the following astonishing spectacle. At the back of
the room every one of the half-dozen visitors sat, or rather sprawled,
with his head upon the desk, in an attitude suggestive of the soundest
slumber; the only variation in position being on the part of Jack
Fenleigh, who lay back with a handkerchief thrown over his face like an
old gentleman taking his after-dinner nap. The nasal concert
continued, and the chairman smote his hand-bell.

"Firs' bell," murmured Tinkleby drowsily, "stop working;" while Dorris
became suddenly afflicted with a catch in his breath which caused a
succession of terrific snorts, each of which nearly cracked the windows.

"Here, stop that noise!" cried Redbrook, springing to his feet in great
wrath. "Wake 'em up, somebody!"

An obliging member caught Tinkleby by the arm, and gave him a
prodigious shake.

"Shur up," growled that gentleman. "Give me back my pillow, 'tisn't
time to ger up. Hallo! have I been asleep? I'm beastly sorry."

One by one the other occupants of the visitors' gallery were made to
understand that they were not in their beds. Jack Fenleigh, however,
absolutely refused to return from the land of dreams. He was shaken,
pinched, and pommelled, but all to no purpose; his snores only became
louder, and the style more fantastic.

Meanwhile a heated altercation was going on between the chairman and
the president of the Fifth Form Literary Society.

"Look here, Tinkleby, we don't want any more of your silly foolery, so
just stop it."

"My dear sir, I'm doing nothing."

"Well, why did you begin?"

"If you mean my having dropped off to sleep, I'm very sorry; but really
there's something in the air of the place--"

"Haw-r-r-r-r-ratch," interposed Jack Fenleigh. Redbrook rose from his
chair, boiling with wrath.

"Just clear out!" he cried. "Go on--all the lot of you!" The visitors
demurred, but being outnumbered three to one, they were seized and
hustled unceremoniously out of the room. In the midst of all this
commotion, however, Fenleigh J., still continued in an unbroken
slumber, and was distinctly heard snoring louder than ever as his
companions dragged him off down the passage.

[Illustration: "The visitors were seized, and hustled unceremoniously
out of the room."]

For the time being this little joke gave rise to a rather strained
relationship between the members of the Sixth and Fifth Forms.
Tinkleby and his comrades were designated a set of rowdy