gittin' married to no widder, nor nobody
else! An' I ain't washin' dishes an' mindin' babies nuther! Such boys!"
And with a crack of his whip he started up the turnout so suddenly that
half the lads were pitched into the laps of the other half.

It was certainly a jolly crowd that rolled over the well-kept highway
toward Oak Hall. They knew that many hard lessons awaited them, and
that, once school opened, discipline would be strict, but just now all
were in high spirits. To the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" Luke Watson
started up the school song, and the others joined in lustily:

"Oak Hall we never shall forget,
No matter where we roam,
It is the very best of schools,
To us it's just like home!
Then give three cheers, and let them ring
Throughout this world so wide,
To let the people know that we
Elect to here abide!"

"That's the stuff!" cried Ben, slangily. "Now, then, for the field cry,"
and then came the Oak Hall cheer:

"Baseball!
Football!
Oak Hall
Has the call!
Biff! Boom! Bang! Whoop!"

"I think we ought to display the school colors!" cried Dave. "Anybody
got a flag?"

"Here is one," answered Polly Vane, from his seat in front, beside the
driver. "But I haven't got a stick for it."

"Never mind, Shadow's fishing rod will do," answered Dave. "Shadow, hand
it over."

"All right, but don't break the rod," said Shadow. "It cost me four
bones."

The rod was put together, and the school colors fastened to the top.
Then the rod was thrust out of a side window of the carryall and waved
in the air, first by one student and then another.

"Look out, that you don't hit nobody with that fishin' pole!" warned the
carryall driver, as the turnout swung around a bend of the road.

He had scarcely spoken when a buggy came into view, driven by a tall,
serious-looking individual, wearing a high silk hat. The buggy swung
forward quickly, directly in line with the fishing rod, and before the
boys could haul the colors in the rod hit the silk hat, sending it
whirling into the bushes beside the roadway.

CHAPTER VIII

ABOUT SOME NEW STUDENTS

"Hi! hi! what's the meaning of this outrage!" roared the individual in
the buggy, as he brought his horse to a standstill. "Do you want to kill
me?"

"Who is it? Is he hurt?" questioned Dave, quickly.

"I don't know," answered Ben. "The rod took off his hat, but whether it
struc