om. But what did you do with yourself all summer?"

"Jack, Bert and another chum of mine went camping, and, believe me, we
had some times!"

"So I heard. I had a letter from Jack the other day. He mentioned
something about a secret of the mill, the crazy hermit and all that
sort. Say, but you did go some."

"That's right. It was great while it lasted. How about you?" and Tom
looked at his friend, Morse Denton, anxious to hear about his good
times.

"Oh, I went with my folks to the shore. Had a pretty good
summer--motorboating, canoeing with the girls, and all that. But I got
a bit tired of it. I came back early to get some of the football
material into shape for this fall," and Morse Denton, who had been
captain of the Freshman eleven, and who was later elected as regular
captain, looked at Tom, as if sizing him up as available pigskin
material.

"Well, I guess none of our crowd has shown up yet," went on Tom. "I
fancied I'd be a day or so early, as I wanted to have a good pick of
rooms. Got yours, yet?"

"Sure thing. I attended to that first. But there are some fine ones
left. Come on over to Hollywood Hall, and we'll see what'll suit you.
Try and get one next to mine if you can. Are Bert and Jack going to
room with you?"

"They are if we can get a place that will hold us."

"That isn't as easy as it sounds with the way you fellows do things.
But there's one nice big study near mine."

"Then I'll just annex it. Say! But it's good to be back. The old
place hasn't changed any," and Tom looked around admiringly at the
groups of buildings that made up Elmwood Hall. His gaze strolled over
the green campus, which would soon be alive with students, and then to
the baseball diamond and the football gridiron, on which latter field
the battle of the pigskin over the chalk marks would soon be waged.

"Well, they've done some painting and fixing up during vacation," said
Morse, as he linked his arm in that of Tom and the two walked on
together toward Hollywood Hall, the official dormitory of the Sophomore
class. "The gridiron has been leveled off a bit and some new seats put
up. Land knows we needed 'em! We'll have some great games this year.
You'll play, of course, Tom?"

"Maybe--if I'm asked."

"Oh, you'll be asked all right," laughed Morse. "Did you expect Bert
and Jack would be here?"

"I didn't know but what they might. I haven't seen 'em for the last
two weeks. After we closed our c