cks, too; on the eleven and the nine. Come
on, now. We'll strike Doc. You know he studies medicine and all that
sort of thing. Wait till I give the countersign. Doc's most
particular."

Stover found himself in a den, a combination of drug-store,
taxidermist's shop and general warehouse. All about the room were
ranged an extraordinary array of bottles--green bottles that lurked
under the bed, red, blue and white bottles that climbed the walls and
crowded the mantelpiece, tops of bottles that peered out of
half-opened boxes, all ticketed and mustered in regiments. From the
ceiling a baby alligator swung on a wire, blinking at them horribly
with shining glass eyes; a stuffed owl sat in one corner; while
opposite, a muskrat peered into a crow's nest. The closet and all
available floor space were heaped high with paper boxes and wooden
cases, while over all were innumerable catalogues.

"Pretty fine, isn't it?" said the Tennessee Shad.

"It's wonderful," said Stover, not quite at ease.

"It's not bad," said Doc. "I'd like to have a nice, white skeleton
over there in that corner; but they're hard to get, nowadays. Now
let's get down to business. Sit down."

Stover took the only chair; the Tennessee Shad curled up languidly on
the bed, after brushing aside the debris; while Macnooder, perched on
a drygoods box, poised a pencil over a pad of paper.

"You want a crockery set, first; a student lamp, and an oil can to
keep your oil in."

"Especially the can," said the Tennessee Shad gravely. "Better get a
padlock with it, or the whole Green House will be stealing from you."

"I don't know whether I have a can on hand," said Macnooder anxiously.
"But here's a lamp."

He placed a rather battered affair in the middle of the floor, saying:

"It's a little squee-geed, but you don't care about looks. They ask
you all kinds of prices for them when they're new; but you can have
this for two-twenty-five. There's a bite out of the shade, but you can
turn that side to the wall. They're rather hard to get second hand."

"All right," said Stover.

"Better light it up first," said the Tennessee Shad professionally.

"That's business-like," said Macnooder, who lit a match and, after an
unsuccessful attempt, said: "There's no oil in it. Still, if Stover
wants----"

"Never mind that," said Stover loudly, to show his confidence.

"Now for the toilet set."

"Say, how about the can?"

"Oh, the can. Let me look," said Macnooder,