dger as well as
Agnew. In a little while Badger saw the paper also, and stooped to pick
it up.

"I will take that piece of paper!" came in the calm, even voice of the
professor, as the Westerner's fingers closed on the crumpled slip.

Badger, who had intended to open it, wondering what it contained, and
vaguely thinking it might be a note which some member of the class had
tried to get to him, flushed in a manner to arouse the professor's
suspicions. He was almost tempted to tear it open and possess himself of
its contents, but Barton was moving toward him, with his eyes glued on
the paper.

"I will take that piece of paper," the professor repeated, and Badger
reluctantly gave it to him.

Agnew looked down at his work to veil the look of triumph that had come
into his face. Badger anxiously watched Barton as he opened the slip and
glanced it over.

"That is your handwriting, I believe?" in an ominous voice.

He held it for Badger to read, and, to the Kansan's intense
astonishment, he saw that the paper was scribbled over with answers to
the questions used in the examination, and that the handwriting seemed
to be his own. He was so bewildered he could not say a word. Answers
were there to only a part of the questions, however.

There was a strange look on Barton's bearded face. He had seen Badger
fishing in his right vest pocket for a stub of a pencil awhile before.
He thought, as he remembered this, that it was the left pocket of the
vest.

"What is in that left pocket of your vest?" he asked, in a voice that
fairly made Badger jump.

Barton believed the slip he held in his fingers had come from that left
pocket, and he thought it possible more like it might be concealed
there.

"Not a thing!" said the Westerner, the angry flush in his face extending
to the roots of his dark hair, for he was not accustomed to being spoken
to in that suspicious tone, and it enraged him.

"Will you see if there is not?" Barton asked, striving to maintain his
calm, though his suspicions were growing. Badger confidently thrust in
his fingers and--drew out a slip of paper like the others, which was
also scribbled over with answers to questions!

He could not have regarded it with more surprise and bewilderment if it
had been a snake. Barton took it from his shaking fingers, and saw that
the handwriting seemed to be the same.

This exciting dialogue was beginning to attract attention, and many eyes
were turned in that direct