the Coffee-colored Angel
anxiously. "Can you prove it?"

Stover gingerly placed the gaping valise on the top step and fumbled
in his pockets.

"Please, sir, I have a letter from--from the Doctor," he blurted out,
finally extracting a crumpled envelope and tendering it to the
Coffee-colored Angel, who looked it over with well-simulated surprise
and solemnly announced:

"My goodness gracious! Why, it is the new boy!"

Instantly there was a change.

"Freshman, what's your name?" said little Susie Satterly in his
deepest tones.

"Stover."

"Sir."

"Sir."

"What's your full name?"

"John Humperdink Stover, sir."

"Humper--what?"

"Dink."

"Say it again."

"Humperdink."

"Say it for me," said the Coffee-colored Angel, with his hand to his
ear.

"Humperdink."

"Accent the last syllable."

"Humper--DINK!"

"Are you trying to bluff us, Freshman?" said Cheyenne Baxter
severely.

"No, sir; that's my real name."

"Humperdink?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, Rinky Dink, you've got a rotten name."

"Yes, sir," said Stover, who never before had felt such a longing to
agree.

"How old?"

"Fifteen, sir."

"Weight?"

"One hundred and thirty, sir."

"Ever been in love?"

"No, sir."

"Ever served a penal sentence?"

"No, sir."

"Then where did you get these clothes?"

The group slowly circulated about the embarrassed Stover, scanning the
amazing costume. Cheyenne Baxter took up the inquisition.

"Say, Dink, honest, are these your _own_ clothes?" he said with a
knowing look.

"Yes, sir."

"Now, honest," continued Cheyenne in a whisper, bending forward and
putting his hand to his ear as though inviting a confidence.

Stover felt suddenly as though his own ears were swelling to alarming
proportions--swelling and perceptibly reddening.

"What do they feed you on, Rinky Dink?" said the White Mountain Canary
softly.

"Feed?" said Stover unwarily, not perceiving the intent of the
question.

"Do they give you many green vegetables?"

Stover tried to laugh appreciatively, but the sound fizzled dolefully
out.

"Because, Dink," said the White Mountain Canary earnestly, "you must
not eat green vegetables, really you must not. You're green enough
already."

"Why did they fire you?" said Tough McCarty.

Stover raised his eyes instinctively. There was a new accent to the
inquisition, different from all the other questions he had run. He
looked at Tough McCarty's stocky frame and battling eyes