ck here!"

"I won't, Sam. You can stay with them if you want to. I'll take a
walk alone," was the moody answer, and Tom walked faster than ever.

"Of all the mean things to do!" murmured Spud, shaking his head slowly.
"I would never have thought it of Tom Rover, never!"

"Tom hasn't acted just right since he came back to Brill," said
Songbird, in a low tone, "You know he got an awful crack on the head,
and, somehow, he's been different ever since. I wouldn't lay it up
against him, if I were you fellows."

"Huh! I guess you'd lay it up against him if you had been soused down
into that old well hole and were all wet and covered with mud!" growled
Stanley. "Fun is fun, but that was no joke, I can tell you that! He
deserves a good thrashing."

"If he isn't right in his head they ought to put him under the doctor's
care, or in a sanitarium," remarked Spud. "Why, if he isn't right in
his mind there is no telling what he'll do next! He might take it into
his head to murder some of us!"

"Oh, I don't think it's as bad as that," answered Songbird, hastily.
"I think in a short while he'll be just as he used to be. But the
excitement of that capture of those brokers and old Crabtree, and the
fight, and then Dick's wedding, were too much for him. What he needs,
I think, is a good, long rest."

"Well, he can keep away from me after this," grumbled Stanley, as he
looked at his wet and bedrabbled clothes. "Nice sight we'll present
going back to the college!"

"I'll tell you what I'll do," suggested Songbird. "I'll go ahead, to
the gym., and get you some changes and you can put them on in Dobb's
barn. Then nobody will know about it."

"All right," said Stanley, his face brightening a trifle.

"What of Sam and Tom?" asked Spud, who was not as angry as his
companion in misfortune.

"I'll tell them we are going back," answered Songbird, and ran after
the Rovers.

In the meantime Sam and Tom had kept on walking--or rather Tom had
hurried on and his brother had kept up with him, trying to make him
turn back. But to all of Sam's entreaties Tom turned a deaf ear.

"I came out for a walk and I'm going to walk," he said, stubbornly.
"If they want to go back they can do it--and you and Songbird can go
with 'em."

"But, Tom, that isn't fair," insisted Sam. "They are all wet, and----"

"Humph! a little water won't hurt 'em. I've been soaked myself more
than once. If they can't take a joke let 'em go," and Tom co