely to," went on the
+end, as he spoiled the efforts of Dutch by hitting him a playful blow in
+the side. "The mystery of the clock is still unexplained. Our offer to
+trade back hasn't had any takers."
+
+"Oh, you fellows make me tired, always talking about your old relics!"
+broke in Kindlings. "You had much better be considering some new
+football plays, or how to help Randall out of the hole she's in."
+
+"Out of the hole some rascally lawyers _got_ her in, you'd better say,"
+corrected Holly Cross. "This trouble never would have developed, if it
+hadn't been that some legal sharps stirred it up, for the hope of a fat
+fee, I presume."
+
+"And Langridge's father, of all lawyers!" put in Sid. "You'd have
+thought that since his son once went here, he'd have had the decency not
+to appear in the case, and would have left it for some one else."
+
+"Maybe he's doing it on purpose, just because his son had to leave
+here," suggested Tom.
+
+"Shouldn't wonder a bit," agreed Captain Woodhouse. "But, say, don't
+let this trouble get on your minds, fellows, so that you can't play
+football. We're going up against Newkirk day after to-morrow, you know,
+and while we'll probably roll up a big score against 'em, we can't take
+any chances. Hard practice this afternoon. We want to wipe up the field
+with the scrub."
+
+"We'll be on hand, captain!" promised Phil, and the other players shouted
+their assents. The students went to their various studies, still talking
+over the scene of the morning, and what it portended.
+
+It was learned, later in the day, that the best legal talent possible had
+been engaged to fight the claim of the Hess heirs for the Randall land,
+and that a vigorous search would be made for the missing quit-claim deed,
+without which the college could not prove a clear title to the property.
+
+It also was hinted that Mr. Langridge was not altogether actuated by
+purely legal motives in prosecuting the claim against the college. When
+it became known that the father of Garvey Gerhart was associated with
+him in the law business, there were few students who did not believe
+that the two men were acting as much out of revenge because their sons
+had been forced from Randall, as from any other motive.
+
+"But it will take some time to get the land away from the college
+trustees, even if they lose the case," explained Frank Simpson, "so
+there won't be any football games cancelled."
+
+He was in his uniform, and was walking out on the field with Tom and the
+others to the practice.
+
+"I only wish he was going to be in the game with us against Newkirk
+instead of the Snail," mused Tom, as the scrub and 'varsity lined up.
+"We'd stand a better chance to pile up a big score."
+
+But Sam Looper seemed to do better that afternoon, and was complimented
+by the coach for some good tackles he made, as well as for his ability
+in breaking through the scrub line.
+
+"Oh, maybe he won't be so bad," conceded the captain, hopefully.
+
+The practice was hard and gruelling, but it brought out a number of weak
+spots, which were impressed upon the players, that they might avoid
+them. Also some faults in plays were discovered, and measures taken to
+correct them.
+
+There was more hard practice the following day, when the scrub, mainly
+through the fine playing of the new member, Frank Simpson, came
+perilously near scoring, which they had been prevented from doing of
+late. The big Californian was showing up wonderfully well, and he was
+making more friends by his sterling character.
+
+At last came the time for the first regular 'varsity game of the
+season, and though Newkirk was considered a sort of second-rate rival,
+there had been a marked improvement in her playing of late, so that the
+Randallites understood they were to have no walkover.
+
+The grandstands were filled with a motley crowd of students, men and
+women spectators and pretty girls galore, for nearly all the feminine
+contingent of Fairview Institute was on hand, shrilly cheering, or
+singing for their favorite team, and waving the colors of their own
+college, intermingled with those of Randall or Newkirk. It is no
+exaggeration to say that the yellow and maroon of Randall predominated,
+and when Tom, Phil and Sid looked toward a certain section of grandstand
+A, which location had previously been brought to their attention, they
+saw three particularly pretty girls, waving the colors that meant so
+much to them.
+
+"Madge, Ruth and Mabel are there," announced Tom, as he followed his
+mates into the dressing room.
+
+"Glad of it," remarked Phil. "It sort of makes you feel as if you could
+play better when----"
+
+"Your sister is looking on--or some one's else sister, eh?" broke in
+Sid.
+
+"Oh, dry up!" exclaimed Phil, as he looked to the shoulder pads on his
+canvas jacket.
+
+Out on the gridiron trotted the Newkirk players, to be received with a
+salvo of cheers from the contingent of supporters who had accompanied
+them to the Randall grounds.
+
+Then the home team followed, and Bean Perkins leaped to his feet, wildly
+brandishing a cane with the college colors streaming from it, while he
+led the cheering, and then added his powerful voice, as the students
+broke into the song: "We're Going to Wallop 'Em Now!"
+
+It was announced that the game would be played in two halves, and when
+Captain Woodhouse had conferred with Billy Bardeen, who ran the Newkirk
+team, they tossed for choice. Dan won, and elected to defend the north
+goal, which gave him and his men the advantage of a little wind. Newkirk
+was to kick off, and when Bardeen had teed the ball on a little mound of
+dirt in the centre of the field, he gave a glance to see if his men were
+ready. He gave the signal to the referee, and that official, after a
+confirmatory nod from Captain Woodhouse, blew his whistle.
+
+With a little run, Bardeen planted his toe in the pigskin, which,
+straight and true, sailed to Randall's ten-yard line, being caught by
+Sid Henderson, who rushed it back fifteen yards before he was downed by
+a fierce tackle by Ed Denton. There was wild cheering by Perkins and his
+mates at this, for it seemed to indicate that Newkirk was not as strong
+as she had been rated.
+
+Sid slowly arose and planted his foot on the ball until Holly Cross came
+up.
+
+"Line up!" yelled Phil, stooping down behind the big centre, and then he
+began calling the signal: "Fourteen--eighty-seven--one hundred and
+six--forty-two----"
+
+He snapped his hands, and the ball came back to him. Like a flash it was
+passed to Joe Jackson, who hit the line for all he was worth, and tore
+through for two yards, the Newkirk players seeming to crumple to pieces
+under the smashing attack. There were more cheers at this, and when Sid
+Henderson tore off three yards more around left end, the Randall crowd
+went wild.
+
+"Walk it up for a touchdown!" yelled Bean Perkins.
+
+It did look as though the ball might be steadily advanced up the field
+for the coveted point, especially when Pete Backus managed to wiggle
+through between left guard and tackle for three yards more.
+
+But then Newkirk took a brace, and held against the rushing tactics of
+her rival, so that, after getting the ball to within ten yards of the
+goal line, Randall tried for a field goal, and lost because the pigskin
+struck the post.
+
+Once more Randall, after some scrimmages during one of which Tom got the
+ball, began the rushing tactics, and this time with such fierceness and
+energy that inside of five minutes his mates had shoved Sid Henderson
+over the line for the first touchdown. Holly Cross kicked the goal, and
+there was a wild riot of cheers.
+
+"That's the way to do it; eh, Kindlings?" cried Tom, capering about in
+delight.
+
+"We'd ought to have done it twice over in this time," was the somewhat
+unsatisfactory response. "If we don't look out, they'll score on us."
+
+But there was no danger of that in the first half, when Randall got
+another touchdown and goal, and ended up with a field goal. Then indeed
+did Bean Perkins and his cohorts let loose, singing wildly, though they
+did not give the "Conquer or Die" song. There seemed to be no need for
+it.
+
+Newkirk was downcast, but would not give up. When the second half was
+resumed, with some new players lining up against Randall, there was a
+moment when it seemed as if her rivals might menace her goal line, for
+they rushed the ball up with disheartening speed. The gains were mostly
+made through the unfortunate Sam Looper, who could not seem to hold, and
+Bert Bascome, his tackle, was not playing at his best.
+
+"Put in Simpson," suggested Tom to Kindlings, during the time taken out
+to enable the Newkirk players to try to get some wind back into their
+plucky quarter-back.
+
+"I don't like to put him in over the heads of men who have been on the
+scrub all season," objected the captain.
+
+"It will be worth while," insisted Tom.
+
+"Well, we'll see," promised Dan, and then play was resumed. Once more
+there was a gain through Sam, and partly because of a fear that his team
+would be scored upon, and partly in exasperation, Dan signalled for
+Frank to jump in.
+
+There was a joyful look on the face of the big Californian as he took
+his place in the line, and the Snail rather ruefully retired.
+
+"I guess I need more practice, or--something," he admitted.
+
+"Principally 'something,'" agreed one or two of the scrub players.
+
+Randall did not exactly need new life, for she practically had the fight
+won, but the advent of Simpson was good. He was a powerful player, knew
+the game and its tactics to perfection, and tore open great holes in the
+other line, through which the Randall backs plunged for substantial
+gains.
+
+It looked to be easy sailing from now on, and when several more points
+had been scored for Randall, Captain Woodhouse gave orders for easier
+playing, as he wanted to save his men. It nearly cost them something,
+however, for Joe Jackson made a fumble, and the ball went to Newkirk.
+Then, wild to score, those players tore things loose, and shoved back
+the Randallites until it looked as if their goal line would be crossed.
+
+There were many anxious hearts when the ball was on the twenty-yard
+mark, and when a trial for a field goal was made by Newkirk, there were
+prayers that it would fail. It did, and then the leather was quickly
+booted far enough away to preclude the possibility of further danger.
+Before Newkirk could rush it back five yards, the final whistle blew,
+and the first game of the season was over, with a score of thirty-two to
+nothing, in favor of Randall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE HAZING OF SIMPSON
+
+
+"Three cheers for the Newkirks!" commanded Bean Perkins, as he swung his
+gaily decorated cane, and the yells bore ardent testimony to the warm
+feeling felt for a defeated rival.
+
+"Now, then, sing: 'Though We Walloped You, We Love You'!" again ordered
+the cheer leader, and the song welled forth.
+
+In turn, the Newkirk players cheered for their opponents, and though
+there was the bitterness of defeat in their hearts, none of this
+betrayed itself in their yells.
+
+The big crowd scattered from the grandstands, and, pausing only to get
+rid of the worst of the dirt that marked them, our three heroes were
+soon walking side by side with Phil's sister and her two companions.
+
+"Oh, wasn't it great?" demanded Miss Tyler, of Phil.
+
+"Splendid!" cried Ruth Clinton.
+
+"You certainly rolled up a great score against them," was Miss
+Harrison's contribution to the trio of opinions.
+
+"We ought to be ashamed of ourselves," declared Phil. "Newkirk isn't in
+our class, and we only play them to sort of open the season, and for
+practice. Yet they nearly scored on us."
+
+"Oh, we didn't do so bad," was Tom's opinion.
+
+"I think we showed up pretty well, for a team that had to be patched up
+after we lost two of our best players," came from Sid.
+
+"Well, you fellows didn't play so awful," conceded the quarter-back,
+"but if Sam had been in much longer there'd have been a different story.
+Pete Backus is making out all right, and his practice in jumping does
+him good. But Sam----"
+
+"Simpson helped a lot," said the end.
+
+"Yes, better than I thought he would. He didn't get gridiron-fright
+because he was on the 'varsity, and his head seems to be about the same
+size as before, barring where he got kicked over the eye," went on Phil.
+"Understand, I'm not knocking the team!" he explained quickly, for he
+saw the girls looking at him rather oddly. "Only I know, and so does
+Kindlings and Lighton, that we've got to do heaps better when we play
+Fairview and Boxer Hall."
+
+"Oh, our boys are going to beat you!" exclaimed Miss Tyler, with a
+mischievous glance at her chums.
+
+"Yes, you have to stick up for Fairview," declared Phil, "but wait and
+see." He spoke confidently, yet there was an uneasy feeling in his
+heart. Both Boxer and Fairview had stronger teams than ever before.
+
+The little party walked on, laughing and chatting, discussing the game
+at intervals. Phil had a chance to speak to his sister away from the
+others for a moment, and took advantage of the opportunity, to ask:
+
+"Langridge hasn't been pestering you with any of his attentions lately,
+has he, Ruth?"
+
+"Indeed he hasn't!" she exclaimed vigorously. "And if he does, Phil, I
+hope you won't do as you did before, and make the other girls and me
+ridiculous."
+
+"I didn't mean to do that," replied the quarter-back, "only I'm not
+going to have him mixing in with anyone I care for."
+
+"And I presume that is intended as much for Madge as it is for me!"
+whispered Ruth, with a laugh at her brother's blushes, which were
+visible under the bronze of his tan.
+
+"Oh, don't----" he began, and then the others came up.
+
+"Well, what about us, fellows?" asked Tom, when the inseparables were in
+their room that night, rather sore and tired from the game.
+
+"We can't pat ourselves on the back, and vote ourselves gold medals,"
+declared Phil. "I hear that Lighton and old Kindlings are having a
+consultation, and there may be a shift of some of the players."
+
+"I hope he puts me on the other end," exploded Tom. "Bascome didn't
+support me at all to-day."
+
+"Now, don't get to feeling that way over it!" cautioned Phil, quickly.
+"That spirit makes a team go to pieces sooner than anything else."
+
+"Oh, I'm not going to disrupt the team!" declared Tom. "I think,
+though----"
+
+He stopped suddenly, and appeared to be listening. Phil sat up on the
+old sofa, and Sid looked questioningly toward the door.
+
+"Someone's out in the corridor," he whispered.
+
+"Yes," and Tom nodded. "Maybe they think we're out, and they're bringing
+back our chair."
+
+"Or the clock," added Phil.
+
+Tom arose, and tiptoed toward the portal. Before he reached it, there
+came a cautious knock on the panel.
+
+"Shall we answer it, or pretend we're not in?" he breathed to Sid. Then,
+without giving the latter time to answer, a voice called, in a hoarse
+whisper:
+
+"I say, Tom, are you and the bunch in there?"
+
+"It's Dutch!" spoke Phil, in his natural tone. "Come on in, you old
+scout! What's all the secret society business about, anyhow?"
+
+Tom opened the door, and Billy Housenlager and Holly Cross stood
+revealed.
+
+"Don't yell so!" cautioned Dutch. "We're going to haze that big
+chap--what's his name?" and he turned to Holly.
+
+"The one from California," explained the centre rush.
+
+"Oh, Simpson," supplied Tom. "Haze him--what for? The hazing season is
+over."
+
+"Not for him," explained Dutch, with a chuckle. "You see, he arrived
+late, and he didn't get what was coming to him in his freshman year. So
+he has to take it now. Do you lads want to be in on it? If you do, don't
+make any noise. He's in a room nearly above you fellows, and he may
+suspect something and listen. Want to have some fun?"
+
+"I don't know--do we?" and Tom turned to his companions.
+
+They hesitated a moment, and then Phil, with a long yawn, exclaimed:
+
+"I don't know as I care to. Too tired. You fellows can, if you like."
+
+"Not for mine!" came quickly from Sid. "I've got some butterfly specimens
+to mount."
+
+"Oh, you fellows make me tired!" declared Dutch, in accents of disgust.
+"Why don't you be sports? Have some fun! Come on, Tom!"
+
+"No; if Phil and Sid are going to stay in to-night, I'll be with them.
+You and Holly can go ahead with the hazing. What's it going to be?"
+
+"Oh, it isn't Holly and me alone," explained Dutch, quickly. "A lot of
+the lads are in on it, but I suggested you chaps, and now you back out."
+
+"We never backed in," replied Phil. "What are you going to do to
+Simpson, anyhow?"
+
+"Make him swim Sunny River," declared Dutch, with a chuckle. "That is,
+we're going to chuck him in, and he'll sink or swim."
+
+"That's taking chances," remarked Tom, quickly. Somehow, he did not like
+the idea of hazing the Californian. They had become too friendly with
+him, and Tom was glad his chums had declined to have a hand in it.
+
+"No chances at all," denied Dutch, vigorously. "We'll be ready with a
+boat and ropes, in case he can't swim. But I think he can."
+
+"I didn't mean about that part of it," went on the end. "But he may take
+cold."
+
+"Oh, piffle!" cried Holly Cross. "If he can't stand a little wetting
+he's no good. Besides, it's warm to-night. Come on, Dutch; we'll go back
+and tell the crowd that this bunch is doing its knitting, and can't
+come." His voice showed his contempt.
+
+"Tell 'em anything you like," retorted Sid, "and maybe before you're
+through you'll wish you'd stayed home and learned your lessons."
+
+"Aw, rats!" fired back Dutch, as he and his chum went down the corridor.
+
+"Say, maybe there's more truth than poetry in what you said," commented
+Phil, after the door had been closed.
+
+"In what?" asked Sid.
+
+"About those fellows being sorry. You know, Simpson is a husky lad, and
+he may put up more of a fight than they give him credit for."
+
+"By Jove!" cried Tom, suddenly. "I believe you're right, Phil. Those
+hazers are going to stack up against trouble, and what's the matter with
+us seeing the fun?"
+
+"How?" asked Sid.
+
+"Go down to the river, and watch 'em throw Frank in."
+
+"Sure!" cried Phil; and a little later three figures stole cautiously
+out, crossed the campus, and took position well concealed in the now
+leafless shrubbery that lined the bank of the stream.
+
+"Here they come!" suddenly exclaimed Tom, who had constituted himself a
+lookout. "And they've got him, too!"
+
+"How can you tell?" demanded Phil.
+
+"He's the biggest fellow in the bunch."
+
+"I didn't think he'd let them take him out of his room," said Sid.
+"Maybe he's in a blue funk."
+
+"You don't know him," declared Tom, quietly. "If I'm not mistaken,
+there'll be some fun soon."
+
+"Keep quiet, or they'll have the laugh on us if they see us," cautioned
+Phil.
+
+The hazers and their victim came nearer, and the voice of Dutch
+Housenlager could be heard declaiming in triumph:
+
+"Now, then, fellows, we'll initiate Mr. Simpson into the mysteries of
+the Mermaid Society. I believe you never were a member of that, were
+you, Mr. Simpson?" he asked, mockingly.
+
+"Never, and I don't want to join now," came from the big Californian,
+who seemed strangely gentle in the hands of his captors.
+
+"Oh, but you must, you know," explained Holly Cross.
+
+"Sure," asserted Bascome. "You ought to have joined as a Freshman, but
+it's not too late. Is the water nice and warm, Dutch?"
+
+"Yes; I had it heated to seventy-two degrees this afternoon," replied
+the fun-loving Housenlager.
+
+"What! You're not going to put me in the river to-night, are you?"
+demanded Simpson, in almost tragic tones.
+
+"That's our intention," mocked Dutch.
+
+"But I may catch cold. You oughtn't to do a thing like this, boys,"
+pleaded Frank.
+
+"Oh, listen to him!" mocked Bascome. "Let's take him back to his mama!"
+and he imitated the crying of a baby.
+
+"Oh, but, fellows, just consider," begged the intended victim. "I--I may
+be drowned," and his teeth seemed to chatter. "Please--please let me
+go!"
+
+"Oh, yes--with bells on!" cried Holly, with a laugh.
+
+"Say, I thought you said he'd make mincemeat of 'em?" whispered Phil.
+"Why, he's a coward!"
+
+"Maybe," admitted Tom, somewhat puzzled. "I didn't think he'd beg off
+like this."
+
+"Pshaw! It's going to be a fizzle," declared Sid.
+
+"Now, then, all ready?" asked Dutch of his chums. "Get good holds, Holly
+and Bascome, and pitch him in."
+
+"Oh, let me go! Please let me go!" begged Simpson.
+
+"Aw, cut it out! Be a sport!" urged Dutch. "It won't hurt you, and if
+you can't swim, we'll pull you out. You've got to take your medicine,
+and you might as well make up your mind to it. In with him now,
+fellows!"
+
+"Let her go!" cried Holly.
+
+"No! Don't! Stop!" cried the Californian, and his voice broke. "Please
+let me go--consider, fellows--you may regret this!"
+
+"Regret nothing!" cried Dutch. "In with him!"
+
+There was a struggle on the bank of the river, a series of surprised
+grunts and exclamations. Then a dark body went sailing through the air,
+and fell with a splash into the stream, while the shout that followed
+ended in a gurgle.
+
+"There he goes!" cried Phil. "He's in!"
+
+Another dark body shot from the bank into the water.
+
+"Why--why!" gasped Sid. "They're hazing two! Who's the other lad, I
+wonder?"
+
+The second body made a great splash. Then, before it came to the
+surface, a third form hurtled through the air and made a great noise in
+Sunny River.
+
+"Julius Cæsar's grandmother's cat's kittens!" yelled Tom, careless of
+who heard him. "Simpson isn't in the water at all, fellows! Look! look!
+There he is! He's throwing the others in! He's throwing 'em all in!"
+
+[Illustration: "SIMPSON ISN'T IN THE WATER AT ALL, FELLOWS! HE'S
+THROWING THE OTHERS IN."]
+
+Phil and Sid stood beside their chum, and gazed on the scene, which was
+now partly illuminated by a half moon. They saw the big Californian
+standing in the midst of his would-be hazers, knocking them down right
+and left as they rushed at him, and then, as the hidden ones watched,
+they saw the new student grasp Holly Cross around the waist, and, by a
+wrestler's trick, toss him over his back, and into the stream, where
+three forms were now swimming toward shore--three wet, miserable
+forms--three very much surprised lads--and Holly Cross joining them by
+the most direct route--by an air line, so to speak.
+
+Into the water Holly fell with a splash, and after him went Dutch. Then,
+seeing their two ringleaders thus summarily disposed of, the other
+hazers ceased their attack on Simpson.
+
+He stood in the midst of the throng, many of whom were just arising from
+some terrific left-handers.
+
+"I told you that you might be sorry," came in calm tones from the
+Californian.
+
+"For the love of mustard, who are you, anyhow?" demanded Bascome, as he
+crawled dripping and shivering up on the bank. "Are you a champion
+strong man, or an elephant trainer?"
+
+"Oh I spent one vacation traveling with a circus, and learned to do some
+throwing tricks," modestly explained Simpson. "And now, gentlemen, I'll
+bid you good-evening," and before the crowd could stop him, had they
+been so disposed, he walked away.
+
+That's how Frank Simpson was hazed. Ask any old Randall graduates to
+tell you about it, and hear what they say.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE MIDNIGHT BLAZE
+
+
+Dripping, shivering, very much chagrined, and somewhat bruised and lame
+from their encounter with the student they had expected to haze so
+easily, Holly Cross, Dutch Housenlager and the others gathered in a
+little disconsolate group.
+
+Tom, Phil and Sid, hiding in the bushes, and trying to stifle their
+snickers of mirth, looked at the scene, which was thrown into partial
+relief by the moon.
+
+"I wonder how they feel?" came from Tom.
+
+"Don't let them hear you," cautioned Phil, "or they'll vow and declare
+that we were in on the game, and knew how it was going to turn out."
+
+"That's right," agreed Sid.
+
+But now someone in the group of hazers spoke. It was the puzzled and
+dubious voice of Dutch Housenlager.
+
+"I say, does anyone know what happened?" he asked.
+
+"We must have been struck by a cyclone," declared Holly.
+
+"Or a waterspout," added Bascome. "Bur-r-r-r-r! But it's cold! I'm going
+to cut for college!"
+
+"Who said he was easy?" demanded Holly Cross. "Was it you, Dutch?"
+
+"Who, me? No, I never said such a thing! Perish the thought! Easy!"
+
+"The hardest proposition I've stacked up against in a long while," said
+another, rubbing his elbow. "Jove! how he did hit out!"
+
+"And so _sudden_!" commented Dutch.
+
+"Well, did you think he was going to send word on ahead when he was
+going to land on you?" asked Jerry Jackson. "Come on. We've had enough."
+
+"Too much," added his brother. "I suppose this will be all over Randall
+in the morning."
+
+"Not if I have to tell it," insisted Bascome. "But Simpson may squeal."
+
+"He'd be justified," asserted another. "He has one on us, all right."
+
+"I believe he's too square to say anything about it," spoke Jerry.
+
+And so it proved. The next morning, when the big Californian met his
+classmates, there was a calm smile on his face, but neither by word nor
+action did he refer to what had taken place.
+
+But, somehow, the story leaked out. Perhaps it was because Tom, Phil and
+Sid could not refrain from publicly asking Dutch and the others how the
+hazing had resulted.
+
+"Did you duck Simpson?" inquired Tom, as they were on their way to
+chapel next morning.
+
+"Why didn't you come and help with the fun, if you're so anxious to know
+about it?" inquired Dutch, non-committally.
+
+"Oh, we don't care for baths in the river this time of the year,"
+remarked Phil, with a laugh, and then Dutch knew that the story was
+known, though Tom and his two chums said nothing about having been
+concealed where they had a grandstand view of the whole performance.
+
+There were now busy days at Randall, for football was in full sway. As
+a result of the Newkirk game, several shifts were made by coach and
+captain, and hard practice was called for. The California lad was given
+a chance on the regular against the scrub, and there was talk that he
+would permanently replace Sam Looper. It was felt that Randall had not
+done herself much credit thus far on the gridiron, and there were many
+anxious hearts in consequence. But the members of the eleven made up
+their minds to do or die, and they went against the scrub so fiercely
+that several members of that unfortunate contingent had to go to the
+hospital for repairs, or else report disabled. Then the coach and
+captain smiled grimly, and were not so worried about the result of the
+Fairview and Boxer Hall games.
+
+It was practice, practice, practice, early and late, until some of the
+members of the 'varsity felt like falling on the exacting Mr. Lighton
+and tearing him limb from limb. But they knew it was for their good, and
+that they needed it.
+
+Our three friends were in their room one evening, talking of various
+matters, and incidentally speculating on the loss of their clock and
+chair. They had not had much time, of late, on account of football, to
+seek for clews, and they had about given up hope of recovering their
+possessions.
+
+"Well, it will soon be time to go up against Fairview," remarked Tom, as
+he looked critically at a big leather patch he had sewed on the shoulder
+of his canvas jacket. "I do hope we win."
+
+"Same here, old man," added Phil, who was inspecting a new leather
+helmet he had just purchased. "I think----"
+
+He was interrupted by a knock on the door.
+
+"Come in!" cried Sid, who was trying to study, but making little headway
+at it. Frank Simpson entered.
+
+"Well, you fellows are nice and cozy here," he remarked. "Am I
+intruding?"
+
+"Not a bit! Come on in, and make yourself at home!" called Tom, heartily,
+shoving a pile of miscellaneous articles off one end of the sofa, to
+make room for the visitor.
+
+"Just sit down sort of easy, please," cautioned Sid, as he motioned
+toward the couch. "One of the bottom boards is loose, and it may come
+down, especially----"
+
+"As I'm not exactly a featherweight," finished Frank. "I'll be careful.
+I got through with my stuff, and didn't have anything to do, so I
+thought I'd drop in."
+
+"Yes, we live by the river; when you're down that way, drop in," said
+Phil, and there was a laugh at the joke and reference.
+
+"I didn't see you fellows out there," remarked the lad from the West,
+with a motion of his head toward the stream.
+
+"No, we had another engagement," remarked Tom.
+
+"Speaking of engagements, reminds me of something!" exclaimed Phil,
+pulling a note from his pocket. "Ruth wrote me yesterday to come over
+to Fairview to-night, and bring you fellows. There's some sort of
+doings--giving a Greek play, or something like that, and a feed after
+it. I forgot all about it."
+
+"Say, you're a nice one!" cried Tom, jumping up and looking at the new
+clock.
+
+"I should say yes!" added Sid. "Is it too late to go now?"
+
+"Guess not," drawled Phil. "If you fellows think we can escape the eagle
+eye of Proc. Zane, I'm willing, are you?"
+
+"Sure we are!" cried Phil and Tom, eagerly. "We can pull on our best
+duds, and catch the next trolley. Zane can go hang! I guess we can slip
+in all right!"
+
+"I reckon I'd better be off then," spoke Simpson, as he arose to go.
+"You haven't any too much room to get dressed, all three at once."
+
+"No, don't go," begged Phil. "That is go and get togged up, and come
+back. Go along with us over to Fairview. My sister said she'd like to
+meet you. I was telling her about you."
+
+"Do you mean it?" asked the Californian earnestly, for he liked social
+pleasures, and he had not met any girls, as yet.
+
+"Sure, come along!" urged Tom and Sid. "We can fix you up with a girl, I
+guess."
+
+"Kind of you," murmured Frank. "I believe I will go."
+
+A little later, the four caught a trolley car for Fairview Institute,
+where they were met by Phil's sister and the other young ladies, who
+were glad to see them. There was a little amateur theatrical, followed
+by a dance and supper, and Frank Simpson was made to feel very much at
+home, for the girls took to him at once.
+
+It was long past midnight when our four friends alighted from the car,
+and stood for a moment, before starting toward their college.
+
+"What'll we do if we're caught by Zane?" asked Tom, for there was every
+likelihood of that happening. They had known it all the while, but did
+not like to think of it when the fun was at its height.
+
+"If he nabs us, we'll have to put up with it," said Phil.
+
+"It's easy enough to say," commented Sid, "but you know Prexy made quite
+a talk about it the other day, and said that anyone who was caught out
+late would be severely dealt with. It might mean being barred off the
+team."
+
+"Jove! You don't want that to happen," remarked Frank. "Isn't there some
+back way we can sneak in?"
