Andy was rather surprised when he received, one day, a fine mackinaw coat, of the latest style. With it was a note which said: "To replace the one you burned." There was no name signed, but he knew from whom it came. CHAPTER VI THE BONFIRE "This way, freshmen! This way!" "Over here now! No let-outs!" "Keep 'em together, Blink! Don't let any of 'em sneak away!" "Wood! Everybody bring wood!" "Look out for that fellow! He's a grind! He'll try to skip!" "Wood! Everybody get wood!" The cries echoed and re-echoed over the campus at Milton. It was the final night of the term. The examinations were over and done. Some had fallen by the wayside, but Andy and his chums were among those elected. They had passed, and they were to move on out of the preparatory school into the larger life of the colleges. And, as always was the case on an occasion of this kind, a celebration was to mark the closing of the school for the long summer vacation. The annual bonfire was to be kindled on the campus, and about it would circle those lads who were to leave the school, while their mates did them honor. Thus it was that the cries rang out. "Wood!" "More wood!" "Most wood!" The town had been gleaned for inflammable material. The ash boxes of not even the oldest citizen were sacred on an occasion like this. For weeks the heap of wood had accumulated, until now there was a towering pile ready for the match. And still the cries echoed from the various quarters. "Freshmen, get wood!" "On the job, freshmen!" More wood was brought, and yet more. The pile grew. "Gee, this is fierce!" groaned a fat freshman, staggering along under the burden of two big boxes. "Those fellows want too much. I'm going to quit!" "Look out! Don't let 'em hear you!" warned a companion. "They'll keep you carting it all night if you kick." "Kick! (puff) Kick! (puff) I ain't got wind enough to do any kickin'. I'm (puff) all (puff) in!" "Oh, well, it's all in the game. We'll be out of this class next term, and we can watch the other fellows sweat! Cut along!" "Wood! Wood over here!" "Where's Andy Blair?" "I don't know. Oh you Swipes! What you got!" "All right! This'll make a flare, all right!" "Oh, for the love of Peter! Look what Swipes has!" Harry, otherwise "Swipes" Morton, was convoying four laboring and perspiring freshmen who were carting over the campus a big box that had ones contained a piano. "Oh, you Swipes!" "Where'd you crab that?" "Say, ain't he the little peach, though!" "Oh wow! What a lark!" "I guess this won't make some nifty little blaze, eh?" demanded Harry. "Eh, Andy?" "Sure thing! Where'd you get it?" "Over back of Hanson's store. He used it for a coal box, but I made these boobs dump out the anthracite and cart it along. Maybe I ain't some nifty little wood gatherer, eh?" "You sure are, Swipes!" came the admiring retort from many voices. "Wood!" "More wood!"