their fun later, and we put mourning wreaths on several
chairs in the dining-room."

"And you came mighty near getting a bouquet of the same kind, yourself,"
said Rice.

"What was it about the flat-car?" inquired a voice from the pillows.

"Oh," said Rice, "that was about the first of those senseless
ebullitions of youth that the Shirlock person usually identified himself
with. There was a flat-car standing outside Encina on the track there,
just about where it turns and slopes down crosslots to the main track.
This is just what Ralph and his precious gang wanted, of course; they
thought it would be a bit of innocent, boyish play to have a little free
railroading, so they piled on and turned her loose and slid down to
Mayfield. They barely stopped the car before she switched into the main
line, and they all fell off into the gopher holes along the side and
made for Mayfield, red-eyed. The Faculty raised Ned when they heard
about it, which was proper."

"I hope the Freshmen will pay particular attention to Mr. Rice," said
Shirlock. "He is a noble influence to any sweet, unfolding soul. I feel
that I should have escaped a great deal of enjoyable sin had I only
known him better those first few weeks."

Ralph got up for some cigarette tobacco from the skull on the
mantelpiece.

"Well, the Faculty were with us in about everything," he went on,
rolling a cigarette; "many of them lived in the Hall then."

"Yes, a number did," put in Rice. "Do you remember, Ralph, the night
that Professor Torts had his little beer-and-skittles party in his
lair, and Burns, who roomed across the passage and who was the worst
bummer in Encina, went down to Fessler, and complained that he couldn't
study because of the noise in that number? And Fessler forgot who roomed
there and came up and gave them Tartarus through the keyhole and nearly
dropped when Torts opened the door?"

"We all enjoyed that," answered Shirlock. "Why, the profs used to come
to our feeds and jolly up with the crowd. Often they were the best fun
there. It's different now."

"Oh, I don't know," said Duncan, "they come over off and on, now. Doc
Jordan was here last Sunday to dinner, and Diemann drops in sometimes;
last year he came a lot."

"Oh, they come over all right," sighed Pellams from the piano. "I had a
report to make one day. I didn't have it done, and I bribed Ted to go
down and tell Engbee I was sick in bed. I was playing cards in here when
Sniffles rushe