nd him. Why had Jack pretended
not to have his pin, when all the while Bert was sure he had seen it?
Could it be that------?

"Oh, pshaw!" exclaimed Bert, to himself. "I'm not going to get into
deep water over this. I'll wait and see what happens."

And, though he did not know it, much was to happen soon.

It was soon noised about the college that Farmer Appleby had made a
"crack" about his hay fire, and great was the indignation of the lads.

"After what we did for him, he ought to be glad enough to keep quiet,
if we burned half a dozen stacks!" exclaimed Reddy Burke, the genial
Irish lad. "Sure and it's meself would tell him that same if I got a
chance," Reddy always lapsed into the idioms of his forebears when he
grew excited.

"Oh, it isn't worth bothering about," declared Bruce Bennington.
"Appleby is naturally sore at losing some of his crops, for he's a
regular miser. I know him of old. Every time something happened on
his farm he always complained that we boys did it or had a hand in it."

"And did you?" asked Tom.

"Sometimes, but oftener not. Don't let it worry you. He's only
looking for money. I'll wager if he was to be paid for his hay, and if
he knew who set fire to it--if any one did--he'd keep quiet and
compound the felony. Forget it."

It was about two weeks later, just prior to the first match football
game of the season, that Bert and Jack, coming in from practice which
Tom had left earlier because of a slight injury to his shoulder, found
their chum busy with bottles and test tubes in their room.

"Whew! What a smell!" cried Jack, as he opened the door. "What in the
world be you a doin' of, Tommy, my boy?"

"Oh, working out some physics problems. I'm a bit back in my work."

"Noble youth! I ought to be doing the same thing. My! but I'm dry.
Got any ice water? What's this?" and Jack caught up a glass filled
with a colorless liquid.

"Here! Drop that!" cried Tom, quickly. "That's had cyanide of
potassium in. There may be some in it yet. If you want to go to an
early grave, taste it."

"Not on your life!" gasped Jack, a bit white. "But you shouldn't leave
such stuff around carelessly, Tom."

"I didn't intend to. I didn't think you fellows would be back so soon.
I'm just cleaning up. I'm done now. How did practice go after I left?"

"Oh, we shoved the scrub all over, and made two more touchdowns. Say,
though, I hope you can play Saturday," and Jack looked anxious