"No!" cried Phil. "By Jove, I believe I have it. Come on back to Holly's room for a few minutes," and he took hold of his chums and fairly led them away, much to their mystification. There was another conference, which lasted a long time, and for a day or two thereafter much activity in the ranks of the sophomores. The dinner was to be a "swell" affair, to quote Holly Cross. An elaborate menu had been decided on, and there were to be several "stunts" more or less elaborate on the part of the "talented" members of the class. The affair was to be held in a hall in Haddonfield, and the great object of the second-year fellows, of course, was to prevent the time and place of the dinner becoming known to their enemies, the freshmen. "Do you s'pose they'll bite?" asked Tom, an evening or two later, as he, together with Phil and Sid and Holly, were in the room of the "inseparables." "It depends on us," answered Holly, who was the president of the sophomores. "I think they'll trail along when they see us go out." "If they don't have some of their number trail after the main bunch," spoke Phil. "We'll have to take our chances; that's all," came from Sid. "Well, are we all ready?" "Pretty nearly," answered Holly. "I want to wait until it's a little darker. Then we'll slip off. I hope the chap is there with the auto." "He promised to be," said Tom, and they sat about, waiting impatiently for the hour of action to arrive. It came finally, ticked off by the impatient little clock, and four figures stole from the sophomore dormitory, and hurried across the campus. "There they come," said Tom, in a low voice, a moment later. "They're trailing us all right. See 'em sneaking along on the other side?" "Sure," spoke Phil. It was just light enough to discern a number of hazy figures creeping along a boxwood hedge. "See anything of that traitor, Fenton?" asked Holly, in a low voice. "No, he's with the other crowd," answered Tom. "He's in fear of his life that we'll find him out." "As if we hadn't already," added Sid. Hurrying along, the four lads entered a trolley that was headed for Haddonfield. They looked back, as they were on the platform, and saw the shadowy figures leap into an auto which they knew belonged to Bert Bascome. "They're coming," spoke Sid. "And we'll be ready for 'em," added Tom. A little later Tom and his chums were in the town and they hurried to a building, containing several halls or meeting rooms, where the students frequently held dinners, or gave dances and other affairs. "Did you see anything of them since we arrived?" asked Holly of Tom as they scurried into the structure. "No, but they'll be on hand. Ford has tipped them off all right; the little puppy! Say, what ought we to do to him? Tar and feathers, or give him the silence?" "We can settle that later," remarked Phil. "Just now let's see how we make out against the freshies. It's tough to have to acknowledge that there's a traitor in the class."