s he stretched himself out on one of the beds.
"Bet you I'm going to do a tall line of sleeping to-night, Steve," he
said. "This bed isn't half bad, either."

"Well, don't put your feet all over the spread," replied Steve. "Get up
out of that and unpack your bag, you lazy duffer."

"I will in a minute. I'm tired. Say, what do you think of this place,
anyway, Steve?"

"The school? Oh, I guess it'll do. You can't tell much about it yet, I
suppose. I'm going to snoop around to-morrow after breakfast and see the
sights. I suppose things will be a lot different when the crowd comes. I
guess we're the only fellows in this dormitory to-night."

"Scared?" asked Tom, with a grin. "Remember Horace is downstairs to
protect you."

"Huh! Bet you he'd crawl under the bed if he saw a burglar! I wonder if
the rest of the faculty is like him."

"Oh, I dare say he's all right when you get to know him," said Tom, with
a yawn. "Say, pull down that window, Steve. It's getting chilly in
here."

"Get up and move around and you won't feel chilly," replied Steve
unsympathetically. "Gee, I wish I had my pajamas and things."

"You might have had them by this time if you'd helped me look for that
fellow," said Tom. "I'm just as certain as I am that I'm lying here
that the fellow we saw in the dining-hall was the fellow who swiped your
suit-case!"

"Oh, forget that," said Steve disgustedly. "Common-sense ought to tell
you that a sneak thief you saw in New York wouldn't be having his supper
here at Brimfield!"

"He was, though," replied the other stubbornly.

"Oh, run away! Don't you suppose there are two people who look alike in
this world?"

"Not as much alike as those two."

"Why, you didn't even get a good look at the fellow in the dining-hall.
He had his back turned to you."

"Not when I saw him first, he didn't," answered Tom with a vigorous
shake of his head. "I saw his face before he turned at the doorway and
_it was him_!"

"You mean it was he, you ignoramus. All right, Tom, have your own way
about it. Only someone ought to warn the principal about him. Why, he
might run off with a couple of the buildings some night!"

"Enjoy yourself," murmured Tom. "But you'll find I was right some day,
you old pig-headed chump!"

"When I do I--I'll make you a present," answered Steve, with a grin.

"Any present you'd give me wouldn't cut much figure, I guess," said the
boy on the bed contemptuously.

"Is that so? Say, what'll I