t back with the gang again," he ejaculated.
"Gee, for the last two weeks I've felt like a sneak. I can't forgive
myself for getting in such a fix, just when we were in such good shape
and going like a house afire. You bet that from now on my record will be
as clean as a hound's tooth."

"Bully!" said Bert. "I think you've done wonders though, to get rid of
the conditions so soon. You must have worked like a horse."

"I've worked all right," said Axtell grimly. "It was the least I could
do, heaven knows. Some nights I haven't gone to bed at all. Even at
that, I felt a little skittish when I went up for my exam. But I was
desperate and went in largely on my nerve. When the Prof. looked over my
papers I thought I heard him mutter to himself something that sounded
like: 'All Gaul is divided into three parts and you've got two of them.'
But that may simply have been my guilty conscience. At any rate I got
away with it, and the old sport gave me a clean bill of health."

"It's like getting money from home," affirmed Dick. "Maybe 'Bull'
Hendricks won't be tickled to death. He'll kill the fatted calf if he
can find one straying loose around the training quarters."

"O, he'll fall on my neck all right--with a club," remarked Axtell
drily. "When it comes to disguising his joy, 'Bull' is a dandy actor."

"Don't you believe it," said Bert. "But how about your accomplice in
crime?"

"O, Hodge will be coming along soon," was the reassuring reply. "He's
been working just as hard as I have or harder. But he's had two to make
up, where I had only one. He's hired a tutor to coach him and is
cramming away like mad. He told me this morning he thought he'd be
ready to go into the torture chamber by the end of this week."

"That'll be all to the merry," jubilated Tom. "Honest, Axtell, we've
been all at sea since you fellows have been away. Winston has done
fairly well at tackle, but he can't seem to start quickly enough when it
comes to blocking. 'Bull' has been trying out Chamberlain in place of
Ellis, but he gets mixed on the signals. He plugs away like a beaver,
but finds it hard to get them straight. Morley is doing fine work at
half, but he can't fill your shoes when it comes to tackling. Of course
I don't know what 'Bull' will do, but I have a hunch that he'll take
Chamberlain out and put Morley there permanently, as there isn't a
chance in the world for Ellis to come back in time."

"Poor old Ellis," mourned Bert. "Game to the