+
+"Proc. Zane knows 'em all," asserted Tom. "We might try it around by the
+chapel, though. He isn't there quite so often as he is around the court
+and campus."
+
+"Go ahead," urged Phil, grimly. "Might as well be killed for a lobster
+as a crab."
+
+They stole silently forward, looking cautiously around for a sight of
+the proctor. They had almost reached the chapel, and were hoping that
+the remainder of the way would be clear, when Tom, who was in advance,
+suddenly uttered a hiss.
+
+"What is it?" whispered Phil.
+
+"Zane--right ahead there."
+
+Pausing in the shadows, they peered forward. There stood the proctor
+directly in the path they must cross to get into college.
+
+"Just our luck!" groaned Sid, dismally.
+
+They hesitated a moment, not knowing what to do. To be caught, just
+after the president's solemn warning, might mean severe punishment.
+
+"Can't we----" began Tom, and then Frank Simpson, who was a little in
+the rear, suddenly uttered an exclamation.
+
+"Fellows, look!" he called, in a hoarse whisper. "There's a fire!"
+
+Startled, they looked to where he pointed. Through the windows of the
+chapel could be seen little tongues of flame, leaping up inside. The
+building was ablaze.
+
+For a moment, the boys did not know what to do. Then Tom called:
+
+"Come on, fellows! We've got to put that out! There are extinguishers
+right in the vestibule, and we can break down the door. Lively! We've
+got to fight the blaze, and give the alarm! Ring the bell!"
+
+They needed no other urging. Without another glance at the proctor,
+who had turned back toward the college, the four lads rushed silently
+toward the chapel. It was the work of but a moment for their sturdy
+shoulders to break in the outer door. Then, catching up several chemical
+extinguishers, they sprang in through the swinging inner portals. There
+was a lively blaze in the floor, just over the furnace.
+
+"Douse it! Douse it!" yelled Tom, making a jump for it. "Someone ring
+the bell! Maybe we can't control it!"
+
+"I'll do that!" yelled Simpson, and a moment later the deep, solemn
+tones of the great bell boomed out on the midnight air, while the hungry
+tongues of fire leaped higher and higher.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ANOTHER CLEW
+
+
+With a hissing sound, the chemical streams from the extinguishers
+spurted upon the blaze. The fire died down around the edges of the big
+hole that had been burned in the floor, but in the centre there was hot
+flame.
+
+"Can we get it under?" panted Sid, who, having emptied one extinguisher--a
+small one--ran after another.
+
+"We've got to!" declared Phil, trying to shield his face from the fierce
+heat.
+
+"If we can only keep it down until the fellows come with the hose, we'll
+do all right," gasped Tom, choking from the smoke. There was a high
+pressure water service maintained at the college, hose being connected
+with a big tank, for the buildings were so far from town that the fire
+department could not easily get there.
+
+Again and again the alarm boomed out from the big bell, rung by the
+vigorous arms of the Californian. The others kept playing the streams
+on the fire, retreating as it got hotter, and rushing in on it as they
+gained a momentary advantage.
+
+"Aren't they ever coming?" gasped Tom. The college lads had formed an
+amateur fire brigade, and had frequent drills.
+
+"They've got to--pretty soon!" choked Phil.
+
+"Here they come!" cried Frank, and he hastened down from the organ loft,
+where he had been pulling on the bell rope, catching up an extinguisher
+as he came. Soon he was adding his stream to the others.
+
+Outside could be heard excited yells and shouts, and the rumble of the
+hand hose carts as the students rushed them toward the chapel.
+
+In a short time Tom and his chums were being assisted by scores of their
+mates, who, in all sorts of nondescript garments, formed a strange
+contrast to our four heroes, in their immaculate dress suits--no, not
+immaculate any longer, for they were dripping from the chemicals, they
+were dirty and smoke begrimed, and Tom and Sid's garments were scorched
+in several places by the sparks.
+
+"Say, did you fellows stop to tog up before you came to the fire?"
+demanded Holly Cross hoarsely, as he directed a stream of water into the
+very heart of the blaze.
+
+"Of course," answered Tom, for he saw Proctor Zane coming up with two
+pails of water to dash on the embers.
+
+"Well, I'll be----" began Holly, and Sid quickly stopped him with a
+punch in the ribs.
+
+The fire, which had been discovered soon after it broke out, could not
+stand the combined assault of the water and chemicals, and, soon after
+the arrival of the student brigade, it was practically extinguished. It
+had started from an overheated flue, and had burned quite a hole in
+the floor, but, aside from that damage, the destruction of some pews,
+cushions and hymn books, the loss was comparatively slight. The valuable
+stained glass windows had not been harmed, though some of the delicate
+fresco work on the side walls was smoke-begrimed.
+
+"Well, I guess that's out," remarked Dutch Housenlager, as he looked
+down into the basement through the burned hole in the floor.
+
+"And very efficient work you young gentlemen did, too," complimented the
+proctor. "If it had gotten much more headway, the chapel would have been
+consumed. May I ask who discovered the fire."
+
+There was a moment's hesitation. Our friends realized what it might mean
+to tell just _how_ they had discovered it. Their chums, among whom the
+story had quickly circulated, kept silent.
+
+"I heard the alarm bell ring, and I jumped up," said Jerry Jackson,
+innocently.
+
+"So did I," echoed his brother.
+
+"Who rang the bell?" the proctor wanted to know.
+
+"Could the heat waves have done it?" suggested Professor Newton, who was
+much interested in science. "It is possible," and he looked up in the
+direction of the belfry, and shivered slightly, for he was only partly
+dressed.
+
+"I rang the bell," admitted Frank Simpson, in a low voice.
+
+"Ah, then we have to thank you for discovering the fire and giving the
+alarm," went on the proctor. "It was----"
+
+"We all discovered the blaze at the same time," remarked Tom,
+desperately, and he indicated his companions.
+
+"That's right," agreed Sid and Phil. They made up their minds that they
+were in for it now.
+
+"Oh, you saw it from your window, I presume," went on Mr. Zane, "and you
+came out----"
+
+Then, for the first time, he seemed to realize that the quartette were
+attired in dress-suits--wet, bedraggled, chemical-marked and scorched
+evening clothes--but still dress-suits.
+
+"Oh, ah, er--that is----" he began.
+
+"We were coming home from a dance over at Fairview," said Phil,
+doggedly, "and we saw the blaze."
+
+"Oh," exclaimed the proctor, illuminatingly, and then, unconsciously
+perhaps, he looked at his watch, and noted the lateness of the hour.
+"You four young gentlemen will call at my office to-morrow--this
+morning," he hastily corrected himself.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Tom, with a grim setting of his jaw.
+
+An examination showed that there were no sparks left, and the students
+were ordered to return to their rooms. The janitors were sent for, to
+remain on guard and place boards over the hole in the floor.
+
+"Don't you think he has nerve, to tell us to report to him, after what
+we did?" asked Tom, when, following a rather restless night, he and his
+chums were on their way to services the next morning. The chapel was not
+so badly burned, but that it could be used.
+
+"Zane? Oh, he's _all_ nerve!" declared Sid. "I almost wish we'd let it
+burn!"
+
+"Shut up, you anarchist!" cried Phil. "We'll take our medicine."
+
+But there was none to take. The proctor met them on their way to chapel,
+and smiled as genially as was possible for him.
+
+"Young gentlemen," he said, "you need not report at my office.
+Personally, I wish to thank you for the service you rendered to Randall
+College last night--or, rather, this morning," and he smiled grimly.
+"Had it not been for you, we should have had no chapel in which to
+worship to-day. I thank you most sincerely," and then Proctor Zane did
+an unheard-of thing. He shook hands with Tom and his chums.
+
+"Well, what do you know about that?" gasped Phil, when the proctor had
+passed on.
+
+"He didn't say a word about our being out late," came from Sid.
+
+"Pinch me--I think I'm dreaming!" begged Tom, but they were all too
+interested in other matters to comply with his request.
+
+Dr. Churchill referred to the fire in his remarks that morning, and the
+words of praise he bestowed on our heroes made them wish they were
+sitting over the hole in the floor, that they might sink through out of
+sight, and so hide their blushes.
+
+Dutch Housenlager started to whistle, "See, the Conquering Hero Comes,"
+when he saw the four approaching, but Tom upset him with a quick tackle,
+and Dutch subsided.
+
+The fire and football furnished fruitful topics for conversation among
+the students for some days to come, so much so that our heroes had
+little time to think about their missing chair and clock, until an
+unexpected happening brought the matter forcibly to their attention
+again.
+
+They had been out together to a meeting in the gymnasium one night, and
+on their return, Phil, who was ahead, had some trouble opening the door.
+
+"One of you fellows left your key in it when you went out," he said, as
+he removed it, and inserted his own.
+
+"Not me," asserted Tom.
+
+"Me either," declared Sid. "I've got mine."
+
+"So have I," added the end.
+
+Phil said nothing until he had entered the room, followed by his chums.
+Then, turning on the light, he examined the key he had taken from the
+door.
+
+"Fellows, look here!" he exclaimed. "Here's a clew to our mysterious
+visitor and thief. This key is a false one, and has been filed down from
+some other kind. This thing is getting serious."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A CRASH IN THE GALE
+
+
+Curiously, Phil's chums crowded close to him, looking over his shoulder
+at the odd key. As he had said, it was one apparently filed down from a
+larger one of different pattern, so that it would open their door.
+
+And fit their lock it did, as they soon demonstrated, for, though crude
+in finish, it threw back the catch as easily as did one of their own.
+
+"Worse and more of it!" murmured Phil, as he tried the key. "The fellow,
+whoever he is, must have been just going in our room when we came along
+the corridor, and frightened him."
+
+"In that case, we ought to have seen him go past us down the stairs,"
+said Sid.
+
+"No, he could use the back flight, that goes down into the janitors'
+apartments," suggested Tom.
+
+"Say!" cried Sid. "I have it. Maybe he was here some time ago, and
+when he went out, he forgot his key. Let's look and see if he took
+anything."
+
+"The sofa's here, at any rate," spoke Tom, with a sigh of relief. "But
+maybe something else is gone."
+
+"There are too many 'may-bees' for this time of the year," declared
+Phil. "The fellow might have run away as we came up; he might have
+taken his time ransacking our rooms, for we were long enough in the
+gym; he may be here now; he may have brought back our chair and alarm
+clock--only he hasn't," he added, after a quick glance about the room.
+"But, as I said, what's the use of speculating on what _might_ be. We've
+got to get busy and solve this puzzle. We've got some sort of a clew in
+this key."
+
+"Not much, though," from Tom.
+
+"I think a lot," asserted Phil. "In the first place, it shows that it's
+been made by an amateur, and by someone who knows a little about making
+keys. Therefore, as we say in geometry, we must look for a fellow who
+knows how to use a file and a hack saw, and who understands locks."
+
+"Are there any such in college?" demanded Sid.
+
+"There may be."
+
+"Let's put it up to Zane," suggested Tom. "He's friendly with us now, on
+account of the fire."
+
+"No!" exclaimed Phil, quickly. "Let's work it out ourselves. I believe
+we can do it."
+
+"How?" Sid wanted to know.
+
+"By keeping our eyes open."
+
+"We've been doing that a long time, and haven't gotten any nearer to the
+mystery than we were at first."
+
+"That's because we didn't look in the right direction," spoke Phil. "It
+has narrowed down now--the inquiry has, I mean. Before, we had to
+suspect every fellow in college. Now we need only look for one who has a
+mechanical turn of mind."
+
+"Frank Simpson has!" spoke Sid, quickly. "I saw him making a new kind of
+cleat for his football shoes the other day."
+
+"You're a hot detective!" exclaimed Phil, with a laugh. "Our clock and
+chair were taken before Simpson came here."
+
+"That's right," agreed Sid, ruefully. "I wonder if the unknown visitor
+did anything to our new clock?" he went on, as he walked over to examine
+the timepiece. "Perhaps he left a note of explanation in it."
+
+But there was nothing, and the clock chimed out the time as cheerfully
+as ever, as though urging the new owners to never mind the mystery,
+since they had a better recorder of the hours than before. But the boys
+wanted their first love.
+
+Our heroes were up early the next morning, to indulge in a practice run
+with the football squad--a little jaunt along the river, proposed by the
+exacting coach, with the idea of improving the wind of his men.
+
+"Jove! but it's getting cold!" remarked Tom, as rosy and glowing with
+health, he and his mates turned into the gymnasium for a shower, and
+vigorous rub before breakfast.
+
+"Regular football weather," agreed Sid. "Well, I feel as if I could
+tackle Boxer Hall and Fairview together now."
+
+"Keep on feeling that way," urged the coach, grimly, as he passed by.
+"We all need it."
+
+An unexpected storm blew up that night, putting a stop to practice on
+the gridiron, and the squad had to be content with indoor work. The
+weather grew worse, and by night there was a gale blowing.
+
+"Old King Winter isn't far off, by the sound of that," remarked Tom,
+who, with his chums, was in the room, studying or making a pretense of
+so doing. He arose, and, going to the window, where Sid was, looked out.
+There came a sharp dash of rain against the glass.
+
+"It's a peach of a night!" exclaimed Sid, as he turned back with a
+shiver to his comfortable nook on the old sofa.
+
+"Yes, but we're snug and cozy here," murmured Phil. "This is one of the
+best rooms in the college."
+
+"If we only had our old chair," remarked Sid, rather sadly. He seemed to
+miss it more than the others, for it was his favorite place for study.
+
+"Well, it won't come back to-night, at any rate," observed Tom. "Whew!
+Hear that wind!"
+
+There came a sudden burst of fury on the part of the storm, that seemed
+to rock the very college. In the midst of its rage, borne on the wings
+of the wind and darkness, there came to the ears of the three lads a
+mighty crash.
+
+It seemed to vibrate through the air, and then the echoes of it were
+swallowed up in the louder roar of the wind.
+
+"What was that?" whispered Tom, in an awesome voice.
+
+"Some building collapsed!" gasped Phil. "Come on, fellows, we must see
+what it was!" and he reached for his raincoat, the others following his
+example.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+WITH HAMMER AND SAW
+
+
+Out into the storm they raced, to find that the alarm of the crash had
+been general, and that students from all the dormitories, and also a
+number of members of the faculty, were hurrying from their rooms to
+learn what was the trouble.
+
+"What was it?"
+
+"Did you hear it?"
+
+"Is it another fire?"
+
+"I heard it was the gymnasium that had blown up."
+
+"Somebody told me that Prexy's house was destroyed by a bomb."
+
+Questions and statements like those were heard on all sides, as the lads
+gathered in a group outside the college, or stood in the pelting rain on
+the campus.
+
+The wind still blew with great violence, and the downpour was in keeping
+with it. Anxious eyes looked up to the sky to detect the shimmering of
+flames, and were relieved when no glare met their gaze, though in that
+rain it would have been a big fire indeed that could have kept on
+burning.
+
+"The noise was over that way," declared Tom Parsons, pointing toward the
+gymnasium.
+
+"No, it was over there," and Phil indicated the river. "Maybe it was one
+of the boathouses."
+
+"I think it was out on the athletic field," asserted Sid.
+
+"Let's go have a look," proposed Holly Cross. "It was a great old crash,
+whatever it was."
+
+"Yes, it woke me up," said Bert Bascome. "I was dozing over my Latin
+prose, and I dreamed we were playing Boxer Hall. I was making a
+touchdown, and smashed into a goal-post--that woke me up--or, rather,
+the racket did."
+
+"Well, make a real touchdown when we play Boxer, and we'll forgive you,"
+put in Kindlings, joining the group of football players. "Come on, let's
+investigate."
+
+As the students reached the gridiron they saw, even in the darkness, the
+cause of the crash. One of the largest grandstands had collapsed. The
+supports, weakened by the rain, had been unable to stand against the
+force of the wind, and had tilted over, letting the whole structure come
+slantingly to the ground, like some cardboard house upon which a heavy
+weight has fallen.
+
+"For cat's sake, look at that!" cried Phil.
+
+"It's a ruin!" added Sid, in despair.
+
+"The biggest grandstand, too!" remarked Tom.
+
+"Come on, fellows!" cried Holly Cross. "Maybe we can prop it up so
+it won't go down any farther," for part of the structure was still
+standing.
+
+Holly started toward it, but had not advanced more than a few feet, when
+there came another sudden burst of fury on the part of the wind, and
+there was a second crash in the splintered and broken timbers.
+
+"Come back!" yelled Dan Woodhouse. "You'll be hurt! It's going to fall
+apart!"
+
+There was an instinctive retreat on the part of the throng of students,
+but the stand, after settling forward a little more, became stationary,
+and, aside from the flapping of a few loose boards, the wind seemed
+incapable of doing any more havoc.
+
+"Well, wouldn't that jar you!" exclaimed Dutch, as he carefully held
+Holly's umbrella over his own head. "We'll have to hustle to have that
+raised again."
+
+"Yes, and the game with Canton Military Academy comes off soon," added
+Phil. "The carpenters will have to get busy in the morning. Where's
+Kindlings?"
+
+"Here I am."
+
+"Say Dan, we'll have to have a meeting of the athletic committee right
+away, and take some action on this. If we can't use that grandstand for
+the Canton game, we'll lose a lot of money, and, goodness knows, we need
+the coin this year."
+
+"That's right," came in a chorus from the others. Mr. Lighton, the
+coach, came up just then, and agreed that immediate action was
+necessary, late as it was.
+
+The students were walking about the ruined stand, oblivious to the
+pelting rain, and they might have stayed there a long time, had not Mr.
+Zane bustled up to inspect the wreck.
+
+"Now, then, young gentlemen," he said, "you had better all get back to
+your rooms. There is nothing more to see, and there might be some
+danger. The wind is increasing."
+
+"I hope no more stands blow down," murmured Tom.
+
+"Mr. Zane, we want to have a meeting of the athletic committee, to take
+measures for rebuilding the stand," spoke the football captain. "May
+we?"
+
+"To-night?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, I'm going to make a report of this to Dr. Churchill, and you may
+come, if you like. Also Mr. Lighton, and two or three members of the
+committee."
+
+"Come on, Phil and Tom," urged Dan, and the end and quarter-back
+followed. The other boys, finding the storm most unpleasant, now that
+the excitement was over, moved toward their rooms.
+
+Proctor Zane stated the case to the president, and then Kindlings made
+his appeal.
+
+"We want to arrange for the rebuilding of the stand at once," he said,
+"as we expect a big crowd at the Canton game, and we need all the seats
+we can get."
+
+"Yes," remarked Dr. Churchill, musingly. "I presume the athletic
+committee has the funds available to pay for the work."
+
+"No, we haven't, Dr. Churchill," answered Holly Cross, who acted as
+treasurer, "but we thought the amount could be advanced from the college
+treasury, and we could pay it back, as we did once or twice before.
+We'll need quite a large sum, I'm afraid, for the stand is one of the
+big ones, and is flat on the ground."
+
+"Yes," again mused the president. "Well, young gentlemen, I would be
+very glad indeed to advance the money from our treasury, but, I regret
+to say, that it is impossible."
+
+"Impossible!" repeated Holly.
+
+"Yes, for the reason that there is no money in the treasury."
+
+"No money!" The students looked at each other aghast.
+
+"No," went on Dr. Churchill. "This legal complication regarding the
+missing quit-claim deed, and the lawsuit that has been started against
+the college, has made it necessary to spend considerable cash in the
+way of preliminary fees and court expenses. This has left the college
+without a running balance. In fact, Randall is poorer to-day than ever
+before. I might add that even money to pay the salaries of the faculty
+is lacking, and----"
+
+There was something like a gleam of hope in the eyes of the youths, but
+it died away when the president, with a grim smile added:
+
+"I will state, however, that the gentlemen of the faculty regard the
+financial difficulty as only temporary, and are willing to continue on
+without pay for a while, so you see there is no excuse for not attending
+lectures," and the president's eyes twinkled. "But that is why," he
+continued, "I can not advance any sum for the rebuilding of the collapsed
+grandstand. I am very sorry, but it will have to stay down for the
+present."
+
+"Then we'll lose on the Canton game," spoke Sid in a low voice, "lose
+money, I mean."
+
+"It's too bad we can't have it put up," came from Phil, as the lads
+filed from the president's room, where the conference had taken place.
+"No use in having a meeting, if we can't get the money."
+
+"Yes, there is too!" cried Tom Parsons, suddenly.
+
+"Do you think we fellows can raise enough cash by ourselves?" demanded
+Kindlings. "I wish we could, but we can't."
+
+"We can raise enough for what I am going to suggest," declared Tom.
+
+"And what's that?"
+
+"Enough for hammers and saws and nails."
+
+"And let the grandstand rebuild itself?" asked Phil, incredulously.
+
+"No!" cried Tom, eagerly. "We fellows can rebuild it ourselves! I know
+how to handle tools, and I guess lots of the other fellows do, also. We
+can do it if we try. We haven't got the money to hire carpenters, so
+we'll be carpenters ourselves! We'll build that grandstand!"
+
+"Hurrah for Carpenter Tom!" cried Dutch Housenlager, doing a Highland
+fling down the long dormitory corridor.
+
+"I don't know the difference between a beam and a joist, and a
+two-by-four is as illuminating to me as a Greek root would be to a
+baby," said Kindlings, "but I'm with you, fellows!"
+
+"So am I!" cried Frank Simpson. "I worked in a lumber camp once,
+and----"
+
+"Say, is there anything you didn't do?" asked Holly, as he thought of
+the hazing. "You're all right, Simpson. You can carry the two-by-fours
+for Kindlings."
+
+"Make him carry the beams and joists," suggested Phil. "He'll do for
+that, all right."
+
+Eagerly talking of the new idea, the boys gathered in the room of our
+heroes, and such a lively meeting was in progress that Proctor Zane was
+forced to call an adjournment, though he was very decent about it, and,
+hearing of the plan announced that he would amend some of the college
+rules, to enable the amateur carpenters to work at night, by means of
+powerful arc lights.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried the lads, and Proctor Zane was cheered for one of the
+few times in his life. He seemed to like it, too.
+
+A meeting of the athletic committee was called for early the next day,
+and the plan of having the lads do the carpenter work was discussed in
+all its details. There was some money available for tools, and it
+developed that, as Tom had said, many of the students were handy with
+them, some even having done carpenter work in their vacations to earn
+tuition money.
+
+One of the janitors had once been a builder, and he offered to show the
+boys how to do the work properly, so that it would be safe.
+
+"It will be almost as good as football practice for us," declared Tom,
+when he and his chums went to town to buy the tools and nails.
+
+"It will keep us on the jump, if we get it done in time for the Canton
+game," declared Phil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+SUSPICIONS
+
+
+"Has anyone seen my hammer?"
+
+"Where the mischief did I put those nails?"
+
+"Hey, Tom, give us a hand setting this joist, will you?"
+
+"I say, Phil, should this two-by-four go in with the big side out, or
+the narrow?"
+
+"Simpson, look out, or you'll saw my finger. You're too close to me."
+
+"Wow! Ouch!" and Holly Cross dropped the hatchet he was using in place
+of a hammer, and held his thumb in his mouth. "Jerusalem crickets!" he
+cried. "I'll never be able to practice football if I keep on this way!"
+
+There was a riot of sounds: hammering, planing, and chiseling, and
+sawing; and, mingled with them, the clatter of the lads' voices, in
+entreaties, commands, appeals for help, asking for advice, or, as
+Holly's was, raised in agony over some misdirected blow.
+
+Work on rebuilding the grandstand was in full swing. On examination of
+the wrecked structure after the storm, it was found that nearly all the
+material in it could be used over again. All the new lumber that would
+be needed would be some heavy joists, to take the place of those broken
+in the collapse.
+
+They were quite expensive to buy, but a lumber dealer who heard of the
+boys' plight agreed to let them have the timber, and to wait as long as
+they liked for his pay. He even furnished a couple of men to raise the
+heavy pieces into place, and the boys voted him a first-class "sport,"
+and sent him a season complimentary ticket to all the games.
+
+It was not as easy as it sounds, nor as simple as the boys had expected,
+to rebuild the structure, but they went at it with hearty good will, and
+a determination, in the path of which nothing could stand. The several
+janitors gave them all the aid they could, but the boys did most of the
+work, after they were told just how to do it.
+
+Frank Simpson was of great help, for he was probably the strongest and
+biggest lad in college, and the way he could shoulder a beam, and walk
+off with it to where it was needed in the work was something to look at
+and admire.
+
+"But you fellows needn't stop work to watch Frank," said Tom Parsons,
+who, because of his knowledge of carpentry, and because he had proposed
+the scheme, was, by common consent, made a sort of foreman. "Get busy,
+and do some of the lifting yourselves," he advised.
+
+"I say, Tom," demanded Sid, "what makes these boards split every time I
+try to nail them on these four-by-fours? I must be a hoodoo, for I've
+split half a dozen."
+
+"Those aren't four-by-fours," declared Tom. "They're two-by-fours, or
+scantling, and there are a lot of reasons why you split the boards."
+
+"Give me one, and I'll be satisfied."
+
+"Well, you're using cut nails, and you ought to use wire ones there, as
+the boards are old and dry. Then you have to nail so close to the edge
+that they split easier than they would if you could put the nails nearer
+the middle. But use wire nails."
+
+"You mean those round ones?"
+
+"Yes. The cut nails are those black, square-headed ones, and when you do
+use them, drive 'em with the widest part of the end at right angles to
+the grain of the wood."
+
+"What's that, a lesson in geometry, young gentlemen?" asked a voice, and
+the students turned quickly, to observe President Churchill observing
+them with an amused smile.
+
+"No, sir," answered Sid. "Tom was telling me how to drive nails."
+
+"Ah, yes, a very useful accomplishment, I believe," remarked the doctor.
+"Though I never could do it without hitting my thumb. A very useful
+accomplishment, very."
+
+He looked at the grandstand, which was nearing completion, and, as he
+passed on, with a book of Sanskrit under his arm, he remarked:
+
+"You are doing very well, young gentlemen--very well. Randall has reason
+to be proud of her resourceful students."
+
+"Prexy looks worried," remarked Sid, as the good doctor passed on out of
+hearing.
+
+"Yes, I shouldn't wonder but what that legal business is bothering him,"
+admitted Tom. "It's a blamed shame it had to happen, but it's just like
+the Langridge breed to want to stir up trouble. Now, Sid, put plenty of
+nails in when you fasten two scantling together, and use the big cut
+ones. We don't want this stand to come down with a lot of pretty girls
+on it."
+
+"I should say not!" and Sid plied his hammer with renewed energy, as
+though to prevent any such catastrophe.
+
+Tom went on with what he was doing, on another part of the stand, until
+he was called by Frank Simpson, who wanted his opinion on a certain
+point.
+
+"I think if we run these cross-pieces the other way," suggested the big
+Californian, "it will brace the stand better."
+
+"So do I," agreed Tom, after an examination. "Go ahead, do it that way,
+Frank. Want any help getting that beam up?"
+
+"No, I can do it alone." Which the strong lad did, to Tom's admiration.
+
+And thus the building work went on. True, not every joint was as even as
+regular carpenters would have made them, and a number of boards were
+sawed very crookedly, but this did not interfere with the strength of
+the stand, and little was cared for looks in the emergency.
+
+President Churchill was not taking any chances, however, and he privately
+sent for an architect friend of his, who examined the rebuilt structure,
+and assured the worried doctor that it was perfectly safe.
+
+Record time was made with the task, for three hundred willing lads can
+accomplish wonders, even if they lack the training of a trade. As the
+date for the Canton game approached, it was seen that the stand would be
+very nearly finished on time. It was necessary to stop work sometimes to
+get in football practice, but the boys were developing unused muscles,
+and hardening others by their labors, so that they were in fine physical
+trim.
+
+"It's the best thing that could have happened," said Holly Cross to
+Captain Woodhouse, at the close of work one afternoon. "We'll wipe the
+ground up with Canton."
+
+"Well, we ought to," declared Dan.
+
+"Don't be so sure," retorted Mr. Lighton; "they have a pretty good
+team."
+
+"Ours is improving," asserted Kindlings, proudly, and, in a measure,
+this was so, though there were still some weak places in the line.
+
+It was within two days of the Canton game, and the boys were working
+eagerly to get the stand in shape. They had put in several nights on it,
+laboring in shifts, by the light of some flaming arc lamps rigged up by
+the college electrician.
+
+Tom, in virtue of his position as foreman, was going about and doing as
+much as he could, when, as he passed near Phil, who was nailing down
+some of the seats, the quarter-back called to his chum:
+
+"I say, Tom, when you have a chance just take a stroll over where that
+Lenton chap is working."
+
+"You mean Henry Lenton--the freshman?"
+
+"Yes, the chap who flocks by himself so much, and always seems to be
+tinkering with something in his room. See what he's doing?"
+
+"Why; is he doing it wrong?"
+
+"No, but you remember the queer key we found in our door that night?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+"Well, just think of that when you see what Lenton is doing."
