r less nervous, although some tried very hard
to appear unconcerned. They varied in age from Bert, who was
undoubtedly the youngest, to a long-bearded, sober-visaged Scotchman,
who might almost have been his father; their appearance was as different
as their ages, some being spruce, well-dressed city lads, and others the
most rustic-looking of youths, clad in rough homespun. They each sat
down in the first seat they could find, and then stared about them as if
they would like very much to know what was going to happen next.

They had not long to wait in uncertainty. A short, stout, pleasant-faced
professor disengaged himself from the group at the table, and stepping
up to the platform, said, in a smooth voice, with a strong Scotch
accent:

"If you are ready to begin, gentlemen, will you please arrange
yourselves so as to occupy only every alternate desk."

There was a little noise and bustle as this order was being carried out,
and then they settled down again, with a vacant desk between each pair
as a precaution against whispered assistance. The next proceeding was to
distribute paper to the candidates, they being expected to supply their
own pens and ink. And then came what all were awaiting with beating
pulse--viz., the examination paper. Each one as he received his paper
ran his eye eagerly down the list of questions, his countenance growing
bright or gloomy according as, to this hasty survey, the questions
seemed easy or difficult.

Bert scanned his list rapidly, gave a great sigh of relief, and then
turned to Frank with a meaning smile, which said more plainly than
words:

"I'm all right."

Frank smiled back, in token that he was all right, too, and then the two
boys bent to their work.

They did not get along very fast at the start. It was their first
written examination, and this, added to their natural nervousness, kept
both their ideas and their ink from flowing freely. But after a few
minutes they forgot themselves in their eagerness to commit to paper the
answers to the questions before them, and for an hour or more they
scribbled away until the first paper, which was upon the classics, had
nothing unanswered left upon it.

Bert finished first, and the professor, noticing him unemployed, brought
him another paper, this time the mathematical one. As he expected, he
did not do quite as well with it. But he felt sure of being right in his
answers to six out of the ten questions, and very hopeful about