ts of the box. Several tried to back away, and Hans
pitched over Tom and both went in a heap.

"Ton't you let dot snake bite me!" roared the German youth.

"Maybe he's poisonous!" came from Larry. He had sought safety by leaping
on a bed.

Slowly the snake had lifted itself from the box, to glare at several of
the boys. Then its cold, beady eyes were fixed on Dick and it uttered a
vicious hiss. This was more than the eldest Rover could stand and he let
box and snake drop in a hurry. The snake glided out of sight under a
bed.

"This is a joke right enough," murmured Sam. "Wonder who played it?"

"Do you think the girls would send a snake?" queried Larry.

"Of course not," answered Tom, who had scrambled up. "This is the work
of some enemy."

"Look out! The snake is getting busy!" screamed Sam, and he was right;
the reptile had left the shelter of the bed and was darting across the
room, in the direction of Songbird.

The would-be poet did not stop to argue with his snakeship, but letting
out a wild yell leaped to the top of a small stand which stood in a
corner. The stand was frail and down it went with a crash, the wreckage
catching the snake on the tail. It whipped around and made a lunge at
Songbird's foot, but the youth was too nimble and leaped on the bed.

"We've got to kill that snake," observed Dick, after the reptile had
disappeared for a moment under a washstand. "If we don't----"

Crash! It was a plate which Sam shied at the snake, as its head showed
for a moment. Then down went a shower of shoes, brushes, plates, and a
cake of soap. But the snake was not seriously hurt. It hissed viciously
and darted from one side of the dormitory to the other, and made all the
boys climb up on the furniture.

"This racket will wake up everybody in the school," said Dick, and he
was right. The boys had hardly time to get the most of the evidence of
the feast out of the way when they heard a knock on the door.

"Look out there!" yelled Tom. "Don't open that door if you value your
life!"

"What's the matter?" came in George Strong's voice.

"A snake!" answered Dick, and then went on in a whisper: "Quick, boys,
get the rest of the stuff out of the way!"

His chums understood, and the remains of the feast were swept under bed
covers in a jiffy.

"Did you say there was a snake in there?" demanded the teacher.

"Yes, sir," said Sam. "He's right close to the door now." And what he
said was true.

Thinking the