+
+Wondering what motive Phil could have, Tom did stroll over to where,
+down in the front part of the stand, the odd student was screwing some
+hinges on the doors of a row of boxes, the seats in which sold for
+higher prices than the ordinary ones. Lenton was a strange lad. He was
+bright in his studies, and his taste ran to matters scientific. He was
+eager in the physics and chemistry classes, and had made a number of
+ingenious machines and pieces of apparatus to illustrate the forces of
+nature.
+
+As Tom approached he heard the shrill scraping of a file, and at once
+what Phil had said about the key came into his mind.
+
+"I wonder what Lenton is filing?" thought the end. Not wishing to seem
+to sneak up on him, yet desiring to solve the mystery, if there was one,
+Tom called:
+
+"What's the matter? Don't those hinges fit, Lenton?"
+
+"Some of them do, and others don't," was the reply. "Or, rather, the
+hinges are all right, but the hasps that hold the doors shut aren't
+true. I have to file some."
+
+"Oh," said Tom, and then he noticed that the lad had rigged up a small,
+portable iron vise on the rail near which he was working. The vise held
+a piece of metal, and this the lad was industriously filing.
+
+As Tom noticed the manner in which Lenton handled the tools, working
+with files of several different sizes, the same suspicions that Phil had
+entertained came into his own mind. As for the files, Tom knew that none
+had been bought for use on the stand.
+
+"Where did you get 'em?" he asked, picking up one.
+
+"Oh, they're mine," answered Lenton. "I've got quite a few tools in my
+room," and then he drew the file back and forth over the metal, making
+such a noise that conversation was difficult. Tom watched him a few
+minutes, and then turned away.
+
+"Phil was right," the end murmured. "There is something expert in the
+way he uses a file, and perhaps he did make the false key. We'll have to
+do some investigating."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE CLOCK COMES BACK
+
+
+They worked on the grandstand even during the morning of the day when
+the Canton Military game was to be played, and then the tired but
+satisfied students laid aside their hammers and saws, picked up the
+scattered nails, and sighed with relief.
+
+"It was a big job--bigger than I thought it was when I proposed it,"
+spoke Tom, "and I'm glad it's over."
+
+"So am I," added Holly. "We'll take in some money, now. I hear there's a
+big crowd coming."
+
+"We may have to take some of our funds for the relief of the college, if
+things keep on," remarked Kindlings. "There was another meeting of the
+faculty this morning, about that law and claim business."
+
+"Is that so?" asked Phil. "Cæsar's ghost! but things aren't doing a
+thing but happening to Randall!"
+
+"Well, it's always darkest just before daylight," observed Sid, and then
+the coach came along, and ordered them all out to light practice, in
+preparation for the game soon to be played.
+
+Tom and his two chums were on their way from the gymnasium, refreshed
+by a shower bath, and were going to their room, to rest a bit before
+appearing on the gridiron with their team mates.
+
+"Did you find out anything more about Lenton, Tom?" asked Phil, for it
+had been agreed that Tom was to do a little detective work concerning
+the queer lad and his files.
+
+"No, nothing of any account," he answered. "I talked with some of the
+fellows who room next to him, and all they could tell me was that he is
+always tinkering on something or other. He's making some kind of an
+electrical machine, Perkins said, and he keeps buzzing away at it half
+the night. He's a queer Dick, all right, but I don't know that he had
+anything to do with the taking of our clock and chair."
+
+"I've got my suspicions," declared Phil. "I'm mighty sure he made that
+false key to our room, anyhow, and I'm going to put it up to him some
+time soon."
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't," advised Sid. "It might make trouble."
+
+"Well, didn't he--or someone--make trouble for us?" asserted the
+quarter-back. "But I'll be pretty sure of my ground before I make any
+cracks. Now for a rest, and then----"
+
+"A good fight!" finished Tom, stretching out his arms. "I hope we wallop
+'em good!"
+
+As both Captain Woodhouse and Mr. Lighton were sure of the ability of
+Randall to beat the military eleven, a number of the substitute players
+were allowed to go on the 'varsity team, much to their delight, for they
+were hungry for a scrimmage.
+
+There was a record-breaking crowd, and the rebuilt grandstand was taxed
+to its capacity. Though the Canton game was one of the minor contests,
+it always drew well, and was quite a society function, for the school
+was an exclusive one. The cadets, in their natty uniforms, came almost
+in a body, and of course the girls were there in "beautiful bunches," as
+Holly Cross said. Not only damsels from the military school town, but
+from Fairview and from Haddonfield.
+
+"I tell you what it is," said Holly, as he was practicing with his
+mates; "'uniforms git gals,' as the schoolboy once wrote in his
+composition. 'If you can't be a soldier, be a policeman, for uniforms
+git girls.'"
+
+"It's got 'em here to-day, all right," observed Sid. "I hope that----"
+
+"That the heads of our particular girls aren't turned by any of the
+cadets," finished Phil, with a laugh.
+
+The game was on, and it was seen that, while Randall had every chance
+of beating, she would have no easy contest for the victory. The cadets
+played with a beautiful precision, and their team work was something
+that made Coach Lighton sigh in vain.
+
+"Why can't I get our fellows to play like that?" he asked in despair of
+Captain Woodhouse, during a lull in the game, when one of the cadets had
+the wind knocked out of him.
+
+"It's because of the changes so late in the season," declared Kindlings.
+"We miss Kerr and Bricktop."
+
+"Well, go on in and do 'em up," advised the coach, as the referee's
+whistle blew. "Don't let 'em score on you."
+
+"Not if I know it," answered the captain.
+
+The game was resumed fiercely. Knowing they had little chance to win
+the game, the cadets devoted all their energies to trying to score.
+They wanted at least one touchdown, or a field goal, and Randall was
+determined they should have neither.
+
+In the first ten minutes of play, Randall had shoved the ball over
+the line, and the goal was kicked. Then, after some rushing tactics,
+which demonstrated that the cadets' line was stronger than at first
+appeared, Phil gave the signals for some kicking plays. But it was soon
+demonstrated that Canton was almost as good at this as was her rival,
+and while it was desired to get some practicing in punting and drop
+work, it was deemed too dangerous.
+
+"Straight football," ordered the captain to the quarter-back, and the
+game went on in that style.
+
+There were several forward passes, that netted good gains, and the
+onside kick was tried, until a fumble nearly resulted in Canton scoring,
+and then it was not used again.
+
+Up the field the Randallites rushed the ball, not so fast nor so easily
+but what they felt the strain, and soon there was another touchdown
+against the cadets. There was almost another in the first half, but the
+whistle cut the play short, and the nearest the military lads had been
+to scoring was when they tried for a field goal, and failed, because Sid
+broke through and blocked the kick.
+
+With indomitable energy, the cadets went at their opponents again in the
+second half. Several fresh players were put in, and Captain Woodhouse
+allowed other substitutes to try their abilities.
+
+This nearly proved the scratching down of a score against Randall, as
+the new lads did not hold well in line, and they were being shoved back
+for a loss, when Phil called for some kicking tactics. This took the
+ball out of danger, and soon our friends had again crossed the military
+goal line.
+
+It was characteristic of the pluck of the Canton lads that they never
+gave up. At it again they went, hammer and tongs, giving their heavier
+rivals no rest. It was a much more "scrappy" game from the point of
+playing, than had been expected, and on occasions excitement ran high.
+Several times Randall was penalized for holding in the line, or for
+off-side play, but this was due to the eagerness of the substitutes, who
+had not the seasoned judgment of the 'varsity men.
+
+The game was drawing to a close, amid a riot of songs and cheers.
+Randall had rolled up a big enough score to satisfy even the exacting
+coach, and there were but a few more minutes left to play. Canton had
+the ball, it being given to her on a penalty, and they were just over
+the centre line, in the Randall territory. There came a signal, and the
+Canton left half-back was sent charging into the line between Sam Looper
+and Bert Bascome.
+
+Whose fault it was no one stopped to figure out, but there was a big
+hole opened, Sam was sent sprawling to one side, with Bascome on top of
+him, and the man with the ball was through the line, running like a deer
+for the Randall goal line.
+
+Sid Henderson tried for a tackle, and missed, and then George Carter,
+who was playing full, got ready to throw the man with the ball. But
+the latter proved to be a player of exceptional ability, and speeding
+straight at the full-back, he suddenly dodged, so that Carter, who made
+a dive for him, also missed, and went sprawling.
+
+There was now not a player between the Canton man and the goal line.
+Like mad, his friends leaped to their feet, and sent cheer after cheer
+ringing into the air.
+
+"Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown!" was the frenzied yell.
+
+"After him!" shouted Captain Woodhouse. "Don't let him touch it down,
+fellows!"
+
+He was running desperately, but speed was not his strong point. Tom
+Parsons, however, was on the alert. There was not many who could beat
+him at the scudding game, and he tore off over the white marks after the
+cadet, with a fierce desire to pull him down in his tracks. It was a
+hard race, but Tom won, and grappled his man in a fierce tackle from
+behind, not two yards from the goal line. Down they went heavily, lying
+there for a few seconds, the breath knocked from them both.
+
+"Do--down!" gasped the cadet, and there were tears in his eyes, for it
+meant the end of the hope of his school.
+
+"Too bad, old man," spoke Tom kindly, "but we really couldn't allow it,
+you know. It was a good try, though."
+
+The other did not answer. He still had the ball, and there was another
+line-up, but before the play could be made, the whistle blew, and
+Randall's goal line was still inviolate.
+
+"How'd he get through?" demanded Captain Woodhouse, when the cheering
+was over, and the players were going to the dressing rooms.
+
+"He got through between Bascome and me," said the unlucky Snail.
+
+"It wasn't my fault," declared the tackle. "He just pushed Sam over. It
+wasn't my fault."
+
+"Well, it was _somebody's_ fault," grumbled the captain, "and if it
+happens again, something else will happen."
+
+There was quite a jolly time after the game, in spite of the defeat of
+the military lads, and the left half-back, who had made the sensational
+run, and who had so nearly scored, was properly lionized.
+
+"When are you going to have another little dance, girls?" asked Tom, of
+Ruth Clinton and her two friends.
+
+"When you boys have another fire at Randall," was the quick answer.
+
+The little party of students had some refreshments together, and then,
+as a little shower came up, the crowd scurried for shelter, the girls
+going back to Fairview.
+
+"Well, it was a pretty good game, all right," remarked Tom, as he and
+his chums were walking down the corridor to their room.
+
+"Pretty fair," admitted Phil. "Hold on a minute, fellows; I want to see
+something."
+
+"What?" asked Tom.
+
+"If there are any more keys in the door," answered the quarter-back,
+"and also whether anyone is in there. Listen!"
+
+They approached their portal cautiously, and waited in silence for a
+moment, but heard no sound. Then they entered, finding no false key in
+the lock.
+
+But, no sooner were the chums in their apartment, than they were made
+aware of something strange. As if by common impulse, they came to a stop
+in the middle of the floor. Then Tom cried:
+
+"Listen! Our old clock! The alarm clock!"
+
+A loud ticking was heard--a tick different from that of the mahogany
+timepiece. Tom switched on the light.
+
+There, on the mantle, in the place where it had always rested, was their
+battered old relic! They gazed at it, scarcely able to believe their
+eyes. Then Sid remarked:
+
+"The clock has come back!"
+
+"And only increases the mystery," added Tom, slowly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+SEEKING EVIDENCE
+
+
+Phil Clinton walked over to the mantle, and, almost reverently, took
+down the fussy, ticking clock. It seemed to make more noise than usual,
+but perhaps this was because the room was so quiet, or perchance
+they had become used to the rather gentle tick-tock of the mahogany
+timepiece. The quarter-back turned the clock over and over.
+
+"Yes, it's ours, all right," he finally announced.
+
+"Did you have any doubt of it?" asked Tom.
+
+"Some," admitted Phil. "There have been so many queer things happening,
+that I don't know whether or not to believe that we are really here,
+that we exist, and that there is such a place as Randall College."
+
+"There won't be, if Langridge's father and those other lawyers have
+their way," declared Sid, solemnly.
+
+Phil was still closely examining the clock, turning it over and over,
+and listening to the tick.
+
+"Well, what's the matter?" asked Tom. "Do you think it's got the
+measles or the pip, that you have to hark to its breathing apparatus
+that way?"
+
+"There's something wrong with it," declared Phil, with a dubious shake
+of his head. "It doesn't tick as it used to. Here, Sid, you listen to
+it."
+
+Thus appealed to, Sid put the timepiece to his ear.
+
+"Don't you remember," went on Phil, "how it used to sort of have a
+double tick, like an automobile with carbon in the cylinders? Sometimes
+it would act as if it was going to stop, and you'd think it had heart
+failure. Then it would get on the move again. It doesn't do that now. It
+ticks as regular as a chronometer."
+
+"You're right," agreed Sid. "Here, Tom, have a hearken."
+
+After a few minutes' test, Tom was also forced to conclude that there
+was something strange about the clock. Yet it was undeniably theirs.
+
+"And it's exactly right, too," went on Phil, comparing it with his new
+watch, a present from his mother. "It's right to the half minute, and
+that's something that never happened before since the time when the
+memory of man runneth not to the contrary. Whoever had it, and brought
+it back, took the trouble to set it right."
+
+Tom was now carefully looking the clock over. He gazed thoughtfully at
+the back, where there were a number of turn screws and keys for winding
+and setting it, and uttered an exclamation.
+
+"Fellows!" he cried, "our clock has been taken apart and put together
+again. See, the back is scratched where some one has used a knife or
+screwdriver on it, and smell the oil they've put on it."
+
+He held it first to the nose of Sid, and then to Phil. After several
+detecting whiffs, they both gave it as their opinion that the clock had
+been given an oil bath.
+
+"This gets me!" exclaimed Phil. "Why in the name of the seven sacred
+somnambulistic salamanders, anyone should go to the trouble of making a
+false key to our room, take our clock away, renovate it, and then bring
+it back I can't see for the life of me."
+
+"Same here," came from Sid, as he slumped down on the sofa. "But we've
+got it back, anyhow, and isn't there a proverb to the effect that you
+shouldn't look a beggar in the mouth?"
+
+"You're thinking of gift-horses," declared Tom, "but what you mean is,
+'take the gifts the gods provide.' Still, it is mighty queer, and I wish
+we could get some clews that would help unravel the mystery--that of our
+chair as well as the clock."
+
+Sid uncurled long enough to reach out and get a book, which he began to
+study, while Phil set himself at some of his college tasks. Only Tom
+remained inactive--yet not inactive, either, for he was doing some hard
+thinking, in which the clock, the missing chair, and the troubles of
+Randall in general, formed a part. He arose and walked about the room,
+pausing now and then in front of the clock to listen to the insistent
+ticking.
+
+"Oh, for cat's sake, sit down!" exploded Phil, at length. "I've written
+this same sentence over six times, and I can't get it right yet, with
+you tramping around like a prisoner in a cell."
+
+"Yes, go to bed," urged Sid.
+
+Tom did not answer. Instead, he stooped over and picked up an envelope
+from the floor, where it had fallen partly under and was almost hidden
+by a low bookcase. He turned it over to read the address, and uttered a
+startled cry.
+
+"What's the matter?" demanded Sid, springing to an upright position with
+such suddenness, that the old sofa creaked and groaned in protest, like
+a ship in a storm.
+
+"Look!" exclaimed Tom. "This letter--I found it on the floor--it's
+addressed to Bert Bascome--from someone in the college, evidently, for
+it hasn't been through the mail, as there's no stamp on it."
+
+Sid and Phil eagerly examined the missive, turning it over and over, as
+if something on it might escape them. It was a plain white envelope,
+and was sealed.
+
+"That throws some light on the mystery, and bears out my suspicion,"
+went on Tom.
+
+"What light?" asked Sid.
+
+"And what suspicion?" demanded Phil.
+
+"The suspicion that Langridge has had a hand in this mystery, and that
+Bert Bascome has been in our room since we last left it. That letter
+wasn't here when we went out, I'm sure of that, so Bascome must have
+dropped it when he brought back the clock."
+
+"Brought back the clock!" cried Phil. "Do you mean to say he took
+it--and the chair?"
+
+"I don't know that I do, but either he or Langridge had a hand in it,"
+asserted Tom, positively. "Langridge probably put Bascome up to it, to
+annoy us. You know Bascome and that bully were quite thick with each
+other before Langridge was forced to leave."
+
+"But this letter isn't in the handwriting of Langridge, Tom," objected
+Sid. "I know _his_ fist well enough."
+
+"That's right," agreed Phil. "But I can tell you who did write this."
+
+"Who?" demanded Tom and Sid, in a breath.
+
+"Henry Lenton," was the quiet reply.
+
+"What, the fellow you suspected of making the false key?" cried Tom, in
+startled tones.
+
+"That's the chap. He wrote this letter to Bascome; I'm sure of it."
+
+"Then those two are in the game against us!" came from Sid. "Oh,
+say, this is getting more puzzling than ever! What can we do about
+it--Langridge--Bascome--Lenton--who's guilty--who had our clock?"
+
+"I'm going to find out one thing!" declared Tom, with energy.
+
+"What's that?" asked Phil, as his chum arose and strode toward the door.
+
+"I'm going to give Bascome this letter, and find out what he was doing
+in our room."
+
+"You may make trouble," warned Phil.
+
+"I don't care if I do! I'm going to get to the bottom of this," and
+holding the envelope as if it might somehow get away from him, Tom
+strode from the apartment, his footsteps echoing down the corridor,
+while back in the room his chums listened to the ticking of the clock
+that formed a link in the curious mystery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+BASCOME DENIES
+
+
+Tom Parsons knocked vigorously on the door of Bert Bascome's room. If
+the character of his summons was any indication of his mind, the bearer
+of the letter was in no mood for compromise. As soon as he had tapped at
+the portal, there was audible within the apartment a hasty scramble.
+
+"Guess they must think it's Zane, or Prexy," mused Tom, grimly.
+He waited several seconds, and then came the gentle and somewhat
+sleep-simulated query:
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"It's me--Parsons," was the ready, if ungrammatical, answer. "Are you
+there, Bascome?"
+
+"Yes, of course. I thought it was one of the profs. It's all right,
+fellows--you can come out," and, as the door opened, Tom saw several of
+Bascome's friends crawling from under the bed and couch. There was a
+smell of cigarette smoke quite noticeable in the room.
+
+"Whew! You fellows are going some!" commented Tom. "You can smell that
+all the way up to our room."
+
+"No! Can you really?" asked Bascome, in some alarm. "We opened all the
+windows, and we fan the smoke out regularly every ten minutes; don't we,
+fellows?"
+
+"Sure," replied Merkle, one of the sportiest of sporty seniors. "It's
+regular bore to think we have to sneak around this way when we want
+to smoke. Why, in some big colleges, I understand, they allow the
+undergraduates to smoke in their rooms, and even the tutors have a pipe
+with them."
+
+"Pity this isn't a big college," remarked Bascome, as he lighted another
+cigarette. "I suppose I oughtn't to do this when I'm in training," he
+went on easily, "but you won't squeal, will you, Parsons? Have a cig.
+yourself?"
+
+"No, thank you. May I see you just a moment, Bascome?"
+
+Tom had not thought to find anyone in the room save the left tackle, and
+he hardly knew how, under the circumstances, to put his question.
+
+"Sure," answered Bascome. "Anything about football? Because if it
+is----"
+
+"It isn't," answered Tom, quickly.
+
+"Oh, then, come on out. Excuse me just a moment, fellows," he said to
+his guests, as he followed our hero out into the corridor. "I hope it
+isn't spondulix, old man," he went on. "I'd let you have some in a
+moment, but I'm dead broke, and----"
+
+"I don't need any money!" broke in Tom, half angrily. "Look here,
+Bascome, were you in our room to-day--after the football game?"
+
+"In your room? Certainly not, either before the game or after it. What
+do you mean?"
+
+"Well," went on Tom, "there have been some queer things happening
+lately. Our old chair was taken--for a joke, I presume, and----"
+
+"Do you mean to accuse me of having a hand in that?" demanded Bascome,
+indignantly. "If you do, Parsons----"
+
+"Take it easy," advised Tom, calmly. "I haven't accused you of anything
+yet. I merely asked you if you had been in our room."
+
+"But why do you do that? What makes you think I was in there?"
+
+"Because I found this there--after we came back from the game this
+afternoon," went on the end. "It's a letter addressed to you, and I
+thought maybe you had dropped it."
+
+Tom held out the missive, but, before taking it, Bascome, with a glance
+of anger at his companion, said cuttingly:
+
+"Look here, Parsons, I don't know what your game is, but I think you're
+confoundedly insulting. Now, before I look at that letter, I want to
+say, in the strongest way I know how, that I was _not_ in your room
+to-day, nor any other day lately. In fact, I haven't been there since a
+lot of us fellows were talking over football matters with you and Phil
+and Sid one evening."
+
+"Yes, I remember that time," spoke Tom. "Well, I believe you, of course.
+Here's the letter. It's mighty queer, though."
+
+Bascome gave one glance at the missive, and murmured:
+
+"Lenton! I wonder what he's writing about now. That fellow's off his
+base, I think."
+
+As he read the note, a scowl came over his face, and he muttered
+something that Tom could not catch. However, the end did hear Bascome
+say:
+
+"Insolent puppy! He's got nerve to write to me that way! I'll have it
+out with him!"
+
+Then, with rapid motions, Bascome tore the letter to pieces, and
+scattered them about the corridor.
+
+"It doesn't throw any light on the mystery that has been bothering you
+fellows, about your clock and chair," went on the tackle. "I had some
+dealings with Lenton, and this was about that."
+
+"I didn't ask to know what was in the letter," said Tom, quickly. "The
+only funny part of it was that it was in our room. I thought
+perhaps----" he hesitated.
+
+"Oh, don't make any bones about it," urged his fellow player. "You might
+as well say it as think it. You imagined I had been in there, playing
+some sort of a joke on you."
+
+"Yes, I did," admitted Tom. "Our clock was returned mysteriously
+to-night, and the one left in its place was taken away. The other night
+we found a false key in our door, and now----"
+
+"Now you find a letter addressed to me!" interrupted Bascome. "I don't
+blame you for thinking it a bit queer, old man, but I'm not in the game.
+I've got other fish to fry. The way I suppose my letter got in you
+fellows' room, is that Wallops, or some of the messengers to whom Lenton
+gave it to be delivered to me, must have dropped it there."
+
+"But Wallops nor none of the messengers would have a right to go into
+our room while we were out," declared Tom.
+
+"Oh, you can't tell what those fellows would do," asserted Bascome,
+easily. "I'll wager that's how it happened. Ask Wallops. I'm out of it,
+anyhow. I wasn't in your shack, and you can't make that too strong when
+you report back to Phil and Sid."
+
+"I will," promised Tom, somewhat nonplused at the outcome of the affair.
+He had been sure that something would come of the connection between
+Bascome and the letter. "I'm sorry I took you away from your friends,"
+he went on.
+
+"Oh, that's all right. I'd rather have you _speak_ openly like this,
+than be _thinking_ a lot of queer things. No, I'm out of it. The letter
+had nothing to do with your clock or chair," and with this denial
+Bascome turned back toward his own room.
+
+"Good night," he called to Tom; "that is, unless you'll join us?"
+
+He paused and looked back.
+
+"No, thank you, I'm going to turn in."
+
+Tom swung around, and was about to proceed down the corridor, when the
+torn pieces of the letter Bascome had destroyed caught his eye. By this
+time the other youth had entered his room, before Tom could call to him
+that perhaps he had better pick up the scraps.
+
+"Oh, well, leave them there," mused Tom. "I guess if he doesn't care
+whether or not anyone sees them, I oughtn't to."
+
+Slowly he walked along, when a piece of paper, rather larger than the
+other fragments, was turned over by the draft of his walking. It was
+directly under a hall light, and Tom could not help seeing the words
+written on it. They stood out in bold relief--three words--and they were
+these:
+
+    _the alarm clock_
+
+Tom stared at them as if fascinated. They seemed to be written in
+letters of fire. He stooped and picked up the piece of the torn letter.
+
+"The alarm clock!" murmured Tom. "I'll wager anything Lenton _was_
+writing about our clock, and yet Bascome said the letter didn't have a
+thing in it about our mystery. I wonder--I wonder if he expects me to
+believe that--now."
+
+For a moment he paused, half inclined to go back and have it out with
+Bascome. Then he realized that this would not be the wisest plan.
+Besides, he wanted to talk with Phil and Sid.
+
+"I'll tell them," he thought. "Maybe they can see through it, for I'll
+be hanged if I can. 'The alarm clock!' I wonder if I would be justified
+in picking up the rest of the pieces, and seeing what I could make of
+them? No! Of course I couldn't read another fellow's letter, even to
+solve the mystery. It's not serious enough for that."
+
+Then Tom, after another look at the scrap he had, thrust it into his
+pocket, as much for the sake of preventing it from falling into the
+hands of curiosity seekers, as for any other reason.
+
+"We'll see what Phil and Sid can make of it," he mused, and then,
+hearing someone approaching, Tom hastened on to his own room.
+
+"It certainly is queer," said Phil, when Tom had told him the result of
+his little excursion. "I think I'd almost have picked up the whole
+letter. Bascome couldn't have cared much about it, or he wouldn't have
+thrown the pieces into the hall. Guess I'll go get 'em."
+
+"No, we can't do a thing like that," declared Sid quickly. "I know a
+better plan."
+
+"What?" inquired Tom.
+
+"Let's ask Wallops if he had a note to deliver to Bascome from Lenton.
+He may have gotten in our room by mistake."
+
+"Of course!" cried Tom, quickly. "The very thing. Maybe that will help
+clear it up."
+
+It was comparatively early, and Wallops was found in the janitors'
+quarters.
+
+"No," he replied, in answer to Sid's inquiry, "I haven't seen Mr.
+Bascome or Mr. Lenton this evening, and I had no note for either of
+them, nor from one. And I wasn't in your room."
+
+"Oh, all right!" exclaimed Phil, quickly, for he did not want to create
+any talk. "I dare say it was a mistake. Come on, fellows."
+
+"Well, what do you think now?" asked Tom, as the three were on their way
+to their room.
+
+"I think either Bascome or Lenton was in our room," declared Phil.
+
+"Yes, but which one?" asked Sid.
+
+No one could answer him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+HALED TO COURT
+
+
+Our heroes were in a quandary. They had gotten on the trail of the
+mystery, and it diverged in two directions. Both paths seemed to lead
+to one or the other of two students--Bascome or Lenton. To accuse
+either, or to question them, would mean serious trouble, for it would
+be considered as an insult. Tom and his chums realized that.
+
+"But what gets me, if either one of them _did_ take our clock and chair,
+is what their motive could have been," spoke Tom. "Why in the mischief
+should they take our battered old ticker, leave another in its place,
+and then make the exchange again?"
+
+"It's just as easy to answer as to say who has our chair," declared
+Phil. "It isn't in Bascome's room, that's certain."
+
+"And Lenton hasn't it," asserted Tom. "I found that out, all right."
+
+It was the morning after the sensational discovery of the letter, and
+they were still discussing it, without apparently getting anywhere. They
+had tacitly agreed that, without more evidence than they now possessed,
+it would be folly to go to Bascome again.
+
+"Let's get out of here," proposed Tom, after some more talk on the
+subject. "We're almost late for chapel as it is."
+
+It is doubtful if either of the three chums gave much consideration to
+the services that morning. Their minds were too much filled with other
+matters.
+
+Dr. Churchill made an announcement to the effect that there might soon
+be some news to communicate in the matter of the suit against the
+college.
+
+"At present," he stated, "the matter is in the hands of the lawyers, and
+we hope to effect a compromise. If we arrive at one, I shall be most
+happy to let you young gentlemen know of it. Of course, too, there is
+the possibility of unfavorable news. But, in any event, I know that you
+will be loyal to the college."
+
+"You bet!" cried Bean Perkins, fervently, and he was not rebuked, for
+the devotional exercises were over.
+
+"I wonder what Prexy meant by bad news?" asked Holly Cross, as he walked
+over the campus with Tom and several other chums.
+
+"He didn't mean that we're going to lose the game with Fairview Saturday,
+I hope," put in Kindlings. "We're going to have long practice this
+afternoon, and I want every fellow to show up. Simpson, I'm going to
+give you a chance at left guard in the second half of the game."
+
+"Thanks!" exclaimed the big Californian, fervently.
+
+The practice on the gridiron that afternoon was the hardest to which the
+players had yet been subjected. The scrub had been instructed to play
+for all they were worth against the 'varsity, and the inducement was
+held out that if any of the second team outplayed the man against him on
+the regular eleven, that he could replace him in the Fairview game.
+
+This was enough to stir the blood of the scrubs, and they went at the
+'varsity hammer and tongs. The result was rather a surprise, for the
+regulars developed unexpected strength in the line. And even Snail
+Looper proved that he could do well when he wanted to, for when the
+backs were sent against him and Bascome, the two held well together, and
+the wave of human beings, of whom one had the ball, was dashed back,
+failing to gain in several cases.
