hstanding the seriousness
of the situation, the ludicrous alarm of the porter set the men
laughing.

"Come along, or Jack will be pinning the wretched Copas," said
Jervis; and he and Tom stepped up to the terrified little man,
and, releasing him, led Jack, who knew them both well, out of
college.

"Were you at that supper party?" said Jervis, as they deposited
Jack with an ostler, who was lounging outside the gates, to be
taken to Drysdale's stables.

"No," said Tom.

"I'm glad to hear it; there will be a pretty clean sweep after
last night's doings."

"But I was in the quadrangle when they came out."

"Not caught, eh?" said Jervis.

"No, luckily, I got to my own rooms at once."

"Were any of the crew caught?"

"Not that I know of."

"Well, we shall hear enough of it before lecture time."

Jervis was right. There was a meeting in the common room directly
after breakfast. Drysdale, anticipating his fate, took his name
off before they sent for him. Chanter and three or four others
were rusticated for a year, and Blake was ordered to go down at
once. He was a scholar, and what was to be done in his case would
be settled at the meeting at the end of the term.

For twenty-four hours it was supposed that St. Cloud had escaped
altogether; but at the end of that time he was summoned before a
meeting in the common room. The tutor whose door had been so
effectually screwed up that he had been obliged to get out of his
window by a ladder to attend morning chapel, proved wholly unable
to appreciate the joke, and set himself to work to discover the
perpetrators of it. The door was fastened with long gimlets,
which had been screwed firmly in, and when driven well home,
their heads knocked off. The tutor collected the shafts of the
gimlets from the carpenter, who came to effect an entry for him;
and, after careful examination discovered the trade mark, So,
putting them into his pocket, he walked off into the town, and
soon came back with the information he required, which resulted
in the rustication of St. Cloud, an event which was borne by the
college with the greatest equanimity.

Shortly afterwards, Tom attended in the schools' quadrangle
again, to be present at the posting of the class list. This time
there were plenty of anxious faces; the quadrangle was full of
them. He felt almost as nervous himself as if he were waiting for
the third gun. He thrust himself forward, and was amongst the
first who caught sigh