banner, Tom,
to take some action against Sam, will you agree to let the matter drop,
for a time, at least?"

Tom did not answer at once. He looked at Bruce, who returned his gaze
steadily. Then, somehow understanding that his friend had a deeper
meaning than he had yet disclosed, our hero replied:

"Go ahead; Bruce. I'm with you. Lead on to the experiment, as you
call it."

"Do you all agree?" inquired the older lad. "Will you let this matter
rest until you hear from Tom again?"

"Sure," answered Jack and Bert, and the others chorused an assent.

"Then you wait until I send for you, Tom," went on the post-graduate
student. "It may take a day or so to get the experiment in shape."

There were murmurs of surprise as Bruce bowed himself out, and some
were still rather in favor of taking summary action against Sam and
Nick. But Tom said:

"No, I've passed my word, and that goes. Bruce knows what he's talking
about, and we'll wait and see what he has up his sleeve. If his
experiment doesn't work, he'll be the first one to admit it, and then
he'll say the bars are down, and we can do as we like."

As he finished there came across the campus the sound of a bell ringing.

"Well, I know what I'm going to do right now, and that is get ready for
grub!" exclaimed Bert. "Sam and Nick can wait for all of me, but I'm
hungry."

Soon a merry party had gathered in the big dining room, for more
students had arrived by later trains, or other conveyances, and Tom and
his chums were kept busy renewing old acquaintances, or making new ones.

"There are a raft of Freshies," commented Jack to his chum, as they
lingered over the dessert. "We'll have our hands full hazing them, all
right!"

"Oh, we can do it," declared Bert. "We always have."

"Humph! We've been Sophs such a terrible long time," murmured Tom with
a smile.

Discipline was rather lax that night, and there was much visiting to
and fro in the rooms. The proctor and the professors were kept busy
registering new students and did not pay much attention to the older
ones, including Tom and his chums, who made merry.

"Oh, you boys!" exclaimed Demosthenes Miller, or "Demy" as he was
called--the studious janitor. "Oh, you boys! Will you ever settle
down?"

"I'm afraid not," replied Tom, as he invaded the lower regions of the
man who attended to the fires, to borrow a long poker. "We want this
for some fun. There's a prof. who has a room just under our