+
+There was one particularly hot scrimmage, and Andrews, who was playing
+left half-back on the scrub, went at the line like a stone from a
+catapult. He broke through, and Pete Backus and Sid Henderson, who
+tried to tackle him, missed. Andrews was gathering his speed for a
+spring down the field for a touchdown, when Phil Clinton, who had
+circled out of the press, was after him like a shot, and after a daring
+tackle threw him heavily.
+
+But, somehow or other, Phil slipped, and his foot was doubled under him.
+When he got up he limped painfully.
+
+"What's the matter?" demanded Mr. Lighton, anxiously, as he ran up.
+
+"Twisted my ankle."
+
+"Is it sprained?"
+
+"No, only a little. I'll be all right in a minute."
+
+They had his shoe off in a jiffy, and massaged the ankle, but it did
+little good, and wanting to save his quarter-back for the big game on
+Saturday, Captain Woodhouse sent in Art Benson, as a substitute. Phil
+retired to the side lines, tears of chagrin in his eyes, but his friends
+comforted him with the thought that he would be all right by Saturday if
+he rested, while, if he didn't he couldn't play against Fairview.
+
+The game went on, and, as if nerved by Phil's injury, the 'varsity
+played like fiends. They rushed the unfortunate scrub team all over the
+field, and rolled up more touchdowns than they had previously done in
+practice that season.
+
+"I guess we'll come out all right," spoke Kindlings, gleefully, to the
+coach, as they walked from the field, discussing some new plays that had
+been tried.
+
+"I'm more hopeful," answered Mr. Lighton.
+
+A hot bath, a rub down and a vigorous massaging of his ankle with
+liniment, made Phil feel much better, and that night, propped up in an
+easy position on the sofa--the seat of honor--the quarter-back received
+his friends, several of whom dropped in to inquire after him.
+
+"Will you be fit, old man?" asked Holly Cross, anxiously. "I hear that
+Fairview has it in for us for keeps."
+
+"Sure I'll be on hand," declared Phil, gamely. "This isn't anything."
+
+"I hope not," remarked Kindlings, with a dubious shake of his head. "We
+can tell better in the morning." For he well knew that such injuries as
+Phil's often became worse in a few hours than they seemed at first.
+
+The captain's apprehension was realized, for the next morning Phil could
+not step on his foot, and Dr. Marshall, the college physician, was
+summoned.
+
+The doctor looked at the swollen ankle, felt of it gently, thereby
+causing Phil to wince with pain, and then announced:
+
+"No playing for you, Clinton."
+
+"But I've _got_ to play, doctor. I've _got_ to be in the game against
+Fairview Saturday. That's three days off. Won't it be well then?"
+
+"I'm afraid not."
+
+"Well enough to play if I wear a leather protector?"
+
+"If you play, you may be out of the game the rest of the season," was
+the solemn answer. "I must forbid it. You may do yourself serious
+injury. What you need is complete rest."
+
+Phil gasped, and held back the exclamation that sprang to his lips--an
+exclamation partly of bitterness and partly of pain, for the physician
+was rebandaging the foot. Then he turned his face to the wall, and when
+the doctor was gone, Tom and Sid sat in silent communion with their
+chum. For they knew how he felt, and knew that mere words could only
+make the wounded spirit more sore. Silence was the best balm, and
+silence there was, with only the fussy clock to mark the passage of the
+seconds.
+
+Phil's ankle was even worse the next day, and it was announced that he
+would not be in the Fairview game, which news cast a gloom over Randall,
+and caused rejoicing in the camp of their rivals, for Fairview was none
+too sure of a victory, though they had a fine eleven. Benson, the
+substitute quarter, was slated for the contest.
+
+There was hard practice every available moment up to the night before
+the game, and though the team was rather demoralized, the captain and
+coach, by vigorous words, kept the players up to the mark.
+
+"We're going to win! We're going to win!" they said over and over again.
+
+There was a noticeable air of something portending when Dr. Churchill
+and his colleagues took their seats on the platform at chapel the next
+morning. The president's voice was solemn as he read the Scriptures,
+more solemn as he offered prayer, and when he advanced to the edge of
+the rostrum to make an announcement, there was a long breath of
+expectation from the students.
+
+"Is it about football or the trouble, I wonder?" whispered Holly Cross.
+
+"Quiet," begged Tom.
+
+"Young gentlemen," began the president, "I regret to say that I have bad
+news for you. Randall College has lost the first skirmish in the legal
+battle. The directors have been summoned to court to show cause why they
+should not vacate the land whereon our buildings stand. The matter had
+assumed a serious phase, all through the loss of that quit-claim deed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+DEFEAT
+
+
+There was a buzz of excitement; everyone was whispering to his neighbor,
+and there was even talking among the members of the faculty.
+
+Dr. Churchill gave a few more facts concerning the matter, stating that
+though the first move had gone against the college, the Randall legal
+representatives hoped to be successful in court.
+
+"I might add," went on the good doctor, "that we are making every effort
+to locate the missing quit-claim deed. And I might also add that if any
+of you young gentlemen happen upon it, the faculty and myself, as well
+as the directors, will be under great obligations to you, if you will
+turn it over to us.
+
+"To that end, perhaps, I had better describe the deed," which the
+president did, at the same time making a few remarks concerning legal
+matters, and impressing on the students the necessity of taking care of
+legal papers.
+
+"You will now know the document, if you should happen to see it," he
+concluded, "though I fear we cannot hope for that. But we will not give
+up yet," he added, and then the exercises came to an end.
+
+Discussion on the new development of the trouble continued, as the
+students filed out of chapel, and strolled across the campus, some to
+lectures, some to studies, while others, who had the early periods free,
+made for the football field.
+
+"It's a rotten shame, isn't it?" exclaimed Holly Cross, as he dug his
+toe into the pigskin with vicious force. "I wish I had some of the
+lawyers who are making the trouble where this ball is," and as the
+spheroid again sailed high into the air, Holly grinned in delight at his
+effort.
+
+"Yes, it's just like Langridge to make trouble," agreed Tom. "Probably
+he's delighted at the turn affairs have taken, and he very likely hopes
+to see Randall down and out."
+
+"Well, he won't!" declared Frank, as he passed the ball to Jerry
+Jackson. "I feel sure we're going to win. As sure as I feel that----"
+
+"We'll put it all over Fairview," finished Billy Housenlager. "We've
+just _got_ to do 'em!"
+
+"Glad you feel that way," spoke Captain Woodhouse. "But with Phil laid
+up----"
+
+He did not finish, but they all knew what he meant. Up to the last,
+there was hope that Phil might pull around in time to play at least
+part of the game, but the doctor soon put an end to this thought.
+
+"It's utterly out of the question," he said, and Phil, with a groan,
+turned his face to the wall.
+
+As if Randall did not have trouble enough, more developed the night
+before the game. There had been a final meeting of the eleven, and Phil
+had managed to limp to it on a crutch. Final instructions were given by
+the coach, some new plays were decided upon, and a particular code of
+signals, of which there were several in use, was adopted.
+
+"No objections to taking a glass of ginger ale before we turn in, is
+there, Mr. Lighton?" asked Jerry Jackson of the coach, who was a strict
+trainer.
+
+"I'll allow you one," he answered.
+
+"Come on then, fellows, I'll stand treat. Got something extra in my
+allowance this month," went on the Jersey twin, and he led a crowd of
+his chums to a small refreshment place that did a thriving business just
+outside the college grounds.
+
+Whether it was the ginger ale, or the excitement caused by anticipating
+the game, was not ascertained, but it was a fact that in the night Sid
+Henderson was taken ill. Tom heard his chum groaning, and, sitting up in
+bed, asked:
+
+"What's the matter, old man?"
+
+"I don't know, but I feel as if I was burning up inside."
+
+Tom was at Sid's bed in a moment, and placed the back of his hand on his
+friend's cheek.
+
+"Why, you've got a fever!" he exclaimed "I'm going to call for Dr.
+Marshall."
+
+Wallops was sent for the physician, who pronounced Sid a very sick
+youth, and ordered his removal to the sick ward, a sort of emergency
+hospital maintained at Randall.
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised but what it was the ginger ale," said the
+physician, after questioning Sid. "You have a very bad bilious attack."
+
+"Will I--will I be all right by morning?"
+
+"By morning? Gracious, young man, what do you think we doctors are,
+magicians? We have to wait for Nature to help us."
+
+"Then I can't play."
+
+"Play? I should say not! You've got to stay in bed."
+
+"Well, wouldn't that get your goat!" exclaimed Tom, when he heard the
+news. "Phil and Sid both out of the game. Now we _are_ up against it,
+for further orders."
+
+Phil did not answer, but he gritted his teeth, and in the darkness
+stepped out of bed, bearing his weight on his injured ankle. He could
+hardly keep back an exclamation of agony, as a sharp pain shot through
+him, and he knew that what he had hoped for--that he might possibly
+play--was out of the question.
+
+The day dawned cold and fair, ideal weather for football, with no wind
+to make kicking difficult. The contest was to take place at Randall, and
+the squad was out early at practice. It was rather a serious gridiron
+squad, too, for the absence of two of the best players crippled the team
+in a manner that none cared to think about.
+
+"Jove, but I wish I was going to be with you!" spoke Sid softly, when
+Tom paid a visit to him, just before the time for calling the game.
+
+"I wish you were," said the end. "I guess you'd better pray for us, Sid,
+for we sure are up against it."
+
+Phil managed to limp out on the side lines, where he sat wrapped in a
+blanket like an Indian brave, and watched the preliminary practice,
+unable to keep back the tears that came into his eyes.
+
+There was a big crowd present. Every stand was filled, and there were
+throngs about the field. George Carter was to play in Sid's place,
+and Art Benson would be at quarter. The rest of the team was made up
+substantially as the one that had played the previous games, save that
+Frank Simpson was slated to play one half at left guard, dividing with
+Sam Looper.
+
+It was the first big game of the season, and both teams were on their
+mettle. In the stand given over to the cohorts of Fairview there was a
+big crowd, of which a goodly part were girls from the co-educational
+institution. Their shrill cheers, songs and cries mingled with the
+hoarser shouts of the Fairview lads.
+
+"I wonder if Madge and the others are cheering against us?" asked Tom,
+as he passed the ball to Simpson.
+
+"Well, you can hardly blame them for sticking up for their own college."
+
+"No, that's so. Say, they're a lively eleven, all right, aren't they?"
+
+"They sure are! Never mind, though, Parsons, we'll go through 'em all
+right."
+
+There had been many changes in the Fairview eleven, but some of the lads
+who had played before were on the team. There was Lem Sellig, who played
+quarter, instead of in his old position of left half-back, Frank
+Sullivan was at right end, and Roger Barns was full-back; Ted Puder was
+playing left guard.
+
+The practice was over, the toss had been made, and Randall was to kick
+off. Bean Perkins had led his cheerers in many songs and college yells,
+and the colors on his cane were frayed from much waving.
+
+The referee's whistle blew, and Kindlings, with a final glance at his
+own men and those of Fairview, nodded to Holly Cross, who was to send
+the ball down the field.
+
+There was a thud as the toe of the big centre met the pigskin, and away
+it sailed. It was caught by Ed Turton, who was playing left half-back,
+and he managed to get over about fifteen yards before he was caught and
+heavily thrown by Tom Parsons. Then came the line up, and the first
+scrimmage.
+
+At the line came Fred Hanson, the right half-back, aided by his mates.
+Right for a space between Bert Bascome and Snail Looper he headed, and
+managed to get through.
+
+"Hold 'em! Hold 'em!" begged Kindlings, desperately, but his men were
+shoved back, and there was a two-yard gain. It was not much, but it
+showed the power that was behind the Fairview plays. There was a burst
+of triumphant cheers from the co-educational supporters, and silence on
+the part of the cohorts of Randall, as they waited for the next play. It
+came promptly, and netted three yards. Then a run around right end tore
+off four yards more, and it looked as if Fairview would rush the ball
+for a touchdown in short order.
+
+But, in answer to the frantic appeals from Kindlings, his players braced
+desperately, and held their opponents to such advantage that Fairview
+was forced to kick, and Randall had the ball, and a chance to show what
+she could do.
+
+"Now, then, boys!" cried Benson, as he began to give the signal, "tear
+'em apart!"
+
+It was a heart-meant appeal, but something was lacking. Phil's magnetic
+presence was needed, and though Pete Backus, to whom the ball was
+passed, managed to wiggle through for a yard gain, there was noticed
+a great strength in the line of Fairview, against which the Randall
+players hurled themselves. Another try only netted two yards, and then,
+not wanting to give up the ball by sending it sailing into the enemy's
+territory, Benson signalled for a fake kick, Joe Jackson dropped back,
+and Holly Cross snapped the ball to George Carter, who was playing in
+Sid's place. Carter at once passed it to Joe, who ran with it. But, alas
+for the hopes of Randall! Joe dropped the pigskin, and Jake Johnson, the
+big centre of Fairview, who had broken through, fell on it.
+
+[Illustration: CARTER AT ONCE PASSED IT TO JOE, WHO RAN WITH IT.]
+
+There was a wild riot of yells on the part of the Fairview crowd, and
+groans of anguish from Randall. The Fairview players quickly lined up,
+and almost before Kindlings and his men had recovered from their
+astonishment and chagrin, Fred Hanson had broken through, and was
+speeding for the goal line. He got past all the tacklers, and after a
+sensational run, planted the ball between the posts.
+
+"Touchdown! Touchdown!" came the fierce cries. Randall realized that she
+had been scored upon for the first time that season, and the fact was
+bitter to her.
+
+The goal was kicked, and there were six points against our friends. It
+was disconcerting, but they went back into the play with such fierce
+energy that inside of the next ten minutes they had forced their
+opponents up the field to their five-yard line.
+
+"Now, boys, give it to 'em! Don't wait until you can see the whites of
+their eyes, but give it to 'em!" howled Bean Perkins.
+
+"Touchdown! Touchdown!" yelled the Randall crowd.
+
+"Give 'em the good old song, fellows," fairly screamed Bean. "Conquer or
+Die," and he led the singing of "_Aut Vincere, Aut Mori_."
+
+It was just the note needed to make the Randall players turn themselves
+into football fiends, and they ripped the Fairview line apart, and had
+the ball over in another minute.
+
+"Now, kick the goal, and tie the score!" urged Bean, but it was not to
+be. The ball hit the post, and bounced back, and Fairview had still one
+point the better.
+
+There was hard playing the rest of the half, but neither side scored.
+
+"Well, what do you think about it?" asked Kindlings, of the coach,
+during the rest period.
+
+"I'm afraid to say," was the answer. "We'll have to do better, or----"
+
+"Lose," spoke the captain, grimly.
+
+The story of the second half of the game is shameful history to Randall.
+It started off fairly well, but there was fumbling, and even the
+presence of the big Californian, who replaced the Snail, could not avert
+the defeat that was in store.
+
+Try as Randall did, she could not make the necessary gains, and the
+players hurled themselves against the stone wall defense of Fairview. On
+the other hand, the Fairview players found several holes in their
+opponents' line, through which they made substantial advances with the
+ball.
+
+"Hold 'em! Hold 'em!" begged Kindlings, desperately, the fear of defeat
+staring him in the face. His men worked like the ancient trojans, and
+Tom Parsons covered himself with glory twice; once when he made a
+sensational tackle, and saved a touchdown that seemed imminent, and
+again when he made a brilliant run of sixty yards, and would have
+scored, but for an unfortunate slip that enabled George Curtis, the
+Fairview left end, to nab him.
+
+That was as near as Randall came to scoring in the second half, while
+Fairview made three more touchdowns, though only one resulted in a goal.
+The score stood twenty-two to five against Randall when she was awarded
+the ball for interference and offside play on the part of her eager
+rival, who wanted to roll up a bigger total. There was only a little
+time left to play, and Kindlings desperately called upon his men in
+every way he knew how to rally and score again.
+
+There were desperate--aye, even tear-stained faces--among the Randall
+players as they lined up. Hearts were beating as though they would
+burst. Lungs were panting, and tired muscles fairly begged for relief.
+There came a great heave as the big Californian tore a hole in the
+Fairview line to let Pete Backus through, but Pete was almost downed in
+his tracks, and ere the line could be formed again, the whistle blew,
+and the game was over.
+
+For a moment the struggling players could scarcely realize it, and then,
+as the truth broke over the Randall lads, and they heard the shouting of
+the great crowd--as they knew the score--twenty-two to five--they filed
+silently from the gridiron.
+
+It is not writing of anything disgraceful against old Randall when I say
+that more than one player shed tears--bitter tears. And they were not
+assuaged by the hearty cheer which Fairview gave her rival.
+
+"Now--boys, three--three cheers for Fairview!" called Kindlings brokenly,
+in return, and his voice was not the only one that faltered when the
+tiger was given.
+
+Silently the Randall crowd left the grandstands, while the victorious
+cohorts of Fairview were singing their songs.
+
+"Boys!" cried Bean Perkins, eagerly, "don't let our fellows go off that
+way. Give 'em the 'Conquer or Die' song, but--sing it softly!"
+
+And then, out over the big field, welled the beautiful strains of the
+Latin hymn. The effect was wonderful, for the boys were good singers.
+The great crowd halted and listened, as the last chords died softly
+away.
+
+Then came a great cheer--a cheer from friend and opponent alike--a cheer
+for defeated Randall--for Randall that had not conquered, but had been
+conquered. Then the players filed to their dressing rooms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+BITTER DAYS
+
+
+"Shall we look up the girls?" asked Phil softly, as he clasped his arm
+in that of Tom's, and limped with him from the rooms under the
+grandstand. "They'll want to see us."
+
+"But I don't want to see them!" exclaimed the end, half fiercely. "I
+don't want to see anybody. I want to go off in the dark somewhere,
+and----"
+
+He stopped, for he felt a raging spirit within him that he knew was not
+good.
+
+"It's tough, old man," spoke Phil, softly, "but maybe it will be best
+for old Randall in the end."
+
+"Best nothing! It never would have happened if we'd had you and Sid on
+the team."
+
+"Oh, yes, it might."
+
+But Tom would not have it so, and clung to the dispute until someone
+started an argument about the referee's ruling on a certain point, and
+then the subject was quickly changed.
+
+"Better come over and see the girls," urged Phil again, as he walked
+along on his crutch. "Sid will want to know what they said, and you
+know he can't get out for a couple of days."
+
+"Oh, all right," Tom almost snapped.
+
+"They won't rub it in--they'll know how we feel," went on the
+quarter-back. And to the credit of Ruth, Madge and Mabel, be it said
+that though they were Fairview girls, and their college had downed
+Randall, which had not happened in a blue moon before, they never so
+much as "looked" the triumph they must have felt. They knew the
+bitterness of defeat, and--well, they were wise little damsels.
+
+They talked of anything but football, though the reference to Phil's
+injury and to Sid's illness naturally verged on it. Then they got on
+safer ground, and, as Tom walked along with Ruth, while Phil had Madge
+Tyler on one side and Mabel Harrison on the other, the bitterness, in a
+measure, passed from them.
+
+"We'll do up Boxer Hall twice as bad!" predicted Tom.
+
+"That's right," agreed Phil. "I'll play then, and----"
+
+"Don't boast!" called his sister, with a laugh.
+
+The girls sent messages of condolence to Sid. Tom and Phil hurried to
+tell their chum all about it. Sid had improved enough to enable him to
+be moved to their room, and there, with him in bed, the game was played
+all over again.
+
+"It wasn't the poor playing of any one man, or any two or three men,"
+declared Tom. "It was the fault of the whole team. We're crippled,
+that's what we are, and we've got to get in shape for the rest of the
+season, or----"
+
+The possibility was not to be mentioned.
+
+"I don't suppose anything like this would happen again in years, that
+we'd lose so many players," spoke Phil. "We can't always play in luck."
+
+"Kindlings feels it pretty fierce," said Tom. "He couldn't talk when he
+came off the field."
+
+"Yes, it's got him bad," agreed Phil. "Well, we'll have to do better,
+that's all. I think Simpson is booked for good on the 'varsity, after
+the dandy game he put up in the second half."
+
+"Yes," came from Tom. "The Snail means all right, but he's too slow.
+Frank will help the team a whole lot."
+
+"Tell me about his playing," urged Sid, and they gave it to him, point
+by point.
+
+There were bitter days for Randall following the Fairview game, and for
+a time it seemed that the defeat would work havoc with the team. But Mr.
+Lighton was a wise coach, and he only laughed at the gloomy predictions.
+
+"Oh, we'll come into our own, soon," he declared. "Get right into
+practice, and keep it up."
+
+Phil was able to be in his old place a couple of days later, and Sid
+was soon off the sick list, so that the team was once more in shape.
+Simpson was voted a "find," and showed up well at guard. Bascome also
+improved under the influence of the presence of the big Californian.
+
+"Well, I think we're gradually getting into shape again, captain,"
+remarked the coach to Kindlings one day, after some hard practice,
+during which the scrub had been "pushed all over the field, and had its
+nose rubbed in the dirt," as Holly Cross picturesquely expressed it.
+
+"Yes," agreed Dan Woodhouse. "We miss Bricktop and Ed Kerr, but what
+can't be cured must be put up in pickles, as the old woman said when she
+kissed the broom."
+
+"Cow, you mean," corrected the coach.
+
+"I make my own proverbs," replied Kindlings, with a laugh. "They keep
+better. But, seriously, I think we will shape up pretty well for the
+Boxer game. We've got a couple of contests in between, one with the
+Waram Prep, and the other with Duncan College. We will take both of
+those, and that will make the boys feel better."
+
+"Yes, a little victory, now and then----"
+
+"Makes good dressing on your salad," finished Dan, with a laugh.
+
+Though football took up much of the time of our heroes, with Phil and
+Sid again on the active list, they had not forgotten their quest after
+their beloved chair, nor had they given up their plan of discovering
+who took the clock.
+
+But, as the days passed, our friends were no nearer a solution than they
+had been in the past. They kept watch on Bascome and Lenton, but nothing
+developed, and they did not like to make any inquiries.
+
+The bitterness of the Fairview defeat still lingered like a bad
+taste, in the mouth of the Randall gridiron knights, but it was being
+overshadowed by the game which would soon be played with Boxer Hall.
+This season they would clash but once with those doughty warriors, and
+according to the games that had thus far been played in the Tonoka Lake
+League, the championship was practically a tie between Randall and Boxer
+Hall.
+
+"If we win all our other games, and we're likely to do that," said
+Kindlings, "all we need to do is to wallop Boxer Hall, and the
+championship is ours."
+
+"Yes, that's all," remarked Dutch Housenlager. "It's easily said, but
+not so easy to do."
+
+"Get out, you old catamaran!" cried Holly Cross.
+
+It was one morning at chapel, following the annual reunion of the "Old
+Grads" of Randall, that President Churchill made an announcement that
+caused quite a sensation.
+
+"I have bad news to announce," he said, as he stood on the platform
+after the devotional exercises. "There has been a conference between our
+lawyers and those representing the claimants to our land. They demand
+twenty thousand dollars in settlement."
+
+There was a gasp of surprise that went around the chapel like a wave of
+hysteria among a lot of girls.
+
+"Twenty thousand dollars!" whispered Tom Parsons.
+
+"Randall can never pay it," remarked Sid, who sat next to him.
+
+Dr. Churchill waited for the murmurs to cease.
+
+"I need hardly add," he continued, "that it is out of the question for
+us to pay this sum. Yet, if we do not, we may lose all that we hold
+dear," and the president seemed much affected. "However, we have not
+given up the fight, and there may yet be a loophole of escape. You may
+now go to your classes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+MOSES IN PHYSICS
+
+
+"Say, fellows, have you heard the news?" burst out Dutch Housenlager one
+morning after chapel, about a week following the announcement about the
+twenty thousand dollars being demanded.
+
+"News? What news?" inquired Holly Cross.
+
+"Has the lawsuit been called off?" asked Tom.
+
+"Or has Bricktop Molloy decided to come back to play on the eleven?"
+demanded Sid.
+
+"Neither one, but we're in for no end of a lark."
+
+"Oh, yes. If there's anything funny in the wind, you can depend on
+Dutch to ferret it out," spoke Phil. "Well, what is it now, you old
+Hollander?"
+
+"Prof. Newton is down with the pip, or something, and can't take his
+chemistry or physics classes to-day. They're shy one other teacher, so
+Prexy is going to handle the physics recitation. What a cinch it'll be!
+I'm not up in mine, but Moses is sure to ask us where the lesson is. We
+won't do a thing but steer him back to one we had a week ago. Then I'll
+be safe."
+
+"You can, if you like," spoke Tom, "but I'm not going to. I've got mine,
+and it's a shame to put one over Moses."
+
+"Aw, what's the harm?" demanded Dutch. "It will amount to the same thing
+in the end. Now don't go to spoiling my fun. I'm not up, I tell you, and
+I don't want to get any more crosses than I have. My record won't stand
+it."
+
+"Then you can do the funny work," declared Phil. "If he asks any of
+us----"
+
+"I'll sing out about a back lesson," interrupted Dutch. "Then I'll be
+safe. Anyhow, Moses will be sure to ask about three questions, and they
+will remind him of something about Sanskrit or modern Chinese, and he'll
+swing into a talk about what the ancient Babylonians did in war time.
+Then you fellows will call me blessed, for you won't have any physics to
+prepare to-morrow, when Prof. Newton will likely be back."
+
+"Have it your own way," spoke Holly Cross.
+
+As usual when there occurred a change in the routine of lectures or
+classes there was more or less of a spirit of unrest or mischief among
+the students. Those in the natural science division filed into the room
+where Professor Newton usually held sway, and it was quickly whispered
+about that "Moses" would appear to hear them.
+
+The venerable president entered with his usual book under his arm, for
+he studied early and late--harder than the "greasiest dig that ever kept
+the incandescent going," to quote Holly Cross.
+
+"Ah, young gentlemen," began Dr. Churchill, blandly, "I presume you are
+surprised to see me, but your instructor is ill, and I will endeavor to
+take his place. You are--er--you are in advanced science, are you not? I
+believe I have the right class," and the good doctor, somewhat puzzled,
+consulted a memorandum slip in his hand. "Yes, this is the class,"
+he went on, with an air of relief. "Now, to-day's lesson was to be
+on--er--I'm afraid I have forgotten. Professor Newton told me, but it
+has slipped my mind."
+
+It was exactly what Dutch Housenlager had counted on, and he was ready
+to take advantage of it.
+
+"But of course," continued the president, with a smile, "you students
+will know where it is." He opened the physics book, and leafed it over,
+as though the lesson would be disclosed to him in some supernatural way.
+All eyes turned to Dutch, for his impending game had become whispered
+about.
+
+"I think it's page three hundred forty-seven, Dr. Churchill," said
+Dutch, mentioning a lesson about a week old.
+
+"Ah, yes," went on the president. "I see. It has to do with heat and
+cold, sudden changes of temperature and the effects produced by each.
+Very interesting, very. I trust you are all prepared?"
+
+"If we aren't, it's funny," murmured Dutch, for they had recited on it
+several times in review.
+
+"Speaking of the changes produced by sudden changes of temperature, can
+you give me a common example?" asked the president, his eyes roving
+about the room. Dutch seemed so eager to recite, and have it done with,
+that his agitation could not but be noticed. "You may answer, Mr.
+Housenlager," finished Dr. Churchill.
+
+"Ice and snow," came the ready reply. Dutch breathed easy again. He
+thought he was done for the day.
+
+"Very true," continued Dr. Churchill easily, "but that is a little _too_
+common. I referred to the Prince Rupert drops. I dare say you all know
+what they are. Mr. Housenlager, you will kindly explain to the class
+how they are made, the effect they produce, and what principle they
+illustrate."
+
+The doctor sat down, and all eyes were once more turned toward Dutch.
+Nearly every lad in the class could have given some sort of answer, for
+they had seen the curious glass drops broken by their regular teacher.
+But, as it happened, Dutch had been absent when that subject came up,
+and, as he made it a practice never to inquire what went on in the
+lecture room when he was not present, he was wholly at sea regarding the
+drops. He had a hazy idea regarding them, however, and resolved to
+hazard a recitation. It was better than complete failure.
+
+As "every schoolboy" (to quote a well known authority) knows what the
+Prince Rupert drops are, I will only state that they are globules
+of glass, pear shaped, with a long thin "tail" of the same brittle
+material. They are formed by dropping molten glass into water. The
+outside cools quickly, a long tail is formed, and there results an
+unequal strain on the glass, because the outside part has cooled faster
+than the inside. The instant a small part of the "tail" is broken off,
+the entire drop crumbles to glass-dust, the pressure once more being
+equalized.
+
+It was this object and phenomenon that Dutch was called on to recite
+about. He rose in his seat, and began with an air of confidence that he
+did not feel:
+
+"The Rupert drops illustrate the power of hot water or steam. They are
+globules of glass, filled with water, and, when they are heated, they
+burst to pieces, showing the expansive force of heat."
+
+The class wanted to roar. Dr. Churchill raised his eyebrows in surprise.
