you are not studying Caesar. What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you later if you don't guess," and Jack passed on and into
the room and took his accustomed seat.

Merritt came in rather late and some of the boys noticed that he looked
excited over something.

It was nearly ten minutes before Herring took his seat and then it was
seen that his face was wet and evidently lately washed and that there
was a discoloration around his nose and another under one of his eyes.

"Hello! I guess he has been wrestling with something, too," thought
Percival. "I wonder if it had anything to do with Caesar?"

"You are very late, Herring," said the doctor. "What is the reason?"

"Fell down and bruised my face," muttered Herring. "Had to wash up
before I came in. My nose bled."

"See that it does not occur again," said Dr. Wise, using the customary
phrase which had become a habit with him.

"It will if he fools with Jack Sheldon," chuckled Percival. "I'll bet
anything that he was the one who put the Caesar in Jack's desk and got
paid up for it."

Neither Percival nor any of the other boys had a chance to speak to Jack
about the matter until dinner when a knot of them interviewed him at the
door of the dining hall.

"Were you the cause of Herring's being late to class after recess,
Jack?" asked Percival.

"Did you find out anything?" put in Harry. "I had a bet that it was Pete
who tried to undermine you in his generally clumsy fashion."

"The affair is settled, boys," said Jack, quietly. "We need not think
any more about it."

And that was all he would say, for all their coaxing.

CHAPTER XVIII

AN EXPLORING TRIP THROUGH THE WOODS

After school was over that day Percival came to Jack and said:

"We are going off into the woods, some of us, to explore things
generally. Won't you come along, Jack?"

"Of course he will," put in Billy Manners, who came along at that moment
with Harry and Arthur. "He will want to make some more discoveries to
add to those he has already made. The place is new to us where we are
going and, consequently, will be new to him."

"We are going into a part of the woods beyond here that is new to us,
and you will enjoy it as well as the rest," said Percival.

"I shall be glad to go with you, Dick," said Jack. "Are you going to
take your lunch, Billy? Shall we be away as long as that?"

The other boys now noticed that Billy carried a black box under his arm,
but until Jack had spoken of i