ay where he was waiting to have
Nixon drive him down to town. The professor was walking around, wringing
his hands and muttering to himself. He looked all out of sorts, and he
said something that sounded to me like 'I don't see how I can do it! I
don't see how I can really attempt it!'"

"And what do you suppose it was that bothered him, Walt?" questioned Jack
curiously.

"I'm sure I don't know. I watched him walk up and down and wring his
hands. And then he took a notebook out of his pocket and began to study
some of the figures in it. Then Nixon came along with the auto, and he
jumped in and rode off."

"Well, that sure is a mystery," declared Randy.

This news concerning Snopper Duke gradually spread throughout the school,
and many of the boys watched the teacher curiously. In the meantime
Colonel Colby had a conference, not only with Duke, but also with
Professor Grawson; and when the classes opened the next day Jack and the
others found themselves treated just as if nothing out of the ordinary
had occurred.

"Colonel Colby said he would let the matter pass, and I guess he's going
to keep his word," remarked Fred.

There was only one boy who remained troubled, and that was Codfish. He
avoided the Rovers and the others as much as possible, often running away
at the sight of them.

"Codfish is just about scared stiff," remarked Randy. "He knows he got
himself in wrong."

"What a poor fish he is," answered his twin.

On Saturday afternoon a number of the boys obtained permission to visit
the town and attend the moving picture performance if they so desired.
Jack had telephoned to his sister, and Martha had answered that probably
a number of girls from Clearwater Hall would be in town at the same
time.

"And I've got something to tell you, too, Jack," said Martha over the
wire. "Something I'm sure you'll be interested in hearing."

"Why don't you tell me now?" he replied.

"Oh, this isn't something to tell over a public telephone," his sister
answered.

The snowstorm had come to an end, and it was clear and bright overhead
when the four Rovers and some of the others tramped to Haven Point. Here,
at the railroad station, they met Martha and Mary, and also Ruth
Stevenson, May Powell, and several other girls from the academy.

"How are your eyes feeling, Ruth?" questioned Jack anxiously, as he
walked side by side with the girl on the way to the moving picture
theater. As my old readers know, Ruth had onc