us to
spoil the fun."

"Nor to have to lick Percival and a lot of other fools that have taken
up with the new chap," observed Holt.

"H'm! you'd lick Dick Percival, I don't think!" sneered Merritt, who
never lost a chance to jeer any one, his own associates included. "I'd
like to see you do it."

"Shut up!" snarled Herring. "How can we talk the thing over if you're
always putting in your oar?"

"You aren't wearing a lot of medals yourself for keeping your mouth
shut, Pete," retorted Merritt.

"Who's getting this thing up?" snarled the other. "Me or you? Did you
start it?"

"No, but you can't get along without me, all the same, so don't be so
fresh and breezy."

"If you fellows are going to squabble there'll be nothing done at all,"
put in Holt impatiently.

"It ain't me that's squabbling, it's Ern Merritt," growled the leader of
the bullies, angrily. "If he don't want to go into this thing he
needn't, but there's no use in doing so much talking."

"Who's doing the most of it?" laughed Merritt.

"Shut up!" said the rest of the boys, who wanted to hear what Herring
had to propose.

"There are other places besides the dormitories to work in," said
Herring. "There's the woods and the road and a lot of other places. He
won't be with the other fellows all the time."

"No, of course not."

"It'll be easy enough to send him a note and get him away from the
buildings and then we can do just what we like."

"Give him a good scare and take the nonsense out of him."

"And he won't know us, neither, for we'll have masks on and we mustn't
say a word."

"That'll be a hard thing for you," laughed Merritt, who could not resist
the temptation to have another fling at Herring.

The latter paid no attention to him, however, knowing that one word
would only lead to another.

"We'll watch him," he continued; "find out when he goes off by himself
and then do the job up brown. If he don't go off alone, we'll fix it so
he will, and that's easy."

"What'll you do with him?" asked Holt. "Steal his clothes and make him
walk home at night?"

"Black him up with soot and send him back," suggested another, "That
stuff is awful hard to get off."

"I'll make a good job, all right," muttered Herring. "Just you leave it
to me."

Some of the better sort of boys were seen approaching at that moment,
and Herring said in a low tone:

"Come on, let's get out. Go in different directions. Those fellows might
get a notion that w