+Dutch had described another glass object used in the class room, and his
+explanation of that had been correct, but it was as different from a
+Prince Rupert drop as a ham sandwich is from chicken.
+
+"Ah--um," mused the president, putting on his glasses,
+and gazing at Dutch through them. "Very interesting, Mr.
+Housenlager--very--but--hardly what I asked you."
+
+"I--er I--er--I'm afraid I'm not prepared, sir," stammered the
+fun-loving youth, and the smiles went round the class.
+
+"Too bad--don't you want to try again?" asked the president.
+
+Dutch thought, and thought hard, but the more he tried to use his brain,
+the more foreign Prince Rupert seemed to him. He gave it up.
+
+"Failure," murmured Dr. Churchill, as he marked it down against Dutch.
+"You may try, Parsons."
+
+Tom gave the right answer. Dutch gave a gasp of surprise, and it was
+noticed that he paid very close attention to the rest of the lesson. But
+it did not go much farther, for, as Dutch had predicted, the president
+soon got on a strain that interested him, and, ignoring the text book,
+which was opened at the wrong page, he swept into a talk on something
+about as far from physics as is bookkeeping.
+
+But the "goose of Dutch had been done to a lovely brown," once more
+quoting Holly Cross. His trick had turned against him, for, had he
+given the proper page, or had he allowed anyone else to do so, the
+chances are that he would not have been called on. He made himself
+conspicuous, and so fell before the good doctor.
+
+"Well, Dutch," remarked Holly, as they filed from the room, "don't you
+want to try it on again in our Latin class?"
+
+"Cut it out!" advised Dutch gruffly, as he marched on. "I know when I've
+had enough."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE DANCE CARD
+
+
+"You look all right, Sid; you'll pass!"
+
+"Hey! What's that?" and Sid Henderson swung around from the mirror over
+his bureau, with a somewhat guilty flush on his face.
+
+"I said you'd do," repeated Tom, with a mischievous grin, as he stood in
+the doorway of the room, having paused in the act of entering. "What
+were you doing, putting on a beauty mark, or looking to see if you
+needed a shave?"
+
+"I was trying to get my tie straight," growled Sid, as he fastened his
+low cut vest, for he was in his evening clothes.
+
+"Get out, you musty old misogynist!" exploded Phil, following Tom into
+the room. "We know what you were doing, all right. You wanted to see if
+you were good-looking enough, so that you could dance with Mabel all the
+evening."
+
+Sid looked around for something to throw at his tormenting roommates,
+but nothing was handy. Besides, he might crack the stiff bosom of his
+shirt, the snowy expanse of which reflected back the glow of the
+incandescent light.
+
+"If you fellows are going to the racket, it's about time you togged up,"
+went on Sid, as he carefully took a seat in a chair. He did not sink
+luxuriously onto the sofa this time, for fear of "mussing himself up,"
+as Holly Cross would have said.
+
+"Oh, we'll be ready in jig time!" cried Phil, throwing his coat on one
+chair, his vest on another, and, almost before the garments had landed
+in "artistic confusion," he was changing his shoes.
+
+"We went to a football meeting," explained Tom, as he shed his ordinary
+raiment and proceeded to "tog up."
+
+"Anything doing?" asked Sid, as he manicured his nails.
+
+"Oh, for the love of tripe! Look at him!" cried Phil, with his head
+half way through a clean shirt. "Say, you'd think he was going to a
+coming-out party, instead of to a Fairview frat. dance. Oh, Tom, is my
+back hair on straight?" and Phil, who had uttered the last in a shrill
+falsetto voice, tried to look at the after-portion of his shock of
+football hair.
+
+"Say, when you fellows know how to act like gentlemen instead of like a
+bunch of rough-necks, I'll talk to you," spoke Sid, with dignity. "I
+asked you a question, Tom."
+
+"Oh, yes, about the football meeting," went on the end. "Well, you
+needn't get on your ear just because we jollied you a little. Stand the
+gaff like a man. No, there wasn't much doing. We talked over some new
+plays. Incidentally we tried to explain the slump Randall seems to be up
+against, but we couldn't. Where were you?"
+
+"Don't ask him. He was up here fussing worse than a girl," broke in
+Phil. "Hannibal's henpecked hyperbolas! But do you remember the time,
+Tom, when we couldn't get Sid to look at a girl, much less to take one
+to a dance? Now he feels hurt if he doesn't do the Cubanola Glide with
+one at least once a week. Vanity, thy name is Sid Henderson!"
+
+"Oh, cheese it, for cats' sake!" begged Sid, in despair. Then Phil, who
+seemed to take delight in "rigging" his chum, glanced at the battered
+old alarm clock, which was again on duty.
+
+"Cæsar's grandmother!" cried the quarter-back. "I'll be late," and
+forthwith he began to make motions "like a fellow dressing in a hurry,"
+as he said afterward, and Sid was left in peace to complete his
+immaculate attire, while Tom, too, seeing the need of haste, left off
+"badgering" Sid.
+
+It was the occasion of one of the several dances that the girls of
+Fairview Institute had arranged, and to which they were allowed to ask
+their friends. Of course, Miss Philock, the preceptress, was chief
+chaperone, and there were other elderly teachers who took part.
+
+Tom, Phil and Sid, together with a number of other students from
+Randall, had been invited, and this was the evening when "event number
+six, in the free-for-all-catch-as-catch-can style of dancing would be
+pulled off," as Holly Cross remarked, when he was preparing for it. It
+was about a week after Dr. Churchill had so taken the wind out of the
+sails of Dutch Housenlager in the physics class, and in the meanwhile
+life at the college had gone on much as usual.
+
+The affair took place in the Fairview gymnasium, which was appropriately
+decorated for the purpose. Tom and his three chums--for Frank Simpson
+went with them--had called for Miss Tyler and her friends, Ruth and
+Mabel. Frank was to escort a new girl, Miss Helen Warden, to the dance.
+
+"You're a little late," chided Ruth, as she greeted her brother and the
+others.
+
+"It was Sid's fault," asserted Phil, with a wink at Tom. "He _would_
+insist on changing his togs at the last minute."
+
+"And the hairdresser disappointed him, and he had to curl it himself,"
+put in Tom.
+
+"You--you----" spluttered Sid, and then he choked back his justifiable
+wrath.
+
+"Don't mind them," sympathized Mabel Harrison. "We know some secrets as
+well as they, Sid."
+
+"Oh, I'll get back at 'em some time," predicted the stocky half-back.
+
+There was quite a throng at the dance when our friends arrived, and
+shortly after the girls came from the dressing rooms, the orchestra
+began a dreamy waltz. The lads led out their partners, and the gymnasium
+presented a brilliant and animated scene.
+
+"Did you see him?" called Tom to Phil, as the two young men and their
+pretty partners swung near each other in the middle of the big waxed
+floor.
+
+"Who?" asked Phil, slowing up.
+
+"Langridge," was the reply, and then they were too far apart for more
+conversation.
+
+"Oh, dear, did _he_ come?" asked Ruth of Tom, and she seemed distressed.
+"I do hope he and Phil----"
+
+"No danger," interrupted Tom. "We'll keep clear of him. What girl has
+he?"
+
+"I can't imagine. I'll look when I see him dancing with her."
+
+Tom pointed out his former enemy, as he swung his partner around again,
+and Ruth exclaimed:
+
+"Oh, she's that new girl! Miss Rossmore is her name. I guess she doesn't
+know Mr. Langridge--very well."
+
+"Probably not," agreed Tom, and then the dance came to an end in a crash
+of melody. There was applause for an encore, and once more the strains
+were taken up, and the youths and maidens were treading the misty mazes
+of the waltz.
+
+The custom prevailed at these fraternal society affairs of the lads
+taking their partners' dance programmes and filling the cards for them.
+This was usually done in advance, and insured a girl plenty of dancers
+with partners of whom her escort approved. For he would only put down,
+or allow their owners to, the names of his own friends. It was a sort of
+"clearing-house" of dances, and the lads lobbied among themselves, and
+"split" numbers with each other at their own sweet will, in order to
+"fill in."
+
+"I've got to get one more partner for you," remarked Tom, when the
+second half of the waltz had come to an end. "I'll be back in a moment,"
+and leading Ruth over to where her friends were seated, Tom scurried off
+toward some of his chums, in order to impress one of them into service
+for his fair partner. There was one vacant waltz on her card, and Tom
+himself had been booked for that number with Miss Tyler.
+
+"I want one for Miss Clinton," called the pitcher, as he slid into the
+group of his chums.
+
+"Put me down!" exclaimed Jerry Jackson eagerly. "She's one of the best
+waltzers here. Put me down, Tom."
+
+"All right," and Tom reached in his pocket for the card. It was not
+there, and a puzzled look came over his face. "Jove, I must have lost
+it!" he exclaimed blankly, as he looked back over the route he had
+taken. As he did so he saw Garvey Gerhart approaching, holding out one
+of the dance orders.
+
+"I think you dropped this," murmured the crony of Langridge. "I just
+picked it up."
+
+"Thanks--very much," exclaimed Tom, in relief, and taking the card, he
+had the Jersey twin scribble his name on the only vacant line.
+
+"I put our friend Jerry down for you," he explained to Ruth, as he
+joined her.
+
+"Thanks," she murmured. "Oh, there's that lovely two-step. I can't dance
+that enough!" and her little foot tapped the floor impatiently. Tom led
+her out as the music welled forth.
+
+All too soon it was nearing the end of the little affair, for, though it
+was not late, the rules of Fairview forbade any extended festivities.
+Tom, who had been dancing with Miss Harrison, was walking over to claim
+Ruth for the next number, when he saw Langridge stepping toward her.
+
+"Confound him!" thought Tom, an angry flush mounting to his face, "is he
+going to speak to her again?"
+
+Such was evidently the intention of the former Randall bully. He was
+smiling at Phil's sister, who at first did not notice him. Langridge and
+Tom reached her at about the same time, and what was our hero's surprise
+to hear his enemy say:
+
+"I believe this is our dance, Miss Clinton?"
+
+She turned in astonishment, a wave of color surging into her fair face.
+
+"Our dance--yours----" she stammered.
+
+"I have your name down on my card," went on Langridge calmly, "and I
+believe if you will look at yours that you will find mine on it."
+
+Hastily Ruth caught up her dance order, which dangled from her fan. As
+she scanned the names, the color of her face deepened.
+
+"Why--why--it--it _is_ here," she murmured. "I did not know--Tom, did
+you----"
+
+"Most certainly _not_!" declared Tom, as emphatically as he could
+without attracting too much attention. "I think you are mistaken, Mr.
+Langridge," he added stiffly. "I booked no dance for Miss Clinton with
+you."
+
+"Perhaps you had better look at the card," replied the bully,
+sneeringly.
+
+Tom gave it a hasty glance. There was no doubt of it. There, in bold
+writing, on a line where he was sure he had scribbled his own name,
+was that of Langridge. It was the last dance but two, and Tom had the
+last one. He was also sure he had this one, and yet the name of his
+enemy----
+
+"There must be some mistake," he said, in confusion, for sometimes
+mistakes would occur in the indiscriminate trading of cards among
+friends. "But I'm sure I never gave you that card to fill out, Mr.
+Langridge."
+
+The bully shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I don't know that you figure in this at all," he said, with a sneering
+air. "I have this dance with Miss Clinton. May I have the honor?" and he
+bowed gracefully to the confused girl, and held out his arm.
+
+"I--I don't----" she began, in distress.
+
+"This is not your dance," declared Tom, glaring at Langridge, reaching
+out his hand toward his own partner.
+
+The rivals faced each other. Rivals again, though on a different field
+than the baseball diamond. An angry light gleamed in Tom's eyes--on the
+face of Langridge there was a supercilious sneer. They stood thus, at
+one side of the ballroom floor. The music was playing softly, and some
+were dancing, but the impending scene between Tom and Langridge was
+attracting attention.
+
+Ruth realized it, and was very much distressed. Tom was determined
+not to give way, but he realized that to make further claim against
+Langridge would have the effect of causing a most unpleasant affair. He
+felt that there was something wrong somewhere.
+
+It was Frank Simpson who saved the day. The big Californian had seen at
+a distance what took place, and had guessed what was going on. Also he
+had overheard a little of the conversation, and he was able to fill in
+the rest.
+
+He sauntered slowly up to the trio, and, with an air of good fellowship,
+which he assumed for the occasion, he clapped Langridge lightly on the
+back.
+
+"Hello, old man!" he exclaimed. "We'll meet soon on the gridiron, I
+hope."
+
+"Yes," answered Langridge stiffly, turning aside. "Miss Clinton, will
+you----" He paused suggestively.
+
+"No!" whispered Tom. "Your name never got on her card right."
+
+"Take care!" almost hissed Langridge.
+
+"No, it is you who must take care!" broke in Simpson, leaning forward as
+if he was talking on ordinary topics to the three. The crowd saw, and
+taking the very view of the little gathering that the big Californian
+wished them to, they turned aside. "It is _you_ who must take care, Mr.
+Langridge," went on Frank. "I saw you write your name on Miss Clinton's
+card."
+
+"What!" The bully's eyes blazed.
+
+"Easy now," cautioned Simpson, in calm tones. "Tom, you dropped your
+partner's card a while ago, didn't you?"
+
+"Yes!" The end was beginning to understand now.
+
+"I happened to be standing behind a pillar," went on Frank, "when I saw
+Langridge pick it up. I saw him erase a name and substitute another, but
+I thought nothing of it at the time, as lots of the fellows had girls'
+cards, filling them out. Then I saw Mr. Langridge hand the dance order
+to a friend of his, who started toward you with it, Tom, just as you
+discovered your loss."
+
+"Gerhart--he handed it to me!" gasped Tom. "I see now! Langridge,
+you----"
+
+"He tried to play a sneaking trick, and was caught at it!" broke in
+Simpson. "Now, Mr. Langridge, I'd advise you to leave this dance!" and
+the voice of the big Californian grew stern as he looked full into the
+eyes of Langridge.
+
+Without a word, but with a glance of hate at Tom, the bully swung around
+and crossed the room, threading his way amid the dancers.
+
+"Thanks, old man!" exclaimed Tom, fervently, to Frank. "You save
+us--saved Miss Clinton--an unpleasant time."
+
+"Indeed you did," spoke Ruth, holding out her little hand. "I don't know
+how I can repay you. I did not look at my card when Tom handed it back
+to me, but when I saw--saw that name there, I--I knew I had never let
+him put it down."
+
+"Here!" exclaimed Tom, taking the order. He scratched out the offending
+name. "It's gone now," he added, with a laugh.
+
+"I am in your debt, Mr. Simpson," went on Ruth.
+
+"Then repay me sometime by saving a dance for me," spoke the lad from
+the Golden West, as he bowed and moved away.
+
+"I think this is our dance--_now_!" spoke Tom, with a smile.
+
+"Oh--Tom!" exclaimed the girl, "I--I think I'd rather sit it out."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+THE LEGAL BATTLE
+
+
+Langridge left the gymnasium immediately after the unpleasant scene, and
+Gerhart soon followed. In a manner, the evening had been partly spoiled
+for Ruth, but her girl chums gathered around her, and succeeded in
+bringing back a smile to her face.
+
+She and Tom "sat out" the dance over which there had been a dispute, and
+in a palm bower they talked of many things. Miss Clinton begged off from
+her partner in next to the last dance, but she did the closing number
+with Tom, who wished that the music would never cease.
+
+But the dance finally came to an end with a crash of melody, and though
+the youths and maidens applauded vigorously, the tired musicians put
+away their instruments and departed.
+
+"Well, it's over," spoke Tom, regretfully, as he escorted his fair
+companion toward the dressing room.
+
+"Yes, but it was--glorious while it lasted!" she exclaimed, with
+brightly sparkling eyes. She was herself again.
+
+"When is the next one?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+"Oh, you greedy boy!" she cried. "I'll let you know, however. We can't
+have them too often. The ogress objected to this one, as it was."
+
+"Meaning Miss Philock?" asked Tom.
+
+"No one else. I'll be out soon, and then we'll go home. There are Madge
+and Mabel."
+
+Tom and his friends went to have a final cup of coffee, before starting
+off with the girls, and while they were drinking the beverage, Frank
+Simpson remarked:
+
+"Well, we ought to know this week whether we're going to have a Randall
+College any more or not."
+
+"How so?" asked Phil.
+
+"The real legal battle opens in court to-morrow. I heard Dr. Churchill
+telling Mr. Zane about it this afternoon. It seems there is a certain
+point to be argued before they get at the main issue, and whichever side
+wins this point will have the advantage, and practically get the case."
+
+"What sort of a point is it?" asked Tom, who had a little leaning toward
+the law.
+
+"Blessed if I know?" replied the Californian. "It was too deep for me,
+though I heard Moses mention it. There was something about a writ of
+_certiorari_ or _lis pendis_ or an injunction, or something like that."
+
+"Maybe the college authorities are going to ask for an injunction to
+prevent Langridge and that crowd from interfering until the football
+season is over," suggested Holly Cross, hopefully.
+
+"What? Do you imagine that all Moses and the others have to think of is
+football?" demanded Phil. "I tell you, fellows, this is a serious
+matter. I'd hate to see old Randall done away with."
+
+"So would we all," declared Kindlings. "But maybe we'll win in court,
+just as----"
+
+"As we didn't against Fairview, but as we're going to do against Boxer
+Hall!" interrupted Tom, with energy, and then he saw Ruth beckoning to
+him, as she stood with her chums, most bewitchingly arrayed in a fur
+coat. "Come on!" called Tom to his friends, and soon they were escorting
+the girls home.
+
+There was some expectation when the students at Randall assembled in
+chapel the next morning, and it was borne out by an announcement Dr.
+Churchill made.
+
+"Perhaps some of you have heard of the further rumors going about
+concerning our difficulties," he said, gravely. "I beg of you to pay no
+attention to them. The case is far from settled, though within two days
+it may progress much toward that end, either for us--or against us. I
+now wish to state," he went on, after a pause, "that the faculty as well
+as the directors have been summoned to court to-morrow and the following
+day, so that Randall will be without a teaching force. You young
+gentlemen will be given two holidays from your lectures and studies, but
+I request that none of you leave the vicinity of the college in that
+time. Mr. Zane will be in charge. I believe that is all," and the
+president bowed to the students.
+
+"Wow! Think of it! Two days off!" whispered Dutch.
+
+"You'll practice football as you never did before," declared Kindlings
+with energy. "It isn't going to be all cakes and ginger ale for you,
+Dutch, my lad!"
+
+There was much jubilation among the students at the prospect of an
+unexpected vacation, and even that day, preceding the two days' holiday,
+the spirit of unrest was manifested, so that lectures suffered.
+
+Early the next morning, President Churchill and the entire faculty took
+the train for the county seat, where the legal battle would be fought in
+the courthouse. The president and the instructors were needed to give
+evidence as to how long Randall had been in undisturbed possession of
+the land, as the college lawyers hoped thus to prove their right to it,
+even without the lost quit-claim deed.
+
+"Now, young gentlemen," began Proctor Zane, when the authorities had
+departed, "I shall expect implicit obedience from all of you in this
+emergency. I want no skylarking or horseplay," and as he said that he
+looked directly at Dutch Housenlager.
+
+"Oh, no, we won't do a thing," promised the fun-loving lad. "Will we,
+Holly?"
+
+"Speak for yourself. I'm going to practice kicking," declared the big
+centre, as he walked over toward the gridiron with a ball under his arm,
+followed by a number of the eleven.
+
+Kindlings and the coach took advantage of the free time to insist on
+thorough practice, and an impromptu game was arranged with a nearby
+preparatory school for the following day, while for the present the
+'varsity would have the scrub as opponents. There was a noticeable
+improvement on the part of the regular eleven, and Captain Woodhouse
+felt much encouraged.
+
+"I say, fellows," remarked Dutch Housenlager, as he strolled into the
+room of our four chums that night, and found Frank Simpson there, "I've
+got a great idea."
+
+"What is it, to set the college on fire, transport it bodily to some
+other location, or some other cute and infantile bit of cutting-up like
+that?" asked Tom.
+
+"Neither, you old catamaran! But Zane has his hands full with the
+freshman class. Particular hob has broken loose over in their dormitory,
+and 'Zany' is at his wits' end. Now, what's the matter with some of us
+getting into his room, and upsetting it a bit, to pay him back for what
+he's made us suffer? How's that for a joke?"
+
+"Too kiddish," declared Phil. "If you can't think up anything more
+lively you'd better go to bed, or join the freshies. Come again, Dutch."
+
+"Say, it's a wonder you fellows wouldn't think up something lively
+yourselves, once in a while," protested the big lad. "You want me to
+do it all, and then you blame me if it doesn't come out right. Name
+something yourself, Phil Clinton," challenged Dutch.
+
+"Oh, get out, we're going to have a game of chess," declared Sid. "Keep
+quiet."
+
+"Well, if you fellows don't want to have a good time, I'm going to,"
+declared Dutch, with an injured air. "I'll find someone to do the trick
+with me, and then you'll wish you'd come along."
+
+"Fare thee well," mockingly called Tom, after the departing student.
+
+Dutch managed to get Holly Cross and the two Jersey twins into his
+scheme, and the four lads, after ascertaining that the proctor was
+busily engaged trying to bring order out of chaos in the freshmen
+ranks, made for Mr. Zane's room.
+
+"We'll make him think a cyclone has broken loose," declared Dutch,
+gleefully. "It will be rich."
+
+Now Mr. Zane was the personification of neatness. His room was as well
+arranged as the stateroom of the captain on an ocean liner. There was a
+place for everything, and everything was always in its place.
+
+But the mischief-making students had not been inside more than three
+minutes, before the apartment did indeed look as though a looting
+burglar had been at work. Drawers of bureaus were pulled out, books were
+scattered all about, the chairs were piled up on the tables, a couch was
+turned over, and some of the incandescent light bulbs removed.
+
+"Now let's turn every picture with the face to the wall," proposed
+Dutch, with a chuckle.
+
+"Great!" declared Joe Jackson.
+
+"Immense!" echoed his brother.
+
+They were in the act of turning the etchings and engravings about face,
+when there came a sudden knock at the door. If thunder had sounded in
+the room the lads could not have been more surprised. They looked at
+each other in consternation. The knock was repeated.
+
+"Co--come in," stammered Holly.
+
+Slowly the portal was pushed open, and, there, standing in the hall, was
+Professor Emerson Tines, with a small valise in his hand.
+
+At the sight of the confusion that reigned in the proctor's well-ordered
+apartment a look of amazement spread itself over the face of the Latin
+instructor. His jaw fell, and the valise did likewise. Then he snapped
+his teeth together, there came a glinting light into his eyes, and with
+a frosty smile he spoke.
+
+"Good evening, young gentlemen," he said, as he stepped into the room.
+
+"Caught!" murmured Dutch, as he let a picture swing back into place.
+"Caught!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+ONE POINT LOST
+
+
+For a moment there was silence--portentous, momentous silence, while
+"Pitchfork" gazed at the astonished lads, and as they returned his
+stare.
+
+"Well," remarked the Latin professor, as he advanced farther into the
+room, and looked about at the confusion on every side, "I see that Mr.
+Zane is not here."
+
+"N--no--no, sir," answered Dutch, for Mr. Tines was looking directly at
+him, and seemed to expect him to reply. "He--he has gone out."
+
+"Which is evidently the reason _you_ are here, committing these acts of
+vandalism!" said the professor, bitterly. "I am ashamed of you! To think
+that Dr. Churchill, myself and the other teachers could not go away for
+two days without you students behaving yourselves like this, it is
+disgraceful, shameful!"
+
+He spoke as though the whole responsibility of the college rested upon
+himself and the venerable president, whereas it was common knowledge
+that the plan was being considered of dropping Mr. Tines and getting a
+more popular professor, as well as a proctor who was more in sympathy
+with the boys.
+
+"We--we only wanted to have some--some fun," went on Dutch, who, having
+acted as leader in the prank, thought it was his duty to defend his
+friends.
+
+"Fun!" burst out Mr. Tines. "Do you call this disgraceful vandalism
+_fun_?"
+
+"We--we meant it as such," went on Dutch.
+
+Professor Tines only sniffed. Probably he did not know what else to do.
+
+"You young gentlemen--I had almost said ruffians," he finally remarked,
+"you will remain here until I return. Perhaps you may be able to tell me
+where Mr. Zane is."
+
+"I--I think he is in the freshmen dormitory," replied Holly Cross,
+who had been puzzling his brain trying to think of a reason for the
+unexpected return of Mr. Tines.
+
+"Ah, thank you. I will find him, and return here. _You_ will kindly
+remain. I wish him to see his room--_as it is_."
+
+Professor Tines turned about stiffly, and left. The four lads gathered
+together in the centre of the apartment, a miserable and forlorn
+quartette.
+
+"Who'd have thought he'd show up?" demanded Dutch, as if it was against
+the rules for such a thing to be done.
+
+"I didn't," declared Jerry.
+
+"Me either," echoed his twin brother.
+
+"Well, he caught us with the goods, all right," said Holly.
+
+"I--I wonder what he'll do--he and Zany?" ventured Dutch. "Shall we
+stay?"
+
+"Got to," was Holly's opinion, and indeed the request of the professor
+was equivalent to a command--under the circumstances.
+
+They waited there in misery until the Latin instructor and Mr. Zane
+came. The gasp of astonishment and dismay that the proctor gave as he
+saw his room was evidence enough of the manner in which he viewed it.
+
+"This is what I found them at when I returned--most unexpectedly," said
+Mr. Tines, with a wave of his hand toward the shrinking youths. "If I
+were in your place, Mr. Zane, I would make them restore everything to
+rights, and then inflict such punishment as would cover the case.
+Disbarment from athletics would be none too severe, as I see that all
+these are members of the football team."
+
+There was a gasp of dismay from the four, they had not bargained for
+that.
+
+"I came back unexpectedly," went on the professor. "Dr. Churchill had
+forgotten some papers to be used in the lawsuit, and I volunteered to
+return for them. Getting here unexpectedly, I looked for you, Mr. Zane.
+I knocked at your door. I was bidden to enter. This--this--" and the
+professor made a dramatic gesture, "this is what I beheld," and he waved
+his two hands hopelessly at the confusion.
+
+As yet the proctor had said nothing. He looked at his dismantled room as
+though he could not comprehend it. Never--never had he beheld it in this
+way before, not even when he moved from one apartment to another, nor
+when a section of the building in which he had his study was rebuilt.
+
+"I was in the freshman dormitory--there was a little--ahem--a little
+difficulty there," and the proctor hesitated. "I had no idea----"
+
+"If I were you I would make them put everything exactly as they found
+it," interrupted Mr. Tines, severely.
+
+"I--er--I--that is--I think I would prefer to straighten matters out
+myself," said Mr. Zane hesitatingly. It was as though he was in a daze.
+"You--you young gentlemen may go to your rooms," he added, softly.
+
+"What!" cried Professor Emerson Tines. "Aren't you going to----"
+
+Then he realized that he was infringing on the prerogatives of the
+proctor, and he kept still.
+
+"You may go," said Mr. Zane, softly, and Dutch and his mates went.
+
+It was not long before the news buzzed in every dormitory of the
+college.
+
+"Served Dutch right," declared Tom. "He ought to have known better."
+
+"Yes, but if Zane and Pitchfork take him and Holly and the twins off the
+team," suggested Phil, "then we _will_ be in the soup, for further
+orders."
+
+It was a direful thought, and no one liked to dwell on it. There was a
+lot of talk, and much speculation as to how "Pitchfork" had managed to
+get back unobserved. There were also guesses as to what would be done
+with the culprits.
+
+Then something new developed. It concerned the excitement in the freshman
+ranks. There had been considerable horseplay, it was said, and Mr. Zane
+had indignantly ordered it stopped. To his surprise, the students not
+only obeyed him, but his pardon was formally asked in the name of the
+class, and he was given a ringing round of cheers.
+
+"Oh, _that's_ the noise we heard," commented Tom. "I thought they were
+raising the roof."
+
+Whether it was the unexpected compliment paid to him, or a feeling of
+commiseration for the four culprits was not made known, but, at any
+rate, Proctor Zane inflicted absolutely no punishment on Dutch and his
+mates. He did not even refer to the subject again, though Professor
+Tines was seen in excited conversation with him. Perhaps the trouble in
+which Randall was involved, and a feeling that he was not as well liked
+as he might be, influenced Mr. Zane.
+
+So Dutch and his three chums breathed easier, and the football team
+blessed its lucky stars that it was to lose no more men.
+
+Professor Tines went back to court early the next morning, taking with
+him the documents forgotten by the president. He gave out no news of the
+court proceedings, which indeed had not been opened as yet.
+
+But word of them was received on the second day of the absence of the
+faculty. It was when the Randall 'varsity was returning from the game
+with the preparatory school, having won by an unexpectedly big margin.
+The players were feeling jubilant, and were telling each other what they
+would do to Boxer Hall.
+
+"Hello, there's Prexy!" exclaimed Tom, as he saw the venerable president
+strolling over the campus toward his residence.
