glowing with excitement.

"Come on downstairs, everybody!" he called out. "Colonel Colby has just
arrived! Come on, and ask him what he can tell us about our fathers."

At this announcement there was a general stampede. All of the others
dropped the textbooks they had been studying and made a simultaneous
rush for the corridor and the stairs. Down, pell-mell, went the whole
crowd, to join a group of cadets in the lower hall, everyone of whom was
doing his best to shake Colonel Colby's hand first.

The owner of the school was dressed in his uniform as a United States
officer, and looked taller and more bronzed than ever. His face wore a
broad smile and he gave each of his pupils a hearty handshake.

"Oh, Colonel, we are so glad to see you back!" cried Jack, with genuine
pleasure as he wrung the officer's hand. "And I hope you have good news
of my father and my uncles?"

"I am as glad to see you as you are to see me, Captain Rover," returned
Colonel Colby. "And it is a genuine pleasure to get back to this school
after having endured such arduous days in France."

"And what about our folks?" added Fred, as he too came in for a
handshake.

"When our troopship left France your folks were expecting to follow in
about ten days or two weeks. Most likely they are already on the way."

"And they were well?" asked Randy anxiously.

"Quite well. Of course, you know that your father and your Uncle Sam
were wounded by some flying shells, and that your Uncle Dick suffered
from a gas attack. But they are all recovering rapidly, and I don't
doubt but what they will soon be as well as ever."

"Somebody said that dad had won a medal of honor," said Jack, his eyes
lighting up with expectancy.

"It is true. He did win such a medal. And he deserved it. Probably he
will give you all the particulars when he arrives."

That was all Colonel Colby could say at the time, because many others
wanted to shake his hand, from Captain Dale down through all the
teachers and the cadets to the school janitor, and even the women
working in the kitchen and the men in the stables. He had been on good
terms with all his hired help, and now they showed a real affection for
him which touched his heart deeply.

"Just think of it! Our fathers may be back in ten days!" exclaimed Andy.
"Isn't it the best ever!" And he commenced to dance a jig just to let
off steam.

The boys lost no time in telephoning to the girls, and it may be
imagined that Mar