to the man," he explained.

"When was that, Ben?" questioned Dave.

"That was when the man first appeared," answered the Crumville lad. "I
didn't find out until yesterday that he was the wild man, and then it
was because of that blue chalk he uses. I met him in the woods when I
was out during that last snow, looking for rabbits with my shotgun. I
came across him, sitting on a rock, looking at an old newspaper. He
had some of the blue chalk in his hand and had marked a circle with a
cross on the rock. He asked me where I was going, and told me to look
out and not shoot a star, and then he asked me if I used chalk for
powder, and said he could supply a superior brand of chalk cheap. I
thought at first that he was merely joking, but I didn't like the look
in his eyes, and then I made up my mind he was not right in his head,
and I left him. When I came back that way, an hour later, he was gone,
and I have never seen him since."

"Where was this, Ben?"

"Up in the woods, where the brook branches off by the two big rocks."

"I know the spot!" cried Roger. "Say, maybe he hangs out around
there."

"No, we hunted around there yesterday, but he wasn't to be seen. I
don't believe he has any settled place of abode, but just roams
through the woods."

"Poor fellow! Somebody ought to catch him and place him in a
sanitarium," was Dave's comment.

Various matters were talked over until the supper hour, and then the
boys filed down to the dining-hall. Here our hero met more of his
school chums, including Gus Plum, who had once been his enemy but who
was now quite friendly, and little Chip Macklin, who in days gone by
had been Plum's toady.

"Very glad to see you back, Dave!" cried Gus. "And, say, you've
certainly made a hero of yourself," he added, warmly.

"It was great, what you and Roger and Phil did," added Chip, in deep
admiration.

Everybody was glad to see Dave back, and after supper it was all he
could do to get away from many of his friends. But he managed it at
last, and he, Roger, and Phil went upstairs, to put away their things
and get out their schoolbooks.

"We have got to study and that is all there is to it," said Dave,
firmly. "Fun is one thing and getting ready to graduate is another. We
have got to get down to the grind, boys."

"That's right," answered the senator's son.

"But don't forget what old Haskers said," grumbled Phil. "He'll make
us sweat, just you wait and see!"

"'Sufficient for the