a
box of elastics, a pair of Boston garters and a patent nail clipper.
Only the limits of his exchequer had prohibited his availing himself
of the opportunity to purchase, at a tremendous bargain, a pair of
snow-shoes, a tobogganing cap and a pair of corduroy trousers,
slightly spotted.

Luckily for Dink, marching warily behind the vanguard, the three
o'clock recitation had begun, and but a scattering of his schoolmates
were abroad to witness his progress.

He arrived thus, virtually unnoticed, at the Green and, with the help
of Klondike, arranged his possessions so as to make the greatest
display.

He was standing in the middle of the floor, clutching the historic
shoes and searching the walls for the proper place of honor, when
Butsey White blew in.

"Where in thunder have you been?" he exclaimed, and then stopped at
the sight of the twisted lamp. He looked at Dink, gave a grunt and
examined the new purchase.

"Broken-winded, spavined, has the rickets--bet it leaks and won't
burn. Where in----"

All at once he perceived the kerosene can, with its attached padlock.

"What's this thing?" he said, in genuine surprise, picking it up with
two fingers and regarding it with a look of blank incomprehension.

"That's the safety can," said Stover, yielding to a vague feeling of
uneasiness.

"What's this?"

"That's a padlock."

"What for?"

"Why, for the kerosene."

"What kerosene?"

"The kerosene for the lamp."

"Why, you nincompoop, we don't furnish the kerosene."

"We don't?" said Stover faintly, with a horrible sinking feeling.
"Don't furnish the kerosene?"

"Who got hold of you?" said Butsey, too astounded to laugh.

"I met Macnooder----"

"And the Tennessee Shad, I'll bet my pants on it," said Butsey.

"Yes, sir."

"What else did they unload on you?"

"Why--why, I bought a souvenir set."

"A what?"

"A souvenir toilet set."

Butsey wheeled to the washstand, uttered a shriek and fell in
convulsions on the bed.

Stover stood stockstill, gazing in horror from the variegated crockery
to Butsey, who was thrashing to and fro in hysterical flops, holding
both the pillows where they would most ease the agony. Then, with a
sudden deft movement, Dink dropped the historic shoes, sent them under
the bed with a savage kick and, rushing to the window, threw the
safety can into the tall grass of the fields beyond. Then he returned
solemnly, sat down on the edge of the bed, took his head in his hands