--behind the bales of rags going to the paper-mill.
Do you see them?" whispered Ruth.

"I declare!" returned her chum. "Isn't that mysterious? It's the
little foreign lady and the big man who played the harp--and how
earnestly they are talking."

"You see, she knew him after all," said Ruth. "But what a
wicked-looking man he is! And she _was_ frightened when he spoke to
her."

"He looks villainous enough to be a brigand," returned her chum,
laughing. "Yet, whoever heard of a _fat_ brigand? That would take the
romance all out of the profession; wouldn't it?"

"And fat villains are not so common; are they?" returned Ruth, echoing
the laugh.

CHAPTER III

APPROACHING THE PROMISED LAND

Tom had tried to remove the smut of the steamboat engine-room from his
face with his handkerchief; but as his sister told him, his martial
appearance in the uniform of the Seven Oaks cadets was rather spoiled
by "a smootchy face." There wasn't time then, however, to make any
toilet before the train left. They were off on the short run to Seven
Oaks in a very few minutes after leaving the _Lanawaxa_.

Tom was very much excited now. He craned his head out of the car
window to catch the first glimpse of the red brick barracks and dome of
the gymnasium, which were the two most prominent buildings belonging to
the Academy. Finally the hill on which the school buildings stood
flashed into view. They occupied the summit of the knoll, while the
seven great oaks, standing in a sort of druidical circle, dotted the
smooth, sloping lawn that descended to the railroad cut.

"Oh, how ugly!" cried Helen, who had never seen the place before. "I
do hope that Briarwood Hall will be prettier than _that_, or I shall
want to run back home the very first week."

Her brother smiled in a most superior way.

"That's just like a girl," he said. "Wanting a school to look pretty!
Pshaw! I want to see a jolly crowd of fellows, that's what I want. I
hope I'll get in with a good crowd. I know Gil Wentworth, who came
here last year, and he says he'll put me in with a nice bunch. That's
what I'm looking forward to."

The train was slowing down. There was a handsome brick station and a
long platform. This was crowded with boys, all in military garb like
Tom's own. They looked so very trim and handsome that Helen and Ruth
were quite excited. There were boys ranging from little fellows of
ten, in knickerbockers, to big chaps whose mus