y and sinning boy.

The boys had so much to look at that for awhile they were quite silent.
Then Bill remembered something.

"Say!" he suddenly exclaimed. "We are having the deuce of a time at the
school. Right in our quarters, too. Did you hear?"

"No," said Frank, still staring out. "What was it?"

"Somebody stole six hundred dollars from Captain Jennings next door to
us. It was money he had to pay the Battery, and it is gone. There is an
awful fuss about it."

"Will they arrest him?" asked Frank.

"Why, no; they won't do that, of course. He didn't steal it from
_himself_, and Dad says he has money besides what he gets as captain,
but I don't suppose he likes the idea of making it good. There is going
to be an _awful_ fuss about it."

"Did he lose it out of his pocket?" asked Frank.

"No; that's the funny part," said Bill. "He had it on his desk in his
study, under a paperweight, in an envelope, and that's the last he ever
saw of it. Oh, there will be an _awful_ fuss over it! Whoever took it
will go to Leavenworth for so many years that he will have a good chance
to be sorry about it. It is an awful thing."

"Do they suspect anyone?" asked Frank.

"I didn't hear anything this morning," said Bill. "We left too early.
But there will be an awful fuss. Why, it is an _awful_ thing, you know.
I didn't know there was anyone over there low enough to steal. It makes
me feel kind of queer!"

CHAPTER VIII

The day passed rapidly. The boys were the first in the dining-car when a
meal was announced, and be it said they were almost the last to leave.
They had been provided with plenty of money for "eats," as the two
Major-fathers wisely remembered that a boy is never so hungry as when
travelling. Also their section was the first one made up. They were
tired, and sleepy.

They tossed up to see which should take the upper berth, both boys
wanting it, and Frank won.

They spread their suitcases out on Bill's bed to open them, then Frank
decided to take his up with him and climbed up into his lofty berth
while Bill boosted and lifted the suitcase after him. Bill had packed
his own suitcase for the first time, and his mother had smiled as she
saw him carefully plant his pajamas on the very bottom. She said
nothing, however, as she knew that another time he would lay them on the
top where he could get them without any trouble. Frank had done the same
thing, so for a little there was silence as the boys spread ev