LITMIR.BIZ

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      "'Sh!" cautioned Punch Swallows, a lad with fiery red hair. "Don't speak of that, for the love of goodness! Just think of a gang of sophs being captured by freshmen disguised as Indians, taken out into the country, tied to stakes and nearly roasted, while the freshmen dance a gleeful cancan around them! It's awful! The mere thought of it gives me nervous prostration!"

      It was two weeks after the duel, and the five sophomores had gathered in the little back room at Morey's, They looked at each other and were silent, but their silence was very suggestive.

      "By Jawve!" drawled Paulding, "it is awful! I wasn't in the crowd. If I had been—"

      "You'd been roasted like the rest of us," cut in Parker.

      "But I'd made it warm faw some of the blooming cads."

      "Haven't we been doing our level best to make it warm for them?" cried Horner. "But no matter what we do, they see us and go us one better."

      "It all comes from Merriwell," asserted Swallows. "He's king of the freshmen, the same as Browning is king of the sophomores."

      "And he's a terror," nodded Horner. "He can put up more jokes than one."

      "And they say he can fight."

      "They say! Why, didn't you see him do Diamond, the fresh from Virginia? Oh, no. I remember you were not with us that night. Yes, he can fight, and he doesn't seem to be easily scared."

      "I think he is a blawsted upstart," said Paulding, lazily puffing at his cigarette. "He needs to be called down, don't yer know."

      "Some time when he is upstairs, call him down," suggested Horner.

      "Fists are not the only things that fellows can fight with," said Parker. "The matter has been kept quiet, but it is said to be a fact that Diamond forced him into a duel with rapiers, and he disarmed the Southerner twice, having him completely at his mercy each time."

      "And Diamond prides himself on being an expert with that kind of weapon," nodded Horner.

      "Why doesn't Browning do something?" asked Paulding. "It is outrageous faw a lot of freshies to run things this way."

      "Browning is in training," said Parker.

      "In training? What faw? Why, he is so lazy—"

      "He's training to get some of the flesh off him. It is my opinion that somebody must check Merriwell's wild career, and he is getting in condition to do it. You know that Browning was one of the hardest men who ever entered Yale. He is a natural athlete, but he's lazy, and he has allowed himself to become soft. Why, he knocked out Kid Lajoie, the professional, in a hard-glove contest of three rounds. Lajoie was easy fruit for him. I fancy he means to go up against this fresh duck Merriwell and do him. That's the only thing that will pull Merriwell off his perch. He doesn't mind being hazed."

      "Doesn't mind it!" shouted Horner. "Confound him! He always manages to turn the tables in some way, and hazes the parties who try to haze him."

      Two youths came in from the front room.

      "Hey, Browning! Hello, King! Come join us. You, too, Emery"—to the other fellow. "What'll you have, Browning?"

      Browning accepted a seat at the table, but waved his hand languidly as he declined to drink.

      "I'm not taking anything now," he said.

      "Oh, but you must! Have some ale, old man."

      "Excuse me, gentlemen. I tell you squarely that I am not taking anything just now. By and by I will be with you again. Emery will go you one. That's what he came in for."

      "That's right," declared Browning's companion. "I was out stargazing last night. Looked at the Long-Handled Dipper a long time, and it gave me an awful thirst. I've had it with me all day. Yes, mine's ale."

      So another round was ordered. Horner passed around the cigarettes, and Browning declined them. The others lighted up fresh ones.

      "Say," broke out Emery, suddenly, "do you know that fresh Ditson gives me that tired feeling?"

      Tad Horner grinned.

      "He's no good," said Tad. "He is crooked and he's a toucher. Touched me for a V once, and I am looking for that fiver yet. That was two years ago, before I came here. I knew him then."

      "He tried to touch us for a drink as we came along," said Browning. "I took him in here once, but I've been sorry ever since. He said he had his thirst with him just now. I told him to go sit on the fence and let the wind blow him off."

      "And he is a big bluff," asserted Emery. "The other day he was telling how he once sat at the table with kings and queens. I told him that I had—and with jacks and ten spots. Here comes the amber. My! I won't do a thing to it!"

      The waiter placed the glasses of ale before them, and Emery eagerly grasped his.

      "Here's more to-morrow," was his toast, and he seemed to toss it off at a single swallow.

      "By Jawve!" drawled Paulding. "You must be thirsty!"

      "I am. Have been all day, as I said before. It was hard stuff last night, and we went the rounds. My head needed hooping when I arose from my downy couch this morning."

      "Well, you shouldn't have gotten intoxicated, in the first place," said Parker.

      "I didn't. It was in the last place. If I'd gone home before we struck that joint I'd been all right."

      "Wow!" whooped Tad Horner. "You seem full of 'em!"

      "Oh, I am. I've been eating nothing but red pepper lately, and I'm hot stuff. Let's have another one all around."

      More ale was ordered.

      "Your neck must be dry enough to squeak, old man," said Parker, addressing Browning. "It doesn't seem natural for you to go thirsty. Won't you have just one?"

      "Not one," smiled Bruce, lazily. "I've got too much flesh on me now, and I'm trying to get some of it off."

      "Going to try for the football team—or what?"

      "Nothing of that sort—but I have a reason."

      "We know."

      "You do?"

      "Sure."

      "What is it?"

      "You're laying for Merriwell, and you mean to do him. I am right, am I not?"

      The king of the sophomores smiled in a lazy way, but did not reply.

      "That settles it," laughed Parker. "I knew I was right. Well, somebody must curry that young colt down and it must be done right away."

      Browning showed sudden animation. He looked around at the faces of his companions and then said:

      "This crowd is straight, and I am going to make a few remarks right here and now. I feel just like it."

      "Drive ahead." "Go on." "We are listening."

      "I am not inclined to talk this matter over publicly," said Bruce, "but I will say that the time is ripe to get after these confounded freshmen, and we must do it. I want to tell you what I found this morning. Open wide your ears and listen to this."

      His companions were quite prepared to listen.

      "You know I am getting up every morning and taking a stiff walk. I turn out at daybreak."

      "Good gracious!" gasped Tad Horner. "How do you do it?"

      "Well, I've got one of those electric alarm clocks, and I put it just as far away from my bed as possible."

      "Why is that?"

      "So I won't get hold of it and smash thunder out of the thing when it gets to going. You know it won't stop its racket till somebody stops it or it is run down, and it takes an hour for it to run down after it starts in to ring you up."

      "By Jawve!" drawled Paulding; "I hawdly think I'd like to have one of the blooming things in my room."

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