+
+"Let's ask him what happened in court," suggested Phil. "He won't mind,
+for he knows we're anxious."
+
+The little squad of players surged up around Dr. Churchill.
+
+"Can you tell us--that is--is Randall safe?" stammered Phil, as he
+looked up into the President's face, his mates anxiously surrounding
+him.
+
+"I regret to say that we have been defeated in the first--ah--scrimmage,
+I believe you football players call it," said the doctor, a bit sadly.
+"We have lost the first point in the main legal battle."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+AN UNEXPECTED CLEW
+
+
+Four lads sat in various ungraceful if easy attitudes in the room of our
+heroes one evening. Four--for Frank Simpson was now an accredited member
+in full and regular standing of the "Big Four," as they were coming to
+be called.
+
+Frank had moved his belongings into the apartment of the three chums,
+who were now four, for he found their comradeship congenial, and they
+liked him immensely.
+
+It was a week after the announcement by Dr. Churchill of the setback the
+college had received in the opening of the legal battle.
+
+Football practice had, naturally, gone on as usual, and there was a more
+hopeful look on the faces of the captain and coach. The team was playing
+more as a unit. Kicks were being handled better, the ball was being
+advanced with greater certainty in the games with the scrubs, and it
+looked as if Randall would come into her own again. They had played
+another minor game, and had rolled up a surprisingly big score.
+
+"But the trouble of it is," said Tom, as he got in a more comfortable
+position on the creaking sofa, "the trouble of it is that Boxer Hall is
+doing just as well. She's cleaning up everything that comes her way."
+
+"But we have a look-in at the championship," declared Sid.
+
+"Yes, if we win the game Saturday against Pentonville Prep," agreed
+Phil.
+
+"Oh, we'll do that all right," declared Frank.
+
+The football situation in the Tonaka Lake League was peculiar that year.
+In spite of the fact that Randall had not done well and had been beaten
+by Fairview, the latter college had "slumped" so after her victory over
+Randall that she was practically out of it as regards the championship.
+Should Randall win the game against Pentonville, which was almost a
+foregone conclusion, there would be a tie between Boxer Hall and the
+college of our heroes for the championship. It was this knowledge which
+made the players, coach and captain a trifle nervous, for so much
+depended on the final struggle that was close at hand.
+
+Would it be Randall or Boxer Hall that would carry off the honors of the
+gridiron?
+
+"Well, we'll play our heads off, that's all I can say," remarked Tom,
+as he glanced over the sporting pages of a paper. "I see that they're
+trying some new kicking game at Boxer."
+
+"Yes, they're always after fads," declared Phil. "But straight football,
+with some of the old-fashioned line bucking, such as we play, and two
+halves, are good enough for me."
+
+"Same here," agreed Sid.
+
+"I guess nothing will come of that law business before the final game,
+eh, fellows?" went on Tom, who seemed anxious about it.
+
+"No danger of a decision from the courts right away," said Frank. "From
+what I can hear, our lawyers are going to get back at Langridge and his
+partner in some new kind of an injunction or a _lis pendis_ or a
+_whang-doodle_. That may make it look like a white horse of another
+color."
+
+They talked of football and the legal tangle at some length, and were
+deep in a discussion about a certain wing-shift play, when tramping
+footsteps were heard down the corridor.
+
+"Holly Cross," ventured Sid.
+
+"Dutch Housenlager or--an elephant," predicted Tom. "He walks as though
+he had his football shoes on."
+
+"Perhaps he's coming to suggest another trick on the proctor or
+Pitchfork," suggested Phil, for the latest attempt of Dutch was a
+standing joke against the fun-loving student.
+
+"Hello, Dutch!" greeted Tom, as the big guard entered. "Anything wrong?"
+
+"No. Why?"
+
+"Oh, I didn't know, but I thought you looked as if you just met the
+proctor, who made you sweep and dust his room."
+
+The others joined in the laugh against Dutch.
+
+"Oh, can you fellows ever forget anything?" he asked, in accents of deep
+disgust, as he looked about for a place to sit down. "Where's the seat
+of honor, anyhow?" he demanded. "Am I to sit on the floor?"
+
+"Oh, suit yourself," remarked Phil. "Our seat of honor hasn't yet come
+back from the realms of mystery."
+
+"No, hang it all!" exclaimed Sid. "I'd give a good deal to know who has
+our old chair."
+
+"What! Haven't you got that back yet?" asked Dutch. "Seems to me if I
+were you I'd make it a point to go in the room of every fellow in
+college until I found it."
+
+"We've practically done that," declared Phil. "In fact, we've done
+everything but offer a reward, and I guess we'll have to do that next."
+
+"Just what sort of a chair was it that you lost?" asked Frank Simpson.
+"I've heard a lot about it since I came to Randall, but I don't exactly
+know whether it is a Turkish rocker or a Chinese teakwood affair with a
+cold marble seat."
+
+"It was the easiest chair you ever sat in!" declared Tom.
+
+"A regular sleep-producer," was Sid's opinion.
+
+"Nothing like it ever known when you came in all tired out from football
+practice, as I did to-night," spoke Phil. "It rested you all over, and
+now we only have the couch, and Tom or Sid have that all the time now,
+so I don't get a chance at it."
+
+"Get out, you syndicated cynic!" cried Tom. "You're always on the 'lay'
+when I come in. But, Frank, seriously, this chair of ours was the real
+thing. It was a beaut, and I haven't been able to find one like it
+since. It was an heirloom!"
+
+"It was a relic of the dark ages!" broke in Dutch. "Say, Simpson, you'd
+ought to have seen it! That chair was broken in the back, the seat was
+humped up like a camel with the heaves, both cylinders were cracked,
+the gears were stripped smooth, the differential was on the fritz,
+there wasn't a tire on it without a puncture, it had the pip and the
+epizootic, and, to crown it all, when you sat down in it you never knew
+whether you were going to get out of it alive or were a prisoner for
+life on hard labor."
+
+"Soak him!"
+
+"Traitor!"
+
+"Put him out!"
+
+"Roll him under the sofa!"
+
+"That'll do for you, Dutch!"
+
+These were only some of the things that Tom and his mates called at the
+big guard as he went on slandering the precious chair. Frank Simpson sat
+an amused witness of the little scene.
+
+"It was pretty big, wasn't it?" he ventured, at length. "That chair, I
+mean."
+
+"As if we were talking of anything else," retorted Phil. "Yes, it was
+big and heavy and clumsy--about fifty years old, I guess, and it
+disappeared just before the clock went off on a vacation, and came back
+so unexpectedly. By the way, fellows, we're as far from that mystery as
+ever."
+
+"Don't speak of it!" begged Sid.
+
+"Did your chair have a sort of reddish-brown cover on it?" went on
+Frank.
+
+"That may have been the color once," broke in the irrepressible Dutch,
+"but it was sky-blue pink when it walked away, for these fellows used to
+empty their ink bottles on it, and use the upholstery for a blotter."
+
+"Cheese it!" cried Tom. "Yes, Frank, the cover was a reddish-brown."
+
+"And were the legs carved with claws, and the arms with lions' heads?"
+went on the Californian.
+
+"Exactly! Say!" cried Phil, "like the dervish in the story of the camel,
+have you got our old chair?"
+
+He arose, and fairly glared at Frank. The latter, too, had been growing
+more serious as he proceeded with his questions. Sid and Tom leaned
+forward eagerly, and Dutch looked on, wondering what was coming next.
+
+"I haven't got your chair," went on Frank, "but when I know what kind it
+is, as I do now for the first time, I think I can give you news of it."
+
+"Then, for the love of Mike and the little fishes, speak!" cried Tom.
+
+"Or forever after hold your peace," chimed in Dutch, solemnly.
+
+"Where's our chair?" demanded Phil, dramatically.
+
+"I was passing a second-hand store, the proprietor of which also does
+upholstering as a side line," went on Frank, "when, happening to glance
+into the left-hand--no, I think it was the right-hand--window, I
+espied----"
+
+"Oh, put on more steam!" begged Tom.
+
+"I saw a chair," went on the Californian, "a chair that I am sure must
+be yours. It was exactly as you have described it. I thought it looked
+to be quite a relic."
+
+"Where is that second-hand place?" cried Phil and Tom in a breath, while
+Sid grew so excited that he grabbed Frank by the arm, and held to him as
+if he, too, might vanish as had the chair. "Where is it? Where is it?"
+
+"In Haddonfield, on a little side street that runs up from the depot. I
+don't know the name of it," answered Simpson.
+
+"Decker Street," supplied Tom. "About the only place we didn't look,
+fellows. I didn't know there was a second-hand place there."
+
+"There's only this one!" said Frank. "But he has your chair!"
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Phil. "On the trail at last! Where's my cap?" and he
+began looking about the room.
+
+"Where you going, this time of night?" demanded Dutch.
+
+"Over to Haddonfield to get that chair, of course," replied the
+quarter-back. "Come on, Sid and Tom."
+
+They were enthusiastically hunting about for their hats and coats, which
+were never put in the same place twice.
+
+"I'll go along and show you," volunteered Frank. "But he may be closed
+now. It's after nine. We won't get to town until nearly ten."
+
+"We'll make him open up if we have to get the police," declared Sid.
+
+"Sure!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Fellows, it's too late to go to-night," said Dutch, seriously. "You
+can't run any chances of Zane catching you, especially as the big game
+with Boxer is so near at hand. If you're caught it may mean being ruled
+off the team, and you ought not to take chances."
+
+The four hesitated. It was their chair against the eleven, for they knew
+that there had been a number of college rule violations of late, and the
+proctor was unusually strict. They might be caught and punished.
+
+"Morning will do," insisted Dutch, who, if he did not care much for the
+chair, did have the interests of the eleven at heart.
+
+"It won't do, but I suppose we'll have to wait," conceded Phil, slowly.
+"Jove! It's tough to almost get your hands on it, and then have to hold
+back. Why didn't you tell us this before, Frank?"
+
+"I didn't see the chair in the window until day before yesterday, and
+then I never thought it could be yours, until we got to talking about it
+to-night."
+
+"And to think that we may have it back to-morrow," murmured Tom. "It
+seems too good to be true! I wonder how it ever got away?"
+
+"I don't know that, but I do know that we'll chain it fast when we have
+it again," declared Phil, and then they made Frank tell all over again
+how he had happened to see it, and how it looked.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+AFTER THE CHAIR
+
+
+The four chums begged off from football practice directly after the
+first lecture the next morning, when they had a clear period until noon.
+
+"Say, what's up?" demanded Kindlings, to whom they made the request.
+
+"We want to go to Haddonfield and get our chair," explained Phil.
+
+"And you want me to knock out a morning's practice, when you know how
+much the team needs it," went on the captain, reproachfully.
+
+"We don't need it--so much," declared Sid.
+
+"No, you fellows think you're perfect, I guess," and the captain looked
+injured, and spoke sarcastically.
+
+"It isn't that," said Tom, eagerly, "but if we _don't_ go, our chair may
+vanish again. We'll put in hard practice when we come back."
+
+"Oh, well, then, go ahead," conceded Kindlings, after a consultation
+with the coach. "I'll make you pay for it, though. If we lose the Boxer
+game, it will be up to you fellows."
+
+"We won't lose!" declared Tom, confidently.
+
+They caught the next trolley car for town, and, piloted by Frank, headed
+for the second-hand shop on the little side street.
+
+"Now we'd better map out a plan of campaign," suggested Phil, as they
+neared the place. "If we go into the place, and demand the chair, the
+fellow may insist that he has a good claim on it, and raise a row. We
+can't take it away by force, and----"
+
+"We sure _can_!" broke in Tom, indignantly. "That chair is our property,
+and we have a right to take it wherever we find it."
+
+"Suppose the dealer bought it in good faith from some one who stole it
+from our room?" asked Sid.
+
+"That makes no difference," went on Tom, who thought that perhaps some
+day he would study law. "If the dealer hasn't a good title to it, he
+can't claim it. We can take it away from him."
+
+"How?" asked Sid. "Get a policeman and have him ride it away for us in
+the patrol wagon?"
+
+"Yes, we could do that," agreed Frank, "but it would be sure to raise a
+row, and draw a crowd, and then folks would blame it on the pranks of
+some of the Randall boys. We can't afford to have that happen. Prexy
+wouldn't like it."
+
+"But we've got to get our chair," insisted Sid.
+
+"Isn't there some sort of a legal way of doing it?" asked Phil. "Can't
+we go to court and get a search warrant."
+
+"What we need, in case we locate the chair, is a writ of replevin,"
+declared Tom, as if he knew all the ins and outs of the legal game.
+
+"Is replevin any relation, say a second cousin, to _lis pendis_?" asked
+Frank, who seemed to have a special fondness for that term.
+
+"Nothing like it," asserted Tom. "To replevin your goods, it means you
+get a court order to take them wherever you can find them. Now my plan
+is this: We'll go into the store, look around until we locate our chair,
+and then boldly demand it. If the fellow refuses to give it up we'll go
+get a policeman, and swear out a warrant against him for receiving
+stolen goods. That's what it amounts to, and we three fellows are
+witnesses enough, and can prove that the chair is ours."
+
+"Good!" cried Phil. "We're with you, Tom."
+
+No better plan having been proposed, Tom's was agreed to, and they
+proceeded on toward the shop, having come to a halt to discuss the
+situation.
+
+Eagerly they peered forward as they swung around the corner. Each of the
+three wanted to be first to sight their beloved chair. As for Frank, he
+felt that he had already seen it.
+
+"That's the place," suddenly remarked the Californian. "That shop with
+the spinning wheel sign over the door. It's a queer old place, kept by a
+down-east Yankee, to judge by his talk."
+
+"The worst kind of a fellow with whom to talk business such as we have,"
+said Sid. "He'll stand on his rights to the last inch or penny. But
+there's no help for it."
+
+They were almost in front of the place now, and they strove to appear
+indifferent--as though they were merely strolling by; for, as Tom said,
+first they wanted to catch a glimpse of their chair in the window, and
+then they would have the evidence they needed.
+
+Four pairs of eyes were turned simultaneously toward the dingy casement,
+in which stood an odd assortment of chairs, tables, small sofas and
+other antique furniture. Four gasps of breath told more plainly than any
+words the shock of surprise that followed the glances.
+
+"It isn't there!" cried Tom.
+
+"It's gone!" added Sid.
+
+Truly enough there was no big, old-fashioned, easy chair in the window.
+
+"Maybe it's in the other," suggested Frank. "I told you I wasn't sure
+whether it was the left or right window."
+
+Phil darted across the doorway.
+
+"It isn't over here, either!" he cried, as a rapid survey of the
+contents of that window disclosed the fact that it contained only some
+brass warming pans, a broken spinning wheel, some andirons and fire
+tongs.
+
+"Perhaps it's inside," came from Frank. "This fellow changes his window
+goods every other day to attract trade. Let's go in."
+
+There was nothing else to do after they had assured themselves, by eager
+glances through the windows, that their chair could not be seen from
+without.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, what can I do for you to-day?" asked a little wizened
+man, with a much wrinkled face, as he came forward, briskly rubbing his
+hands. His face was smooth shaven, and seemed to be made of some kind of
+upholstery leather. His blue eyes were deep set, under shaggy brows.
+"Like something to furnish your college rooms with?" he went on, making
+a shrewd and correct guess as to their character. "I've got some sporty
+things, all right."
+
+"Real sporty, eh?" asked Tom. "Something that will make our den look
+homelike?"
+
+"Sure. Why, I can sell you a pair of andirons dirt cheap. Real antiques
+they be, too. Come over in the _Mayflower_. Then I've got a lot of
+Revolutionary muskets and swords you can hang up on the walls, and make
+it look like a regular den. Could you use a spinning wheel? I've got a
+dandy that just came in. I sold one like it to some girls from Fairview
+Institute the other day, and they paid me a good price. I could let you
+have this one a little cheaper, if you bought all your stuff from me.
+You're from Boxer Hall, ain't ye?"
+
+"No, from Randall!" exclaimed Phil, indignantly.
+
+"I--I meant to say Randall all the while!" exclaimed the man, in some
+confusion. "I don't know what's gittin' into me lately. Guess I need a
+new pair of eyes. That's twice I made a mistake like that. I might have
+knowed you was from Randall, of course. You fellers are goin' to beat
+them all holler in the championship game, ain't ye?"
+
+"We hope so," answered Phil, "but we came to look for an old easy chair.
+We need one for our room, and we heard you had one that would suit us."
+
+"Easy chairs for college rooms? Why, I've got 'em by the bushel!"
+exclaimed the man, eager for business. "Look here!" and he led the way
+to the rear of his shop. "I've got 'em in Colonial style, early English,
+Flemish, Louis the Fourteenth, and almost any kind you like. What'll you
+have?"
+
+The chums eagerly looked around the shop. Their chair was not in sight.
+Somehow their hearts sank, and they hardly dared ask the next question.
+
+"Let's see a good, old-fashioned, easy chair. We don't care whether it's
+early Flemish or late Irish," said Phil.
+
+"Something like the one you had in your window the other day," put in
+Tom. "A friend of ours saw that one, and told us about it. We'd like to
+look at that."
+
+The dealer, who had been marching hopefully toward the rear of his shop,
+suddenly paused. He turned around and looked at the boys.
+
+"Were you meanin' a big chair, with reddish-brown velour on it, and----"
+
+"Claw legs!" interrupted Sid, eagerly.
+
+"And lions' heads on the arms," put in Phil.
+
+"That's it!" cried Tom. "Where is it? Show us that one!"
+
+The dealer glanced at them sharply.
+
+"Well, now I'm monstrous sorry," he began apologetically, "but I just
+traded that chair--traded it last night."
+
+"Traded it?" gasped Frank.
+
+"Last night?" echoed Sid.
+
+"Yes," went on the dealer. "I had no call for it. You see, that
+old-fashioned upholstered stuff is out of date. What folks want now is
+real antiques like Louis the Fourteenth, or Mission. Mission is great
+stuff! Now I've got a Mission chair, in real Spanish leather, that----"
+
+"How'd you come to trade our chair--I mean the one we _hoped_ to call
+ours," and Phil quickly corrected himself, for it had been decided they
+would make no claim until they had assured themselves that it was really
+their chair.
+
+"Well, the fact is a feller who's in the same line of business as I am
+wanted it more than I did," explained the Yankee dealer. "He offered me
+two spinning wheels for it, and I took him up. I've got quite a call for
+spinning wheels. Them girls over at Fairview College likes 'em for their
+rooms."
+
+"That's so," murmured Phil, regretfully. "Ruth told me she got one the
+other day for their den."
+
+"And you traded off our--I mean that easy chair?" went on Sid.
+
+"Yes, I couldn't get rid of it, so I let it go."
+
+"How'd you come to get hold of it?" asked Tom.
+
+"Who'd you trade it to?" inquired Frank, and his question was the more
+practical. Yet the dealer answered Tom first.
+
+"I bought it from a Hebrew peddler," he replied. "He come along one day
+with a load of stuff, and offered me the chair with some other things.
+Said he'd been buying 'em up at different colleges around here, and
+trading stuff for 'em. So I took the chair, and it was one of the few
+times I've been stuck. Still, I didn't make out so bad, as I got the
+spinning wheels for it."
+
+"So you can't show it to us," spoke Sid.
+
+"No, that chair's gone. But I've got lots of others. There's one real
+antique, in horsehair, and----"
+
+"No, thanks!" interrupted Phil. "We'd slide off that every time we tried
+to go to sleep, it's so slippery."
+
+"Then there's that Mission----" began the dealer, eagerly.
+
+"No, we want one like that one which was in the window," spoke Tom.
+
+"By the way, with whom did you say you traded it?" asked Frank,
+casually, as if it did not matter.
+
+"I don't know his name," spoke the dealer. "I've done some business with
+him before, but not much."
+
+"Is he in Haddonfield?" Phil wanted to know.
+
+"No, he's out in the country somewhere. Lives on a little farm, I
+believe, and does the furniture business as a side line. He also
+upholsters chairs, I understand. It was some name like Cohen, or
+Rosasky, or Isaacs--I really forget. But now, if you're lookin' for
+chairs----"
+
+"No, thank you," interrupted Tom. "I don't think we care to look at any
+to-day. If you could put us on the track of the one we saw, we might get
+that, and then we could buy others of you." He added this as a bait to
+the trader.
+
+"Well, I'm very sorry, but I can't, for the life of me, think of the
+name of the man who took that old chair," declared the dealer. "But if
+it was a spinning wheel now, or something in Mission, I could----"
+
+"Come on, fellows," interrupted Tom, sadly. "I--I guess we don't want
+anything to-day."
+
+"Now I've got a real gem in Louis the Fourteenth," went on the man
+eagerly.
+
+"No," said Phil, decidedly.
+
+"Or early Flemish."
+
+"Nothing doing," declared Sid.
+
+"Or a Colonial sideboard and a warming pan--a warming pan is dead swell
+in the room of a college lad."
+
+"No, we don't----" began Tom.
+
+"Let's jolly him along," whispered Frank Simpson. "We want to get on the
+trail of that Hebrew. Now if we buy--say, a warming pan, of this man, he
+may give us more information."
+
+"Right!" whispered Tom, eagerly. "Why didn't I think of it myself? Of
+course! We do need a warming pan," he went on, winking at Phil and Sid,
+who at first thought their chum was out of his mind. "Now if we could get
+a nice copper one, pretty good sized, it might do in place of the
+chair."
+
+"For you to sit on," murmured Sid, keeping a straight face.
+
+"I've got just what you want!" declared the dealer, happy now at the
+prospect of business. "Come back this way to the warming pan department.
+I've got one that came over in the vessel that followed the
+_Mayflower_."
+
+"It must have been the _Jilliflower_," murmured Sid, with a silent
+chuckle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+"THIS ISN'T OURS!"
+
+
+Half an hour later Tom Parsons and his chums left the antique
+upholstering shop, richer in the possession of an old warming pan, which
+they did not want, poorer in the sum of six dollars, but also possessing
+more information than they at first had regarding the Hebrew to whom had
+been traded their old chair--or, at least, the chair they hoped would
+prove to be theirs.
+
+"His name is a common Hebrew one," the dealer told them, when he had
+been thawed out by the trade, "but I don't believe it was Cohen. Anyhow,
+he lives on the Medford Road, just beyond the village of Rosevale. I
+remember that, because he told me how long it took him to drive in from
+there. But if he shouldn't have the chair on which you fellows seem so
+bent, I can fix you up. I've got an ancient Colonial one that----"
+
+"I guess we've got all we need to-day," said Phil, as he and his chums
+walked out. "Whew!" he exclaimed, as he stood on the sidewalk. "If we
+hadn't made a break when we did, he'd have sold us a Spanish sideboard
+or a Holland tiled fireplace. Come on, fellows, we must get on the trail
+of this Hebrew gentleman."
+
+"I'm afraid we can't to-day," spoke Tom.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Kindlings will want us to get into our football togs as soon as we
+get back, and jump out at practice. No chance to chase off around the
+country, looking for an unknown furniture dealer out Rosevale way."
+
+"That's so," agreed Sid. "Well, we can go to-morrow."
+
+"I'm full up with lectures to-morrow," objected Phil.
+
+"Well, some of us can go," declared Frank. "We mustn't let that chair
+get away again." For, though he was a new chum, he felt the same
+interest in the recovery of the missing piece of furniture as did his
+friends. "I can stand a few more cuts, and I can get off right after
+practice."
+
+"Maybe I can go with you," suggested Tom.
+
+The two did manage to get away the next day, taking a trolley car
+as far as it went, and hiring a farmer to drive them to the village
+of Rosevale, a quaint little place. The farmer said he knew of no
+second-hand furniture dealers in that vicinity, but the boys had hopeful
+visions, and, dismissing their rig, as they intended to hire another in
+which to drive back, they tramped along the country roads, making
+inquiries wherever they could.
+
+But fate was against them. Late that afternoon, having covered many
+miles, they gave up, and made arrangements to be driven back to where
+they could get a trolley car to Randall.
+
+They had called on many men who dealt in old furniture, and some who
+made a specialty of upholstering. Some were Hebrews, and some were not.
+But none had the chair they sought.
+
+"I wonder if that Yankee was fooling us?" asked Tom.
+
+"No, I guess he meant all right, but he couldn't tell us any better than
+he did," replied Frank.
+
+"And we're out six bones for that warming pan," went on Tom,
+regretfully. "We'll have to see him again."
+
+They did, but the dealer insisted that he had told them to the best of
+his ability. He offered to get the man's name and correct address the
+next time he saw him, but this was not likely to be soon.
+
+In the meanwhile our friends were without their chair, and their
+spasmodic efforts to discover the mystery of the clocks had amounted to
+nothing.
+
+"I tell you what it is," said Kindlings to them one day. "If you chaps
+don't perk up, and come to practice a little oftener, you'll find
+yourselves on the side lines when the Boxer game comes off."
+
+That put more "ginger" into Tom and his chums, for they had been rather
+neglecting practice of late in their efforts to locate their chair. They
+had, however, almost given up ever seeing the ancient piece of furniture
+again.
+
+In the meanwhile matters concerning the lawsuit were not going any too
+smoothly. A most careful search had been made for the missing quit-claim
+deed, and without it, it was rumored, the court proceedings must soon
+come to an end, with the eviction of the college authorities from the
+ground in dispute.
+
+There were dark days for Randall, and only the hope of winning the
+football championship kept up the hearts of the students. Nor was this
+hope any too strong, for there were whispers as to the prowess of Boxer
+Hall. Randall had won her final game before the big struggle, and now
+was devoting all her energies to playing off the championship tie.
+
+New plays were tried and rejected. A different code of signals was put
+in vogue, for it was rumored that Boxer Hall was "on" to those in use.
+
+"They say Langridge is playing his head off this year," declared Tom one
+night, when a crowd of the football boys had gathered in the room of our
+friends.
+
+"Maybe he'll go stale," suggested Holly Cross.
+
+"He won't if he can help it," was Sid's opinion. "He's been waiting all
+season to get a whack at us fellows."
+
+"Well, it will make the game lively," declared Kindlings. "We'll give
+Boxer Hall all she wants."
+
+Jerry Jackson, who was sitting on the old couch with Sid, moved to a
+more comfortable position.
+
+"I say," he drawled, "it's a wonder you fellows wouldn't either renovate
+your furniture, or else get some new. Joe and I got some swell stuff the
+other day from an old Shylock of a chap that has a joint out Rosedale
+way."
+
+"Out where?" asked Tom, quickly, catching at the name.
+
+"Out in a little place called Rosedale," repeated Jerry.
+
+"I guess you mean Rose_vale_, don't you?" asked Sid. "We heard of that
+fellow, but we couldn't find him."
+
+"No, I mean Rose_dale_--d-a-l-e," spelled Jerry. "He's an ancient
+Hebrew--rather a decent chap, too, and he had a lot of antique stuff.
+Joe and I bought a fine sofa."
+
+"A peach!" declared the twin brother. "You can go to sleep on it
+standing up."
+
+"What's this fellow's name?" asked Phil, quickly.
+
+"Rosenkranz," replied Jerry. "But he hasn't got any more sofas. We
+bought the last one."
+
+"Has he any chairs?" inquired Sid.
+
+"A raft of them."
+
+"And his place is in Rose_dale_, and not Rose_vale_?" spoke Tom.
+
+"That's it," the Jersey twin asserted. "The two places are in opposite
+directions. I guess we ought to know. Joe and I were out on a walk one
+day, and we saw the sofa in his window. He has his shop in one side of
+his house--a queer old place with a lot of Russian brasses. He had one
+samovar that was a pippin, but he wanted eight dollars for it, and the
+sofa broke us."
+
+"Fellows!" cried Tom, excitedly, "I believe we are on the right track at
+last!"
+
+"Track of what?" demanded Jerry.
+
+"Our chair," and Tom quickly told what little was known. "It's evident,"
+he said, "that the Yankee dealer got twisted between Rose_vale_ and
+Rose_dale_. They're as alike as two peas."
+
+"Then it's Rose_dale_ for ours as soon as we can get there in the
+morning!" cried Phil. "This time I hope we're on the right trail."
+
+"Yes, we've been in the right church, but the wrong pew, so often that
+it's getting to be monotonous," commented Sid.
+
+Mr. Rosenkranz proved to be a Hebrew gentleman of the old-fashioned
+type--venerable, with a long, straggly beard. He greeted the boys
+courteously when they called on him two days later, as that was the
+first chance they had to make the trip.
+
+With a voice that trembled with hope, Tom asked about an old-fashioned
+easy chair.
+
+"Sure I have him," declared the Hebrew, eagerly, scenting a trade. "Ven
+effer you vants an easy chair, comes you to Isaac Rosenkranz, und you
+get him. I show you!"
+
+The boys followed him to the rear of the store. There, amid a pile of
+broken furniture, old stoves, odds and ends that seemed utterly
+worthless, but which seemed to constitute the entire stock-in-trade of
+the dealer, they saw a big chair.
+
+"That's it!" cried Phil, eagerly.
+
+"Ours--ours!" gasped Sid.
