Trevor heard an ejaculation of alarmed surprise, saw the form of the tall professor jump back, and then--then there was a crash, and Trevor, seizing the opportunity, was off like the wind, and had gained the doorway of Masters Hall ere the astonished professor had regained his feet. For Muggins in his excess of valor had got his small body between his adversary’s legs, and great and sudden was the fall. Trevor waited long at the entrance of Masters Hall, standing with door ajar and peering anxiously into the darkness; once even venturing upon a subdued whistle and a yearning “Muggins, Muggins!” But his appeals were vain, and after a while he crept dejectedly upstairs and back into his cold and Muggins-less bed, wondering, sorrowful, fearful of the morrow. CHAPTER XII MUGGINS IS EXPELLED Dick learned the story the next morning while the boys were dressing, and, to Trevor’s pained surprise, subsided onto the hearth-rug, where he sprawled at length, and gave way to heartless mirth. “Oh, I dare say _you_ don’t care,” said Trevor with wounded dignity. “He wasn’t _your_ dog. If he had been”--savagely--“I dare say _I_ should have laughed!” Dick stopped rolling and sat up against the wood-box. “But--but, don’t you see, Trevor,” he gurgled, “I’m--I’m not laughing because you’ve lost Buggins----” “Muggins,” corrected Trevor coldly. “I--I mean Muggins. I’m awfully sorry about that, honest injun! But--but think of Longworth--it must have been Longworth, you see--think of him rolling over there on the ice, all tangled up with Bug--Muggins and the chain! Oh, jiminy!” And Dick went off into another spasm of laughter. Trevor stared thoughtfully into the flames, trying to summon up the picture that appeared so delightful to his roommate. After a moment he smiled faintly. “Yes, I see; yes, I fancy it was comical. But--but wasn’t it awfully brave of Muggins?” “Awfully,” answered Dick with emphasis as he sat up again, dried his eyes with a towel, and proceeded with his dressing. “Perhaps you’ll find him again.” But Trevor shook his head sadly. “No chance of that. Poor Muggins!” After chapel that morning Professor Wheeler, the principal, arose. “One of the professors while returning through the yard late last evening came across a--a young dog wearing a collar and chain. There are reasons to believe that the animal belongs to one of you, as the professor caught sight of a boy running toward a dormitory.” A murmur of surprise, amusement, and excitement traveled through the hall. Boys studied each other’s faces questioningly. “He saw you after all!” whispered Dick. “I don’t see how he could,” whispered Trevor. “There is a rule,” continued the principal, “forbidding the keeping of dogs, or any sort of animals, in the academy buildings.” He paused, and then added grimly: “I will ask the owner of the animal to stand up.”