ey heard him rush to the side of the room and once more
make a light.

As the rays filled the apartment those outside saw something of what had
taken place. Not less than half a dozen mice were doing their best to
hide themselves here and there under the bed and the chiffonier and in
the corners of the room. One or two scampered directly past Stowell, who
set up another squeal of alarm and then leaped up on the nearest chair.

"He's enjoying it, all right," murmured Randy.

"Shut up!" came promptly from Fred. "If he sees us we'll have to dust
for it."

But the eyes of the sneak were not turned toward the window. He was
looking only at the mice, two of which were still scampering across the
floor trying to find some hole of escape.

"Somebody's been playing a trick on me," murmured Stowell to himself.
"Just wait till I find out who did it, I'll fix him!"

He remained standing on the chair, not caring to venture on the floor in
his bare feet and with the mice still at liberty. He had placed his
shoes under the head of the bed.

"I've got to clear them out somehow," he muttered to himself. "But I
guess I'd better put my shoes on first. Then I'll get that baseball bat
in the closet and do it."

With extreme caution Codfish descended from the chair and walked
hurriedly across the floor to the head of his bed. He drew forth the
shoes and started quickly to put them on.

His toes were just going down into one of the shoes when he let out a
yell which would have done credit to a wild Indian. One of the mice had
found refuge in the footwear, and now it gave a bound and scrambled up
inside the leg of Stowell's pajamas.

"Hi! Get out of there! Help! Murder! Take that beast away! Oh, my! he'll
bite me sure! Ouch! he's bit me already!" And then the sneak of the
school began to dance around wildly, in the meantime clutching savagely
in the region of the knee where the mouse had found lodgement. Caught,
the little animal had nipped Codfish in the finger.

"Gee, this is the richest yet!" chuckled Walt Baxter.

"Better than a moving picture," was Gif's comment.

"He'll wake the whole school if he makes much more noise," remarked
Jack. "Be prepared to skip out when the time comes."

"I'll have somebody arrested for this," howled Codfish, as he still
struggled with the mouse that was up his leg. "This is beastly! Oh,
dear! what in the world shall I do?"

He gave a savage tug at his pajamas, and the next instant there was