of you would try to get a sleigh over. Come right
in. You must be rather cold--or did the singing keep you warm?"

"How do you do, Doctor Clay?" was the answering cry, and all of the boys
bounced out of the turnout, ran up the steps, and shook hands. Job
Haskers was "left in the cold," so to speak, and stood in the background
in disgust. He thought it was "bad discipline" to treat the scholars too
good-naturedly. "Hold them down with a rod of iron," was his motto, and
the boys knew it only too well.

Matters were speedily explained to the master of the school, and he
directed Job Haskers to call Lamond and have the horses and the sleigh
taken care of, and then told Shadrach Mellick to come in and he would be
given a room for the night and his breakfast in the morning. The farmer
was paid off and was well pleased over the treatment received.

"You appear to be the only one who has suffered," said Doctor Clay to
Nat Poole. "But a good night's sleep will probably fix you up, and the
housekeeper can look after your clothing."

"I have plenty of other clothing in my trunk," answered Poole, and then
went off to the dormitory he occupied with Gus Plum and a number of
others.

Dave and his chums occupied Dormitories Nos. 11 and 12, and there they
found several of the other students awaiting them, including Luke
Watson, who was noted as a singer and banjo-player, Bertram Vane, always
called "Polly," because his manner was so girlish, and little Chip
Macklin, who had been the school sneak but who had now turned over a new
leaf.

"It does my heart good to set eyes on you fellows again!" cried Luke
Watson. "If it wasn't so late I'd get out my banjo and sing a song in
your honor."

"Yes, and have old Haskers up here, giving us extra work for to-morrow,"
answered Ben. "No, thank you, Luke, not so early in the season, please."

"Delighted to see you all," lisped Polly Vane. "I trust you all had a
real nice time."

"I certainly did," answered Dave. "How about you, Polly? Did they invite
you to any molasses-pulls or pink teas?"

"Oh, I had a glorious time, Dave. My two cousins visited us--splendid
girls--and they had some other girls come in, and we----"

"All played blindman's-buff and hunt-the-slipper," finished Sam. "Wasn't
that too delicious for anything!" and he said this in such a feminine
tone that everybody but Polly laughed. The girlish student looked a bit
doubtful, but was not offended.

The cold ride had made