tation and another along the line, it began
to fill up with passengers, including a goodly number of Oak Hall
students. At one place Sam Day and Shadow Hamilton came on board,
followed by half a dozen snowballs, sent after them by boys who had come
to see them off.

"Hi! stop that!" cried Sam Day, as he tried to dodge, and just then a
snowball meant for his head took a somewhat stout man in the ear. The
man uttered a cry of surprise, slipped on the platform of the car, and
fell flat, crushing his valise under him. At this a shout of laughter
rang out from the depot platform, and the lads standing there lost no
time in disappearing.

"You--you villains!" roared the stout man when he could catch his
breath. "I'll--I'll have you locked up!"

"It wasn't my fault," answered Sam Day, trying hard to suppress the grin
on his face. "Shall I help you up?"

"No," grunted the man, and arose slowly. "Do you know I have a dozen
fresh eggs in that valise?"

"Sorry, I'm sure."

"A dozen eggs!" cried Shadow Hamilton. "Well, I never! Say, that puts me
in mind of a story. Once a man bought some eggs that weren't strictly
fresh, and----"

"Pah! who wants to listen to your stories?" interrupted the stout man.
"You had better pay for the eggs that are smashed," and he entered the
car in anything but a pleasant humor.

Dave had come to the car door to greet Sam and Shadow and conduct them
to a seat near his own. The stout man was so upset mentally that he
bumped roughly into the youth.

"Get out of my way, will you?" grunted the irate passenger.

"Excuse me, I didn't know you owned the whole aisle," said Dave, coldly.
He did not like the manner in which he had been addressed.

"See here, are you another one of them good-for-nothing schoolboys?"
bellowed the stout individual. "If you are, I want you to understand you
can't run this train--not as far as I am concerned, anyhow."

Dave looked at the man for a moment in silence. "You are very polite, I
must say," he observed. "I haven't done anything to you, have I?"

"No, but you young bloods are all in together. I know you! Last spring I
was on the train with a lot of college boys, and they tried to run
things to suit themselves. But we fixed 'em, we did. And we'll fix you,
too, if you try to run matters here," and with a savage shake of his
head the stout man passed down the aisle and dropped heavily into the
first vacant seat he reached.

"Isn't he a peach?" murmured Sam Day