want?"

"Well, if you must know, I want to talk to a couple of my old friends."

"Why can't you talk to them to-morrow, after they leave school?"

"That won't do. I want them to do something for me before they leave
the academy."

"It's a strange request to make, Lew."

"Oh, it's perfectly square, I assure you. You see, it's this way: I
want them to get some proofs for me,--to prove that I am not as black
as the follows reported to Captain Putnam."

Now, it is possible that some other cadet would not have been
hoodwinked in this fashion by the bully, but Link Smith swallowed the
explanation without a second thought.

"Oh, if that's what you want, go ahead," said he. "But don't tell
anybody I let you in."

"I shan't say a word if you don't," answered Lew Flapp. "By the way,"
he went on, with assumed indifference, "they tell me the Rover boys
have cleared out and gone home."

"No, they haven't," was Link Smith's prompt answer.--They are right
here."

"Are you sure, Link?"

"Of course I am. They are bunking together in the last tent in Street
B, over yonder," and the feeble-minded cadet pointed with his hand as
he spoke.

"Is that so! Well, I don't care. I don't want to see them again until I
can prove to Captain Putnam that they are a set of rascals."

"Are you going to try to get into the academy again, Lew?" asked Link,
curiously.

"Not much! I'll be done with Captain Putnam just as soon as I can show
him how he mistreated me and how the Rovers are pulling the wool over
his eyes."

"Everybody here thinks the Rovers about perfect."

"That's because they don't know them as well as I and Rockley do."

A few words more passed, and then Lew Flapp slipped into the camp lines
and made his way between the long rows of tents.

He had gained from Link Smith just the information he desired, namely,
the location of the Rover boys' sleeping quarters. He looked back, to
make certain that Link was not watching him, and then hurried on to
where the Rovers rested, totally unconscious of the proximity of their
enemy.

"I'll show them what I can do," muttered Lew Flapp to himself. "I'll
make them wish they had never been born!"

At last the tent was reached and with caution he opened the flap and
peered inside. All was dark, and with a hand that was none too steady
he struck a match and held it up.

Each of the Rover boys lay sleeping peacefully on his cot, with his
clothing hung up on one of the tent poles.