t a giggle
from behind him which was quickly suppressed.

"Then I'm hanged if I'll do it," he said doggedly.

"Better to jump than be thrown," was the ominous reply.

Roy considered.

"Which way do I swim?" he asked. "Where's the landing?"

"That you will discover for yourself. We may tell you no more."

"Don't see that you've told me much of anything," muttered Roy
wrathfully. "How do you fellows know that there isn't a big old rock
here? Want me to bust my head open?"

"We are in clear water," was the answer. "And"--and now the formal
phraseology was abandoned--"if you don't hurry up and get ready we'll
plaguey soon heave you in head over heels."

"Oh, go to thunder, you old bully!" growled Roy. "Go ahead and do your
counting. I'd rather be in the river than here with you."

"Take him out farther," said the voice angrily. But the order wasn't
obeyed. Instead there was a whispered discussion and finally the voice
said:

"All right. Now then, all ready, kid! One!... Two!... Three!"

The grasp on Roy's arms was relaxed, he raised them above his head and
sprang outward. But just as he was clearing the boat a hand shot forward
and grasped his ankle just long enough to spoil his dive. Then he had
struck the water flat on his stomach and, with the breath gone from his
body, felt it close over his head.

CHAPTER IV

ROY CHANGES HIS MIND

For an instant his arms thrashed wildly. Then he was standing, gasping
and sputtering, with the bandage torn away and the ripples breaking
against his thighs! From the bank, only a few feet away, came roars of
laughter, diminishing as his captors, having drawn the boat up onto the
little pebbly beach, stumbled up the path toward the school. And Roy,
shivering and chattering, stood there in a scant three feet of icy water
and impotently shook his fist in the darkness!

At first, as he scrambled with his bare feet over the sharp pebbles to
the shore, he could not understand what had happened. Then he realized
that all the rowing had been in circles, or possibly back and forth
along the shore. For some reason this made him madder than if they had
really made him dive into deep water beyond his depth. They had made a
perfect fool of him! And all the way back up the hill and across the
campus he vowed vengeance--when his chattering teeth would let him!

A few minutes later, divested of his wet pajamas, he was under the
covers again, striving to get some warmth back into