+
+"No mistake this time," murmured Tom. "Chair, allow me to present you to
+our new member, Frank Simpson; this is the chair you have heard so much
+about."
+
+"Are you sure of it?" asked the big Californian, as he pretended to make
+a bow to the article of furniture.
+
+"Sure, we can't be mistaken," declared Phil. "There are the claw feet,
+lions on the arms, and all that. That's our chair."
+
+"Your chair?" asked the dealer, quickly. "Ha, yes, I see, if you _buys_
+him!"
+
+The boys looked at each other. What was to be done? At length Tom hit
+upon the simplest plan. It was no doubt their chair, he explained, and
+he told how it had disappeared. They could recover it by process of law,
+he went on, when Mr. Rosenkranz evinced a desire to hold it, but they
+would pay a reasonable price for it.
+
+"Mind you, only to get it back in a hurry, though," declared Tom,
+"for it's ours by right. But I think it will be a lucky hunch for
+the football team, if we get it before the big game with Boxer Hall
+Saturday. So, Mr. Rosenkranz, how much do you want for it?"
+
+The dealer named a preposterous sum, but the boys were shrewd, and beat
+him down. Finally, when he had admitted that the chair was not likely to
+sell soon, because it was in poor repair, he consented to part with it
+for a reasonable sum. He confirmed what the Yankee dealer had said, that
+he had acquired it in a trade.
+
+"Well, we'll take it," said Tom, passing over the money. "Now, how can
+we get it home?"
+
+It was rather a problem, as the chair was big and clumsy, and they were
+quite a distance from Randall. But finally, on payment of a further
+small sum, the dealer offered to deliver it to the college.
+
+"It doesn't seem possible that we've got it," said Tom, as they were on
+their way back that afternoon, the Hebrew promising to bring the chair
+to them on the morrow. "We'll have a celebration in honor of its
+return."
+
+"Nothing in the fancy eats line until after the big game, I'm afraid,"
+objected Sid. "Kindlings and Lighton will sit down on that. But we'll
+have a double celebration after we do up Boxer Hall."
+
+"I wish it was to-morrow--I mean, so we could sit in the old chair,"
+went on Phil, almost as eager as a child.
+
+But the chair did not come the next day, and after fretting and worrying,
+the boys received a badly written, and worse spelled, postal from Mr.
+Rosenkranz, explaining that his horse was sick, but that he would deliver
+the chair as soon as the animal was well.
+
+"Say, there's a hoodoo about that chair," declared Tom, as he went out
+to football practice with his mates.
+
+It was on the morning of the big game with Boxer Hall that an ancient
+wagon, drawn by a decrepit horse, drove up to Randall College. At first
+the students were inclined to make game of the outfit, but when Phil and
+Tom discovered that it was Mr. Rosenkranz with their chair, there was a
+change of heart. For the belief that the chair might prove to be a
+mascot or "lucky" hunch had grown.
+
+"There she is!" cried Sid, seeing the old piece of furniture on the
+wagon. "Now, up into our room with her, fellows."
+
+"Yes, and don't stop to admire it all day, either," called Kindlings. "I
+want you in practice right away."
+
+The chums promised, but they could hardly tear themselves away from the
+room where, once more, reposed the old chair. It looked as natural as it
+ever had, and its sojourn "in the land of the Philistines," as Tom
+declared, had apparently not harmed it any.
+
+"I declare, the old clock seems glad to see it back," declared Phil.
+
+"It sure does," agreed Sid, sinking down on the sofa. That piece of
+furniture seemed to creak and groan out a welcome to its fellow.
+
+"We'll draw lots to see who has the honor of first sitting in the old
+chair, and then we'll get out on the field," suggested Tom.
+
+He himself drew the lucky number. With something of a little ceremony he
+made ready to sink down into the depths of the chair. Slowly he let
+himself back.
+
+A cloud of dust, as of yore, arose around him, making Phil, Sid and
+Frank sneeze.
+
+"They're greeting you, old chap!" cried Tom to the chair.
+
+He leaned back. His chums, watching him, saw a look of wonder come over
+his face. Then his hand went under the seat, and began feeling there.
+Tom leaped up, raising more dust--a regular cloud.
+
+"What's the matter? A pin stick you?" asked Sid.
+
+"A pin? No. But, say, fellows, this isn't our chair!"
+
+"Not our chair?" echoed Phil.
+
+"Not--not----" faltered Sid.
+
+"Not our chair!" exclaimed Tom, decidedly, as he sat down in it again.
+"Here, Phil, you try it. It looks like our chair, and it's built like
+it--upholstery and all--it's a dead ringer, in fact, but it's not
+_ours_!" and Tom moved aside while Phil got ready to make the test.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+A GREAT FIND
+
+
+The quarter-back let himself down critically and easily into the chair.
+He was not in it more than a few seconds, ere he arose quickly.
+
+"It seems to fit, just as our chair did," he said, with a puzzled air.
+"I can't tell----"
+
+"It's _not_ our chair," insisted Tom. "Of course when you sit in it it
+doesn't feel any different. But look here!"
+
+He tilted it over backwards with a sudden motion.
+
+"What are you trying to do?" indignantly demanded Sid. "Break it?"
+
+"I'm going to look under the seat," replied Tom. "Don't you remember how
+I nailed a board on last term to hold it together?"
+
+"That's right," agreed Sid. "And I put on a cleat near the back legs.
+See if that's there, Tom."
+
+Tom had the underside of the chair exposed to view now. Eagerly
+the lads peered forward. To their gaze was presented no
+indiscriminately-nailed-on boards or cleats, which they so well
+remembered. Instead, there was a smooth brown covering of cloth,
+such as is put under most upholstered chairs.
+
+"What did I tell you?" cried Tom, in triumph. "I knew this wasn't our
+chair as soon as I sat in it and ran my hand under it. You could feel
+the board I put on, and when that was missing I knew something was
+wrong."
+
+"You're right, old man!" exclaimed Phil. "But if this isn't our chair,
+we've got its twin brother. I never saw two more alike. But if it isn't
+ours, whose is it?"
+
+"And where's yours?" asked Frank Simpson. "This mystery is only
+beginning, fellows."
+
+"That dealer gave us the wrong chair," said Tom. "He must have another
+one in his shop."
+
+"I don't believe so," declared Phil. "If he had had two he'd have
+mentioned it when we were out there. Besides, we would have seen it.
+Frank, are you sure this is the chair you saw in the shop window of that
+Yankee dealer?"
+
+"No, I can't be sure of it, of course. It looks like it, though."
+
+"Well, we certainly are up against it," declared Tom. "Wait a minute,
+I'll soon find out what it means."
+
+He started from the room.
+
+"Where you going?" called Sid.
+
+"I'm going to see Rosenkranz and ask him about this mix-up."
+
+"It's too late," declared Phil. "Rosenkranz is quite a distance toward
+home by this time. We'll see him later--to-morrow, after the game. But
+it sure is a queer mix-up. Who'd ever suppose there was another chair
+like ours."
+
+"This one is newer," announced Tom, who had turned it right side up
+again, and was critically examining it.
+
+"Not newer, I guess," said Phil. "Only it hasn't had the usage ours got.
+This is evidently of the same vintage, but has been reposing in some
+one's back parlor for centuries, with the curtains down and the blinds
+closed to keep out the sun. But a fair exchange is no robbery, and I
+don't know but what we're just as well off. We have a better chair than
+ours."
+
+"I'd rather have our own," declared Sid.
+
+"So would I," added Tom. "It sat easier," and he dropped into the chair,
+and lolled back critically.
+
+"Here, give me a show at it," begged Sid. "I haven't had my sitting
+yet."
+
+Tom arose reluctantly, and, as he did so, there came a knock on the
+door.
+
+"Come!" cried Phil.
+
+It was Wallops, the messenger.
+
+"If you please," he said, "Captain Woodhouse wants you gentlemen to come
+out on the gridiron at once, for practice."
+
+"Of course!" cried Tom. "We were nearly forgetting that in the excitement
+over the chair. Tell the captain we'll be right out."
+
+There was hard, snappy practice against the unfortunate scrub, and as it
+progressed the captain and coach looked more gratified than at any time
+that season.
+
+"They're fit, all right," declare Kindlings, with sparkling eyes.
+
+"I think they'll do," agreed Mr. Lighton, "but you've got the fight of
+your life ahead of you, old man."
+
+"I know it--but we'll win!"
+
+Tom and his three chums returned from practice for a brief rest before
+the game. It was a holiday, with no lessons or lectures to mar the
+sport.
+
+"First shot at the chair!" cried Tom, as he burst into the room. He
+threw himself into the big piece of upholstered furniture. There was a
+sudden cracking, breaking and tearing sound, and the whole bottom of the
+chair seemed to drop out. A cloud of dust arose. Tom was like a person
+who had sat upon a barrel, the head of which had collapsed.
+
+"Oh, wow!" he cried, as he vainly struggled to get up. "I say, can't
+some of you fellows give me a hand?"
+
+"What's the matter, hurt?" asked Phil, anxiously.
+
+"No, but I'm wedged in here as if I'd sat on a drum."
+
+They pulled him out, and through the settling cloud of dust gazed at the
+ruin.
+
+"Now you have gone and done it," said Sid, reproachfully.
+
+"I guess I have," admitted Tom, regretfully, as he moved the chair to
+one side. Several of the bottom boards were on the floor. On top of
+them, amid a little pile of dirt and splinters, was a folded paper. Tom
+picked it up. He knocked the dust from it and slowly and wonderingly
+read several lines of writing on the front, and, as he read, a look of
+bewilderment came over his face.
+
+"Why--why, fellows!" he exclaimed. "Look--look here! A deed--an old deed
+given by Simon Hess to Jacob Randall, in consideration of--and so forth
+and so forth--for the purpose of--um--setting aside land on which to
+erect a college. Why, great Cæsar's grandmother's pumpkin pie!" almost
+yelled Tom, "this is the missing quit-claim deed that everyone is
+looking for! The deed on which the title to the college depends! It was
+in that old chair!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE EXCITED STRANGER
+
+
+At first, Tom's chums did not know whether or not he was joking. They
+crowded around him and looked over his shoulder as he unfolded the
+paper. The inner contents bore out the endorsement on the face of the
+document.
+
+"That's it, all right!" cried Frank. "It's the quit-claim deed, as sure
+as you're a foot high!"
+
+"And does possession of it mean that Randall College is all right?"
+asked Sid.
+
+"Sure!" asserted Tom.
+
+"But how in the world did it ever get inside that chair?" demanded Phil.
+"This is the greatest mystery yet. The loss of our chair and clock
+aren't in it."
+
+"I should say not!" agreed Frank.
+
+"What had we better do?" asked Sid.
+
+"Get this deed into the hands of Dr. Churchill as soon as possible,"
+decided Tom. "He'll lock it in the safe, whence it can't disappear
+again, and then they'll call off the suit against Randall. I guess this
+will put a crimp in Lawyer Langridge, all right."
+
+"Who was this Jacob Randall mentioned in the deed?" asked Frank, who was
+carefully reading the document.
+
+"Oh, he was some relative to the Randall who founded the college,"
+declared Phil. "Randall, the founder, got it later, and endowed the
+college. Jove! but this is a great find, all right, eh, fellows?"
+
+"It's a good thing I came down hard in that seat, or we'd never found
+the deed," went on Tom. "Otherwise we might have traded back this chair
+for our own, and never would have known a thing about the quit-claim."
+
+"But where _is_ our chair?" asked Sid. "And how in the name of the
+sacred cow did the deed get in the seat of this one?"
+
+"Say, don't ask any more questions, or I'll go batty," declared Tom.
+"Come on, let's take this deed to Prexy right away."
+
+It was such a momentous occasion that nothing less than a full
+delegation of the four "guardsmen" could do justice to it, so the
+quartette of chums invaded the office of Dr. Churchill, to that
+gentleman's no small amazement. On the way our heroes met several of
+their chums, but they did not mention their find, thinking it best to
+let the proper authorities know of it first.
+
+"Ahem! Is this a strike, gentlemen?" asked the president, with a twinkle
+in his eyes.
+
+"It's a 'find'!" exclaimed Tom, and he held out the deed.
+
+To say that Dr. Churchill was surprised would be but faintly to express
+it. He eagerly questioned the boys, who as eagerly answered, telling the
+story of their missing clock and chair from the beginning.
+
+"I can't understand it," went on the president, with a puzzled shake of
+his head. "But I'll take good care of this quit-claim deed, and we can
+make inquiries later. You have rendered a service to Randall to-day,
+gentlemen, that she will not soon forget. I thank you personally, and,
+later, I will see that you receive the recognition you deserve."
+
+"Come on!" whispered Tom to his chums, for the good old doctor was much
+affected. "It's nearly time for the game, and we don't want to miss
+that."
+
+Murmuring over and over again his thanks at the unexpected discovery,
+Dr. Churchill locked the deed in the safe, stating that he would take
+immediate steps to have the court matters brought to a close, if
+possible.
+
+"For this, I think, settles forever the title of Randall College," he
+said. "We are now secure."
+
+Tom and his chums hurried back to their room. Dr. Churchill had
+requested them to say nothing for a little while regarding the finding
+of the deed.
+
+"Now for Boxer Hall," remarked Phil, grimly, as he looked at his watch.
+"They'll begin to arrive in about an hour."
+
+Wallops, the messenger, stepped toward our friends.
+
+"There's a gentleman just gone up to your room," he said. "He was
+inquiring for you, and I sent him up. He said he'd wait outside until
+you came back from the president's office."
+
+"Who is he?" asked Tom. "Maybe it's some of our folks, fellows, come to
+see the big game."
+
+"No, I think he is a stranger," remarked the messenger.
+
+Wondering who could be paying them a visit at this time, our heroes
+hastened their steps. Outside, in the corridor, they saw a man excitedly
+pacing up and down. He approached them eagerly.
+
+"Are you Mr. Parsons, Mr. Clinton, and--er----" He paused, as if trying
+to remember the other names.
+
+"Simpson and Henderson," finished Tom. "Did you want to see us?"
+
+"Indeed I do, very much! Did you receive a big chair from a dealer named
+Rosenkranz, a few days ago?"
+
+"We received it to-day," spoke Phil. "Why?"
+
+"May I look at it?" went on the man, eagerly. "I have reason to think
+that it is mine, and that I have yours."
+
+"At last!" murmured Tom. "Once more on the trail of the mystery at last!
+Like a prima donna's final-final concert. Yes, you may see the chair,
+and welcome."
+
+He opened the door of their room, and at the first glance inside, the
+stranger noted the chair.
+
+"Yes, that's mine!" he cried, eagerly.
+
+"That's what _we_ thought--at first," spoke Sid, calmly.
+
+The stranger paid no attention to the boys now. He went over to the
+chair, in the bottom part of which the boards had again been fitted
+loosely. The man put his hand underneath, and, as he did so, the boards
+fell down once more.
+
+"What's this!" he cried. "Someone has been tampering with my chair!
+There is something missing! Something valuable! Did you lads take
+anything from this chair?"
+
+"What might it have been?" inquired Tom, calmly, motioning to his chums
+to keep silent.
+
+"A paper--a document--a valuable document! Did you take it?"
+
+"We found a certain paper," replied Tom. "I sat in the chair a little
+too hard, the boards dropped, and there was a paper in there."
+
+"It's mine! Where is it now? I demand it!"
+
+"Easy," counseled Tom. "Do you know what that paper was?"
+
+"I should say I do! Give it to me at once! You may keep the chair if you
+like, but give me the paper!"
+
+The man was getting more and more excited.
+
+"That paper," said Tom, calmly, "was a missing quit-claim deed to
+property owned by Randall College. The loss of it entailed a lawsuit
+which is still pending. We found the deed, and, of course, that brings
+the suit to an end."
+
+"Where is that deed?" demanded the man, angrily. "It was in my chair,
+and I want it."
+
+"It was in the chair--it isn't now," said Tom. "It is where you can't
+get it--in Dr. Churchill's safe, and Randall College is rid of her
+enemies!"
+
+"Give--me--back--my--deed!" fairly howled the man.
+
+He seemed as if he would strike Tom, but the plucky end faced him
+fearlessly. Suddenly from outside came a burst of cheers. They welled to
+the ears of our heroes.
+
+"The Boxer Hall crowd!" exclaimed Phil. "They're here for the big game!
+Come on, fellows! Now to play for our lives!"
+
+Once again came the burst of cheers. Looking from their windows, our
+friends could see a crowd of Boxer Hall students, arriving in big
+stages, which they had hired. Their cries of greeting and defiance were
+answered by those of the Randall lads, who came pouring out on the
+campus.
+
+"My deed--where is my deed? Give it to me!" repeated the stranger,
+eagerly.
+
+Tom turned on him like a flash.
+
+"Look here!" the end cried. "I don't know you, and I don't know what
+your game is. But I _do_ know that we've got the deed, and that we're
+going to keep it. Now, you get out of here, and don't come back. We're
+going to play football, and if you want to make any claim, you go to the
+Randall lawyers. Now--vamoose!"
+
+Tom pointed to the door. The man looked at him defiantly, and seemed
+about to leap at the lad. Then, with a slinking glance, he departed.
+
+"Well," remarked Phil, as the echoes of his footsteps died away down the
+corridor, "what do you think of that?"
+
+"Isn't it the limit?" demanded Sid.
+
+"Worse and more of it," added Frank. "I wonder----"
+
+"No time to wonder now," interrupted Tom, briskly. "We haven't anything
+to worry about from that chap. The deed is safe. Now, come on, get into
+our togs, and wipe up the ground with Boxer Hall."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+THE WINNING TOUCHDOWN
+
+
+What a crowd there was! It seemed to surge all over the grandstands,
+hiding the boards from sight, so that the structure looked like a solid
+mass of human beings. Old men there were, and elderly ladies, too, and
+young men--and maidens--girls, girls, girls, everywhere, their pretty
+hats and bright wraps making the otherwise dull and cloudy day seem like
+a fairy garden.
+
+Nearly everyone from Fairview Institute was on hand, and the girls sat
+together, chanting songs--sometimes for Randall and sometimes for Boxer
+Hall. The former contingent was led by the friends of our heroes, Miss
+Tyler, Miss Harrison and Miss Clinton.
+
+It was almost time for the game to start, and Bean Perkins had led his
+crowd of shouters, cheerers and singers in various calls and melodies.
+Out on the field were the players, nearly two score of them, for each
+college had plenty of substitutes.
+
+"It's going to be a game for blood, all right," murmured Tom, who,
+standing with his three chums, watched Boxer Hall at practice. "Look
+how they get into play on the jump."
+
+"Oh, we can do it, too," declared Phil.
+
+"They've got some good kickers," announced Sid, critically.
+
+"So have we," fired back Phil, who seemed to resent any implied slight
+of the Randall team.
+
+"Have you heard where Langridge is going to play?" asked Frank Simpson.
+
+"Against me, someone said," replied Tom. "He's been shifted to right
+end, I hear, and I wish he wasn't. There'll be some scrapping, sure."
+
+"Don't let him get your goat," advised Phil.
+
+Speculation as to the position of the players was soon set at rest, when
+the list was announced This was the lineup.
+
+    BOXER HALL          POSITION             RANDALL
+
+    Ford Enderby        _Left end_           Tom Parsons
+    Dave Ogden          _Left tackle_        Bert Bascome
+    George Stoddard     _Left guard_         Frank Simpson
+    Paul Davenport      _Centre_             Holly Cross
+    Lynn Railings       _Right guard_        Billy Housenlager
+    Ed Dwight           _Right tackle_       Dan Woodhouse
+    Fred Langridge      _Right end_          Jerry Jackson
+    Tom Miller          _Quarter-back_       Phil Clinton
+    Fred Cooper         _Right half-back_    Pete Backus
+    Charles Baker       _Left half-back_     Sid Henderson
+    William Cook        _Full-back_          Joe Jackson
+
+It was stated that two halves of thirty minutes each would be played,
+and it was also known that some of the old-time rules, as regarded play,
+would be used, for the Tonaka Lake League had their own ideas on this
+subject.
+
+The crowd continued to increase, and when Captain Miller, of Boxer Hall,
+and Captain Woodhouse, of Randall, met for a conference, the stands had
+overflowed into the field, where the officers had trouble keeping the
+crowd back of the ropes.
+
+Boxer won the toss, and there was a momentary feeling of disappointment
+at this, but it soon passed away, for there was no wind, and little
+advantage to be gained by selecting a goal.
+
+"I'm glad we've got 'em on our own grounds," remarked Tom, in a low
+voice.
+
+"Yes, that's one advantage," agreed Phil. "Oh, if we can only win, old
+man--if we only can! Then Randall will come into her own again, and down
+all her enemies."
+
+"We're _going_ to win," said Tom, simply, as if that settled it.
+
+Boxer elected to defend the south goal, which gave the ball to Randall
+to be kicked off. Holly Cross topped it on a little mound of dirt. He
+looked to Kindlings for a confirmatory nod, which the captain gave,
+after a glance at his men. The Boxer Halls were on the alert. The
+whistle of the referee blew, and Holly's toe made a dent in the new
+yellow ball. Away it sailed far into Boxer's territory. Langridge made
+the catch, and started over the chalk marks with speed, protected by
+good interference. But with a fierceness which it seemed that nothing
+could stop, Tom Parsons circled in, and made one of the best tackles of
+his career, as he brought his old enemy down with a thud to the ground,
+on Boxer's thirty-eight yard line.
+
+"Now the real battle begins," murmured Tom, as he ran to his place,
+while the opponents of Randall lined up, the quarter-back singing out
+his signal.
+
+Fred Cooper was given the ball, and made a try at getting around
+Randall's right end, but Jerry Jackson and his support were right there,
+and Cooper was nailed, after a gain of about four yards. It was a
+splendid defense on the part of Randall, and her cohorts were glad, for
+Boxer had some big players that year, and there was fear that she would
+smash through. In fact, so fearful was Captain Miller after that first
+try that he called for a kick.
+
+It was well done, and Cook sent the pigskin sailing far back toward
+Randall's goal posts. Joe Jackson caught it, and began a run which
+brought the crowd to its feet as if by magic, while thousands of throats
+yelled encouragement, and Bean Perkins broke his cane to slivers, in
+his excitement. Past man after man of the Boxer team did Joe dodge,
+until he was nearly in the centre of the field before he was downed.
+
+"Now's our chance," murmured Phil, as he knelt to take the pigskin when
+Holly should snap it back.
+
+Phil signaled for Sid Henderson to take the ball, and take it Sid did,
+smashing through the Boxer line for five yards. Joe Jackson was next
+called upon, and proved a good ground-gainer. Then came the turn of Pete
+Backus, who got into action on the jump. In less than three minutes of
+play Randall had ripped out seventeen yards through the hardest sort of
+a defense, and this exhibition of skill, pluck and line-smashing was a
+revelation to those who had feared for their favorite college. It was
+disheartening to Boxer Hall. Randall had had no need to kick.
+
+Another signal came, and Frank Simpson, with a tremendous heave, opened
+up a big hole for Joe Jackson to dart through. Then, and not until then,
+did Boxer prove that she could hold, for, in response to the frantic
+appeals of her captain, his men stopped Joe, after a small gain.
+
+Then came some kicking, and Boxer had the ball again. With desperate
+energy she began at her smashing tactics once more, and to such
+advantage that she was advancing the leather well up the field.
+Something seemed to be the matter with Randall. She was giving way--a
+slump.
+
+"Hold! hold! Hold 'em!" pleaded Dan Woodhouse.
+
+His men braced, but either they did not work together, or they braced at
+the wrong moment, for on came Boxer Hall. Right up the field they went,
+until they were only twenty yards away from the Randall goal line.
+
+There were glum feelings in the hearts of the supporters of the yellow
+and maroon, and wild, delirious joy in the ranks of the enemies, for the
+stands were rioting with cheers and songs, while above all came the
+deep-throated demand for:
+
+"Touchdown! Touchdown!"
+
+"And they'll get it, too, if we don't stop 'em," thought Tom, in
+despair. He had been playing well, and taking care of all the men who
+came his way, but that was all he could do.
+
+Then Randall braced, and, in the nick of time, and held to such
+advantage that Boxer had to kick. Joe Jackson caught the ball, and was
+gathering himself for a run back, when Langridge, who had broken through
+with incredible swiftness, tackled him, almost in the very spot where
+the Randall full-back had grabbed the pigskin. Langridge and Joe went
+down in a heap, and how it happened, Joe, with tears in his eyes,
+later, could not explain. But the leather rolled away from him.
+
+Like a flash Langridge was up, had picked the ball from the ground, and
+amid a perfect pandemonium of yells, was sprinting for Randall's goal,
+with not a man between him and the last chalk mark.
+
+It was almost a foregone conclusion that he would touch down the ball,
+and he did, though Tom sprinted after him, with such running as he had
+seldom done before. But to no avail.
+
+To the accompaniment of a whirlwind of cheers, Langridge made the score,
+and then calmly sat on the ball, while the others rushed at him. But he
+was safe from attack.
+
+Oh, the bitterness in the hearts of the Randall lads! It was as gall and
+wormwood to them, while they lined up behind their goal posts and
+watched Lynn Railings kick the goal.
+
+"Six to nothing against us," murmured Phil, with a sob in his throat.
+"Oh, fellows----"
+
+He could not go on, but walked silently back to the middle of the field.
+
+"Now, boys, give 'em the 'Wallop' song!" cried Bean Perkins, with a
+joyousness that was only assumed, and the strains of that jolly air
+welled out over the field, mingling with the triumphant battle cries of
+Boxer.
+
+But the Randall players heard, and it put some heart into them. The
+game went on, with slight gains on either side, for ten minutes more.
+There were forward passes and on-side kicks tried, and an exchange of
+punts. Once Randall was penalized for holding, and twice Boxer had the
+ball taken from her for off-side plays. The leather was kept near the
+middle of the field, and it was evident that a most stubborn battle
+would mark the remainder of the championship game. Yet the advantage of
+first scoring was with Boxer, and it gave them additional strength, it
+seemed.
+
+"Fellows, we _must_ get a touchdown!" declared Kindlings, with tears in
+his eyes, when time was called, as Charles Baker was knocked out, and
+Ted Sanders went in as the Boxer left half.
+
+Randall had the ball, and with the energy of despair, was rushing it
+down the field. The loss of Baker, who was one of the mainstays of the
+Boxer team, seemed to affect Randall's opponents, for they appeared to
+crumple under the smashing attack directed at them. In turn, Sid, Pete
+and Joe rushed through the holes torn for them. They seemed resistless,
+and the sight brought forth a round of cheers.
+
+"Now for the 'Conquer or Die' song," called Bean, hoarsely, leaping to
+his feet and waving his battered cane and the tattered ribbons. "Now's
+the time. We need that touchdown they're going to get!"
+
+His voice carried to the struggling players, for there was a moment of
+silence. Then, as the grand Latin strains broke forth, they seemed to
+electrify Tom and his chums. The players fairly jumped at the opposing
+line.
+
+Within two yards of the goal chalk mark Pete Backus was given the ball.
+With tremendous strength, the big Californian opened a hole for him.
+Pete slipped through, and staggered forward. Cook, the Boxer full, tried
+to tackle him, and did get him down, but, with a wiggle and a squirm,
+Pete was free, and the next instant had made the touchdown.
+
+Randall's supporters went wild with delight, and Bean could not shout
+for some time after the fearful and weird yells he let loose. He had to
+take some throat lozenges to relieve the strain.
+
+There was some disappointment when the goal was missed, leaving the
+score six to five, in favor of Boxer. But Randall felt that she now had
+the measure of her opponents.
+
+The rest of the half was finished, with neither side scoring again, and
+then came a period of much-needed rest, for the lads had played with
+fierce energy.
+
+The opening of the second half was rather slow. The ball changed hands
+several times, and it seemed as if both sides were playing warily for an
+opening.
+
+"Fellows, we've just _got_ to get another touchdown," declared Kindlings.
+"That one point may beat us."
+
+"We'll get it," asserted Phil, when time was being taken out to enable
+Sid Henderson to get back his wind, for he had been knocked out by a
+fierce tackle.
+
+Then the battle was resumed. Up to now, Tom and his old enemy, Langridge,
+had not clashed much, though Langridge kept up a running fire of
+low-voiced, insulting talk against Tom, to which our hero did not reply.
+
+"He's only trying to get my goat," Tom explained to Frank Simpson. Then
+came a play around Tom's end, when Boxer had the ball, and Langridge
+deliberately punched his opponent. Like a flash, Tom drew back his arm
+to return the blow, and then he realized that he was in the game, and he
+got after the man with the ball. Following the scrimmage, he said, with
+quiet determination:
+
+"Langridge, if you do that again, I'll smash you in the eye," and from
+the manner of saying it, Langridge knew he would carry it out.
+Thereafter he was more careful.
+
+Try as Randall did, she could not seem to get the ball near enough to
+make an attempt for a field goal, or to rush it over for a touchdown. On
+the other hand, Boxer was equally unable to make the needful gains.
+There was much kicking, and the time was rapidly drawing to a close.
+
+"We've _got_ to do it! We've _got_ to do it! We've _got_ to do it!" said
+the captain over and over again. He begged and pleaded with his men. The
+coach urged them in all the terms of which he was master.
+
+There were but two minutes more of play, and Randall had the ball. It
+was within twenty-five yards of the Boxer goal, and one attempt to rush
+it through guard and tackle had resulted in only a little gain.
+
+It was a critical moment, for on the next few plays depended the
+championship of the league. Phil was doing some rapid thinking. Sid had
+just had the ball, and had failed to gain. In fact, the plucky left
+half-back had not fully recovered from the effects of a fierce tackle.
+
+"They won't expect him to come at them again," thought Phil. "But I
+wonder if old Sid can do it. I'm going to try him."
+
+The quarter-back was rattling off the signal. Somewhat to his surprise,
+Sid heard himself called upon for another trial. He almost resented it,
+for he was very weary, and his ears were buzzing from weakness.
+
+And then he heard that song--the song that always seemed to nerve
+Randall to a last effort. The Latin words came sweetly over the field
+from the cohorts on the big stand--"_Aut Vincere, Aut Mori!_"--"Either
+We Conquer, or We Die!"
+
+"Might as well die, as to be defeated," thought Sid, bitterly. The ball
+came back to him. Like a flash he was in motion. The big Californian, as
+he had done before several times in the game, opened a hole so fiercely
+that the opposing players seemed to shrink away from him.
+
+Forward leaped Sid, with all the power of despair. Forward! Forward!
+
+"There! See!" cried Bean Perkins. "He's through the line! He's going to
+make a touchdown--the winning touchdown!"
+
+Sid _was_ through. Staggering and weak, but through. Between him and the
+coveted goal line now was but one player--the Boxer full-back--William
+Cook. He crouched, waiting for Sid, but there were few better dodgers
+than this same Sid. On he came, wondering if his wind and legs would
+hold out for the race he had yet to run--a race with glory at the
+end--or bitter defeat on the way.
+
+Cook was opening and shutting his hands, in eager anticipation of
+grasping Sid. His jaw was set, his eyes gleamed. On came the half-back,
+gathering momentum with every stride, until, just as Cook thought he had
+him, Sid dodged to one side, and kept on. There was now a clear field
+ahead of him, and he was urged forward by the frantic yells of his
+fellow players and the wild, shouting crowds on the stands. Not a person
+was seated. They were all standing up, swaying, yelling, imploring, or
+praying, that Sid would keep on--or fall or be captured before he
+crossed that magical white line.
+
+Sid kept on. Then there came a different yell. It was from the Boxer
+stands. Tom, picking himself out from a heap of players, saw Langridge
+sprinting after Sid. And how the former bully of Randall did run!
+
+"Oh, Sid! Go on! Go on!" implored Tom, in a whisper, as if the youth
+could hear him.
+
+And Sid went on. After him, fiercely, came Langridge. The distance
+between them lessened. Sid was staggering. His brain was reeling. His
+legs tottered. The ball seemed about to slip from his grasp, and he
+found himself talking to it, as to a thing alive.
+
+"Stay there, now--stay there--don't fall out. And--and you legs--don't
+you give way--don't you do it! Keep on, old man, keep on! You can do it!
+You can do it!"
+
+Thus Sid muttered to himself. He heard the patter of the running feet
+behind him. He did not look to see who was coming--he dared not. He felt
+that if he took his eyes off the last white line ahead of him that he
+would stagger and fall.
+
+The line was like the crystal globe that hypnotizes one. It held his
+gaze.
+
+On, and on, and on----
+
+Sid fell in a heap. His breath left him. There was a darkness before
+him. Down he went heavily.
+
+But, oh, what a shout came dimly to his ears! What a wild riot of cries!
+He tried to look down and see whether he had crossed the line before he
+stumbled, but he could only see the brown earth and green grass. He
+heard someone still running after him. He lifted his head. There, just
+before him, was the goal line.
+
+With the energy of despair, he raised the ball in his arms, and placed
+it over the chalk mark, holding it there with all his remaining
+strength, when someone threw himself fiercely upon him.
+
+It was Langridge, eager, wrathful and almost beside himself with rage.
+But he was too late. The ball was well over the last line, and, knowing
+from the attitude of the Boxer player that it _was_ there, the great
+throng of Randall men and women, young men and maidens, joined in one
+great cry:
+
+"Touchdown! Touchdown!"
+
+It was--the winning touchdown, for, as the other players, some fearful,
+some hoping, came rushing up, the final whistle blew, ending the
+contest that had resulted in championship for Randall.
+
+And then, welling over the field once more, came softly the song:
+"Either We Conquer, or We Die!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There were bonfires that night at Randall--bonfires in which the
+football suits were burned, for the eleven broke training in a blaze of
+glory. Also there were feastings, for there was no ban on eating now.
+And, likewise, there was much rejoicing. For was not Randall champion
+again? Had not her loyal sons again won a victory on the gridiron?
+Therefore, let the gladness go on!
+
+Sid was the lion of the hour. It was his great run--his struggle against
+long odds--that had won the big game, and he was carried on the shoulders
+of his mates, and his name was heralded in song and story.
+
+"Oh, it was great, old man, great!" cried Tom, as they walked together
+from the gymnasium, where there had been a sort of impromptu joy-meeting
+after the feast.
+
+"Nothing like it ever seen at Randall," declared Phil.
+
+"Nothing like it ever seen _anywhere_," put in the big Californian.
+
+"I never could have done it, if you hadn't opened the hole for me,
+Frank," spoke Sid, gratefully.
+
+"I just had to open that hole," was the retort. "I felt that I'd tear
+those fellows limb from limb if they didn't give way, and----"
+
+"They did," finished Phil, with a laugh.
+
+They had met their girl friends after the game, and had received their
+congratulations. Then had come a happy time, walking with them, then the
+feasting, and now our friends were on their way to their room.
+
+"There are only two things that are bothering me," remarked Tom,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"What's that--Langridge?" asked Phil. "Say, he must have felt sick when
+he got to where Sid was, and saw that it was a touchdown, all right! Did
+he hurt you, Sid?"
+
+"Well, he knocked the wind out of me--that is, what there was left to
+knock. But I guess he didn't mean to."
+
+"Oh, he meant it, all right," declared Tom. "But I wasn't thinking of
+Langridge. I was going to say that the two things that bothered me was
+the mystery of the chair and the clock."
+
+"That's so," came from Phil. "I wonder who that fellow was, and how the
+deed came to be in his chair?"
+
+"We must tell Prexy about it," decided Sid. "It may have a bearing on
+the case."
+
+They were deep in a discussion of possible explanations of the various
+problems that vexed them, when they turned down the corridor that led to
+their room. There was so much noise going on out on the campus--shouts
+and yells, and the students circling about the bonfires--that the
+footsteps of our friends made no sound. That is why they were close upon
+a figure crouched in front of their door before the kneeling one was
+aware of their presence. Then the figure started away. But Phil was too
+quick, and grabbed it.
+
+"I've caught you!" cried the quarter-back. "So you sneaked back, to see
+if you could find the deed, eh?" for he thought he had the stranger who
+had before visited them.
+
+"By Jove, it's Lenton!" cried Tom, catching a glimpse of the face of the
+captive. And indeed it was the odd student who was such an expert with
+the file.
+
+"And he's got a false key!" added Sid, as he saw a bit of brass in the
+lad's hand. "Here, you little shrimp, what do you mean?" and Sid shook
+the lad.
+
+"I--please--I didn't mean anything," was the stammering answer.
+
+"Weren't you trying to get into our room?" demanded Tom.
+
+"Yes, I--I was, but----"
+
+"Where's our chair?" came fiercely from Phil.
+
+"I haven't got it! I never had it."
+
+"Did you take our clock, and afterward exchange it?" asked Tom,
+determined to solve part of the mystery, if not all.
+
+"Yes, I had it, and I--I was coming back to borrow it again," answered
+the odd student.
+
+"Borrow it?" repeated Sid.
+
+"Yes, that's all I did with your alarm clock. Oh, fellows, I didn't mean
+anything wrong. I'll tell you all about it."
+
+"You'd better," said Phil, keeping a hold of the intruder's collar.
+"Come inside."
+
+They entered the room, and Tom locked the door.
+
+"Well?" asked Phil, suggestively, as he pointed out a chair to Lenton.
+"We're ready to hear you."
+
+"I borrowed your clock to take a wheel out," said the odd student,
+simply.
+
+"To take a wheel out?" repeated Sid, in amazement.
+
+"Yes. In an alarm clock there is a certain size cog wheel that I could
+find nowhere else. Fellows, I am making a new kind of static electric
+machine, and I needed a certain sized wheel. I tried everywhere to get
+one, and I couldn't afford to pay for having one made. Then, one day, I
+happened to see your alarm clock in here. I thought, perhaps, that it
+would have in it the wheel I wanted. I made a false key, sneaked in,
+and took the clock out. Then I happened to think you'd want a timepiece,
+so I brought in that mahogany one--it was a present to me from a friend
+in Chicago, but I didn't care for it. The wheels weren't right."
+
+"I guess _you've_ got wheels," murmured Phil.
+
+"Your alarm clock had just the right size wheel in it," went on the odd
+student, "so I took it out, and made my electrical machine. Then I made
+another wheel that would answer as well in your clock, and I made the
+exchange back again. Now my electrical machine is broken, and I need
+another wheel from your clock, and----"
+
+"You were going to sneak in again and take it," broke in Sid.
+
+"Yes. I made another false key, for I accidentally left the first one in
+the door when you came and surprised me, the day I brought your clock
+back."
+
+"Why didn't you _ask_ us for the clock?" inquired Tom.
+
+"Because I was afraid you wouldn't let me take it. I heard the fellows
+say how fond you were of it. I thought you wouldn't miss a wheel from
+it, if I gave you a better clock."
+
+"_Another_ one--not a _better_," insisted Phil. "But did you drop a
+letter in here one day?"
+
+"Yes, I did, to Bert Bascome, and I wondered what had become of it."
+
+"We found it," said Tom. "Was there something in it about a clock?"
+
+"Yes, I bought an expensive alarm clock from Bert, but I wrote rather
+sharply to tell him it wasn't any good. It had the wrong kind of wheels.
+Bascome was mad at me for not keeping it to pay off some of the money he
+owes me. That's all there is to tell."
+
+"And it's enough," declared Sid. "I guess that explains everything.
+Bascome's denial was justified."
+
+"And we thought Langridge had a hand in it," went on Phil. "But there is
+still the chair and deed to be explained."
+
+"I don't know anything about the chair," insisted Lenton, and they
+believed him. "But could I have----" he hesitated.
+
+"Do you want the clock?" asked Tom.
+
+"I--I just want to take out one of the wheels. I'll put in another just
+as good," promised Lenton, eagerly. And they let him have the battered
+timepiece.
+
+"Now, if we could only explain the chair matter as easily, all would be
+well," commented Phil, when Lenton had gone.
+
+They had not long to wait. A little later a message summoned them to the
+office of Dr. Churchill. The president greeted them pleasantly.
+
+"I have just had the lawyers here," he said, "and they state that the
+quit-claim deed which you boys found is genuine, and the very one that
+was missing. It brings to an end the suit against the college, and I
+wish to once more thank you lads. The prohibition of silence is now
+removed, and you are at liberty to tell your friends the good news."
+
+"But you have not heard it all," said Tom, and he told about the visit
+of the excited stranger just before the game.
+
+"I think I can explain that," went on the president, with a smile, "and
+also tell you where to find your chair."
+
+"Can you?" cried the three, eagerly.
+
+"Your visitor was a Mr. James Lawson," continued Dr. Churchill, "and he
+was the one who made the claim against the college, being a distant heir
+of Simon Hess. Without the quit-claim deed being available to us, he was
+the ostensible owner of our property. How he got possession of the deed
+he would not say, though the lawyers and I questioned him."
+
+"Was he here?" asked Phil.
+
+"Yes, your actions evidently frightened him, for he called a little
+while ago to say that he gave up all claims to the land. He stated that
+he thought he had a right to the deed."
+
+"How did it get in the old chair?" asked Tom.
+
+"Being an heir of Simon Hess," went on the doctor, "this Mr. Lawson had
+some of the old family furniture. Among the pieces was a chair, similar
+to yours, which I understand was also a Hess heirloom. Your chair was
+taken by a man whom we engaged temporarily to do some janitor work. He
+sold it to a second-hand dealer, and I have only to-night learned his
+name and address. The janitor was dismissed shortly after being hired,
+as it was found that he was dishonest. To-day I received a letter from
+him, begging forgiveness, and telling about the chair he sold from your
+room. But he did not mention a clock, for I understand you also lost a
+timepiece."
+
+"Oh, we have that back," said Tom. "But about the chair?"
+
+"I'll come to that, and tell you where to get yours. It seems that Mr.
+Lawson retained possession of the quit-claim deed, which he would not
+tell how he obtained.
+
+"One night, when looking it over in his home, near Rosedale, he was
+interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Not wishing his caller to see the
+deed, he slipped it under the lining of the seat of the old chair.
+Business matters came up immediately afterward, and he went out,
+forgetting about the document, which was left in the seat.
+
+"The next day his wife, who liked new instead of old furniture, sold
+the old armchair to a second-hand dealer, deed and all, though, of
+course, she did not know of the paper. Naturally, when Mr. Lawson heard
+of his loss, he was frantic, for on the deed his whole claim depended.
+He intended to destroy the document to prevent it ever being found by
+anyone so that it would benefit Randall. But he reckoned without fate,
+which stepped in most opportunely. He sought the old chair, but it had
+gone from dealer to dealer, until finally a Mr. Rosenkranz got it.
+
+"You obtained it from him just before Mr. Lawson called to claim his
+furniture, and later he came on to the college. The rest fits in with
+what you already know."
+
+"Well, wouldn't that----" began Tom, and then he happened to remember
+that he was in the president's presence, and he stopped.
+
+"Your old chair is at this place," went on Dr. Churchill, giving the
+address of a small dealer in a nearby city. "You may go and get it any
+time you like," the good doctor concluded. "And now I think that this
+clears up the mystery. But, before you go, let me congratulate you on
+the magnificent victory of this afternoon. The nine did exceedingly
+well."
+
+The president smiled benignly, unconscious of the "break" he had made in
+calling the eleven a "nine," and the boys, joyful over the prospect of
+an early recovery of their chair, left the office. At last the mystery
+was ended.
+
+There was more rejoicing in Randall when the facts regarding the
+quit-claim deed became known, and the next day formal notice of the
+withdrawal of the suit was filed. There was some talk about prosecuting
+Mr. Lawson, but there was a doubt as to his real criminality, so nothing
+was done.
+
+And thus ended the troubles of Randall, not only from a legal standpoint,
+but also from an athletic, for her title to the championship of the
+gridiron was firmly established. But there were other battles of the
+field to come, and those who are interested in them may read thereof in
+the next volume of the series, to be called: "For the Honor of Randall; a
+Story of College Athletics."
+
+"They look like twins, don't they?" remarked Tom, a few evenings later,
+when, having recovered their own chair, it was placed beside the one
+left by Mr. Lawson, for he did not come to claim it.
+
+"Yes, if we had two more, we'd have a collection, and there'd be one
+apiece," added Phil.
+
+"Oh, the sofa's good enough for me," came from Sid. "I hope nobody
+borrows that to take out a wheel, or some of the stuffing."
+
+"And the clock ticks as naturally as it always did," commented Phil, as
+he took a seat in one of the easy chairs, for Lenton had returned the
+timepiece.
+
+"And they lived happily forever after," murmured Tom, now half asleep,
+for it was warm in the room. "I say, are you fellows going to the next
+Fairview frat. dance?"
+
+"Are we? Wild horses can't hold us back!" cried Sid, with energy.
+
+"Good!" murmured Tom, still more sleepily, and then, as the chums lapsed
+into silence, there sounded the loud and insistent ticking of the
+battered alarm clock.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+THE BASEBALL JOE SERIES
+
+By LESTER CHADWICK
+
+
+_12mo. Illustrated. Price 50 cents per volume._
+
+_Postage 10 cents additional._
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  1. BASEBALL JOE OF THE SILVER STARS
+     _or The Rivals of Riverside_
+
+  2. BASEBALL JOE ON THE SCHOOL NINE
+     _or Pitching for the Blue Banner_
+
+  3. BASEBALL JOE AT YALE
+     _or Pitching for the College Championship_
+
+  4. BASEBALL JOE IN THE CENTRAL LEAGUE
+     _or Making Good as a Professional Pitcher_
+
+  5. BASEBALL JOE IN THE BIG LEAGUE
+     _or A Young Pitcher's Hardest Struggles_
+
+  6. BASEBALL JOE ON THE GIANTS
+     _or Making Good as a Twirler in the Metropolis_
+
+  7. BASEBALL JOE IN THE WORLD SERIES
+     _or Pitching for the Championship_
+
+  8. BASEBALL JOE AROUND THE WORLD
+     _or Pitching on a Grand Tour_
+
+  9. BASEBALL JOE: HOME RUN KING
+     _or The Greatest Pitcher and Batter on Record_
+
+ 10. BASEBALL JOE SAVING THE LEAGUE
+     _or Breaking Up a Great Conspiracy_
+
+ 11. BASEBALL JOE CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM
+     _or Bitter Struggles on the Diamond_
+
+ 12. BASEBALL JOE CHAMPION OF THE LEAGUE
+     _or The Record that was Worth While_
+
+ 13. BASEBALL JOE CLUB OWNER
+     _or Putting the Home Town on the Map_
+
+ 14. BASEBALL JOE PITCHING WIZARD
+     _or Triumphs Off and On the Diamond_
+
+_Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._
+
+ CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers      New York
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTOR BOYS SERIES
+
+By _Clarence Young_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_12mo. illustrated._
+
+_Price per volume, 50 cents._
+
+_Postage, extra, 10 cents._
+
+_Bright up-to-date stories, full of information as well as of adventure.
+Read the first volume and you will want all the others written by Mr.
+Young._
+
+  1. THE MOTOR BOYS
+     _or Chums through Thick and Thin_
+
+  2. THE MOTOR BOYS OVERLAND
+     _or A Long Trip for Fun and Fortune_
+
+  3. THE MOTOR BOYS IN MEXICO
+     _or The Secret of the Buried City_
+
+  4. THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS
+     _or The Hermit of Lost Lake_
+
+  5. THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT
+     _or The Cruise of the Dartaway_
+
+  6. THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC
+     _or The Mystery of the Lighthouse_
+
+  7. THE MOTOR BOYS IN STRANGE WATERS
+     _or Lost in a Floating Forest_
+
+  8. THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE PACIFIC
+     _or The Young Derelict Hunters_
+
+  9. THE MOTOR BOYS IN THE CLOUDS
+     _or A Trip for Fame and Fortune_
+
+ 10. THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE ROCKIES
+     _or A Mystery of the Air_
+
+ 11. THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE OCEAN
+     _or A Marvelous Rescue in Mid-Air_
+
+ 12. THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE WING
+     _or Seeking the Airship Treasure_
+
+
+ CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers      New York
+
+
+
+
+THE JACK RANGER SERIES
+
+By CLARENCE YOUNG
+
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in Colors._
+
+_Price 75 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents additional._
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Lively stories of outdoor sports and adventure every boy will want to
+read._
+
+
+ 1. JACK RANGER'S SCHOOL DAYS
+    _or The Rivals of Washington Hall_
+
+You will love Jack Ranger--you simply can't help it. He is bright and
+cheery, and earnest in all he does.
+
+
+ 2. JACK RANGER'S WESTERN TRIP
+    _or From Boarding School to Ranch and Range_
+
+This volume takes the hero to the great West. Jack is anxious to clear
+up the mystery surrounding his father's disappearance.
+
+
+ 3. JACK RANGER'S SCHOOL VICTORIES
+    _or Track, Gridiron and Diamond_
+
+Jack gets back to Washington Hall and goes in for all sorts of school
+games. There are numerous contests on the athletic field.
+
+
+ 4. JACK RANGER'S OCEAN CRUISE
+    _or The Wreck of the Polly Ann_
+
+How Jack was carried off to sea against his will makes a "yarn" no boy
+will want to miss.
+
+
+ 5. JACK RANGER'S GUN CLUB
+    _or From Schoolroom to Camp and Trail_
+
+Jack organizes a gun club and with his chums goes in quest of big game.
+They have many adventures in the mountains.
+
+
+ 6. JACK RANGER'S TREASURE BOX
+    _or The Outing of the Schoolboy Yachtsmen_
+
+Jack receives a box from his father and it is stolen. How he regains it
+makes an absorbing tale.
+
+
+_Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._
+
+
+ CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers      New York
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY RANCHERS SERIES
+
+BY WILLARD F. BAKER
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors._
+
+_=Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.=_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Stories of the great west, with cattle ranches as a setting, related in
+such a style as to captivate the hearts of all boys._
+
+
+ 1. THE BOY RANCHERS
+    _or Solving the Mystery at Diamond X_
+
+Two eastern boys visit their cousin. They become involved in an exciting
+mystery.
+
+
+ 2. THE BOY RANCHERS IN CAMP
+    _or The Water Fight at Diamond X_
+
+Returning for a visit, the two eastern lads learn, with delight, that
+they are to become boy ranchers.
+
+
+ 3. THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL
+    _or The Diamond X After Cattle Rustlers_
+
+Our boy heroes take the trail after Del Pinzo and his outlaws.
+
+
+ 4. THE BOY RANCHERS AMONG THE INDIANS
+    _or Trailing the Yaquis_
+
+Rosemary and Floyd are captured by the Yaqui Indians.
+
+
+ 5. THE BOY RANCHERS AT SPUR CREEK
+    _or Fighting the Sheep Herders_
+
+Dangerous struggle against desperadoes for land rights.
+
+
+ 6. THE BOY RANCHERS IN THE DESERT
+    _or Diamond X and the Lost Mine_
+
+One night a strange old miner almost dead from hunger and hardship
+arrived at the bunk house. The boys cared for him and he told them of
+the lost desert mine.
+
+
+ 7. THE BOY RANCHERS ON ROARING RIVER
+    _or Diamond X and the Chinese Smugglers_
+
+The boy ranchers help capture Delton's gang who were engaged in
+smuggling Chinese across the border.
+
+
+ 8. THE BOY RANCHERS IN DEATH VALLEY
+    _or Diamond X and the Poison Mystery_
+
+The boy ranchers track mysterious Death into his cave.
+
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+ CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers      New York
+
+
+
+
+THE BOMBA BOOKS
+
+By ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With colored jacket._
+
+_Price 50 cents per volume._
+
+_Postage 10 cents additional._
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Bomba lived far back in the jungles of the Amazon with a half-demented
+naturalist who told the lad nothing of his past. The jungle boy was a
+lover of birds, and hunted animals with a bow and arrow and his trusty
+machete. He had a primitive education in some things, and his daring
+adventures will be followed with breathless interest by thousands._
+
+ 1. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY
+    _or The Old Naturalist's Secret_
+
+ 2. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE MOVING MOUNTAIN
+    _or The Mystery of the Caves of Fire_
+
+ 3. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE GIANT CATARACT
+    _or Chief Nasconora and His Captives_
+
+ 4. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON JAGUAR ISLAND
+    _or Adrift on the River of Mystery_
+
+ 5. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE ABANDONED CITY
+    _or A Treasure Ten Thousand Years Old_
+
+ 6. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON TERROR TRAIL
+    _or The Mysterious Men from the Sky_
+
+ 7. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE SWAMP OF DEATH
+    _or The Sacred Alligators of Abarago_
+
+ 8. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AMONG THE SLAVES
+    _or Daring Adventures in the Valley of Skulls_
+
+_Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
+
+
+
+
+THE SPEEDWELL BOYS SERIES
+
+By ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+Author of "The Dave Dashaway Series," "Great Marvel Series," etc.
+
+12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
+
+All boys who love to be on the go will welcome the Speedwell boys. They
+are clean cut and loyal lads.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ THE SPEEDWELL BOYS ON MOTOR CYCLES
+ _or The Mystery of a Great Conflagration_
+
+The lads were poor, but they did a rich man a great service and he
+presented them with their motor cycles. What a great fire led to is
+exceedingly well told.
+
+
+ THE SPEEDWELL BOYS AND THEIR RACING AUTO
+ _or A Run for the Golden Cup_
+
+A tale of automobiling and of intense rivalry on the road. There was an
+endurance run and the boys entered the contest. On the run they rounded
+up some men who were wanted by the law.
+
+
+ THE SPEEDWELL BOYS AND THEIR POWER LAUNCH
+ _or To the Rescue of the Castaways_
+
+Here is an unusual story. There was a wreck, and the lads, in their
+power launch, set out to the rescue. A vivid picture of a great storm
+adds to the interest of the tale.
+
+
+ THE SPEEDWELL BOYS IN A SUBMARINE
+ _or The Lost Treasure of Rocky Cove_
+
+An old sailor knows of a treasure lost under water because of a cliff
+falling into the sea. The boys get a chance to go out in a submarine and
+they make a hunt for the treasure.
+
+
+ THE SPEEDWELL BOYS AND THEIR ICE RACER
+ _or The Perils of a Great Blizzard_
+
+The boys had an idea for a new sort of iceboat, to be run by combined
+wind and motor power. How they built the craft, and what fine times they
+had on board of it, is well related.
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE BOB DEXTER SERIES
+
+BY WILLARD F. BAKER
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in Colors._
+
+_Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid._
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_This is a new line of stories for boys, by the author of the Boy
+Ranchers series. The Bob Dexter books are of the character that may
+be called detective stories, yet they are without the objectionable
+features of the impossible characters and absurd situations that mark so
+many of the books in that class. These stories deal with the up-to-date
+adventures of a normal, healthy lad who has a great desire to solve
+mysteries._
+
+
+ 1. BOB DEXTER AND THE CLUB-HOUSE MYSTERY
+    _or The Missing Golden Eagle_
+
+This story tells how the Boys' Athletic Club was despoiled of its
+trophies in a strange manner, and how, among other things stolen, was
+the Golden Eagle mascot. How Bob Dexter turned himself into an amateur
+detective and found not only the mascot, but who had taken it, makes
+interesting and exciting reading.
+
+
+ 2. BOB DEXTER AND THE BEACON BEACH MYSTERY
+    _or The Wreck of the Sea Hawk_
+
+When Bob and his chum went to Beacon Beach for their summer vacation,
+they were plunged, almost at once, into a strange series of events, not
+the least of which was the sinking of the Sea Hawk. How some men tried
+to get the treasure off the sunken vessel, and how Bob and his chum
+foiled them, and learned the secret of the lighthouse, form a great
+story.
+
+
+ 3. BOB DEXTER AND THE STORM MOUNTAIN MYSTERY
+    _or The Secret of the Log Cabin_
+
+Bob Dexter came upon a man mysteriously injured and befriended him. This
+led the young detective into the swirling midst of a series of strange
+events and into the companionship of strange persons, not the least of
+whom was the man with the wooden leg. But Bob got the best of this
+vindictive individual, and solved the mystery of the log cabin, showing
+his friends how the secret entrance to the house was accomplished.
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+ CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS      New York
+
+
+
+
+THE FRED FENTON ATHLETIC SERIES
+
+By ALLEN CHAPMAN
+
+Author of "The Tom Fairfield Series," "The Boys of Pluck Series" and
+"The Darewell Chums Series."
+
+12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
+
+A line of tales embracing school athletics. Fred is a true type of the
+American schoolboy of to-day.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ FRED FENTON THE PITCHER
+ _or The Rivals of Riverport School_
+
+When Fred came to Riverport none of the school lads knew him, but he
+speedily proved his worth in the baseball box. A true picture of school
+baseball.
+
+
+ FRED FENTON IN THE LINE
+ _or The Football Boys of Riverport School_
+
+When Fall came in the thoughts of the boys turned to football. Fred went
+in the line, and again proved his worth, making a run that helped to win
+a great game.
+
+
+ FRED FENTON ON THE CREW
+ _or The Young Oarsmen of Riverport School_
+
+In this volume the scene is shifted to the river, and Fred and his chums
+show how they can handle the oars. There are many other adventures, all
+dear to the hearts of boys.
+
+
+ FRED FENTON ON THE TRACK
+ _or The Athletes of Riverport School_
+
+Track athletics form a subject of vast interest to many boys, and here
+is a tale telling of great running races, high jumping, and the like.
+Fred again proves himself a hero in the best sense of that term.
+
+
+ FRED FENTON: MARATHON RUNNER
+ _or The Great Race at Riverport School_
+
+Fred is taking a post-graduate course at the school when the subject of
+Marathon running came up. A race is arranged, and Fred shows both his
+friends and his enemies what he can do. An athletic story of special
+merit.
+
+
+ CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers,      NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+ --Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected
+   except as noted below.
+
+ --Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
+
+ --Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
+
+ --Changed "Haddonville" (p. 257) to "Haddonfield", the name of the
+   town nearest Randall College.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41665 ***