"I'm going to; as easy as I can," replied Jack. "But I've got to do something or break loose." "Shivering side-saddles!" exclaimed Nat Anderson. "Let's have a burglar scare." "How?" asked Sam. "I'll think of a plan," Nat went on. "Howling huckleberries, but I too am pining for a little excitement, Jack." "Well, trot out your plan," Jack said. "We haven't got much time." "Let me think a minute," begged Nat, and, while he assumed an attitude as though he was trying to solve a problem in geometry, Fred drew out a little tin fife and played such a doleful air that Nat cried: "How do you expect me to think with that thing going?" and, with a quick grab he snatched it from Fred's hand and sent it spinning across Jack's room. "I have it!" Nat exclaimed, when the excitement had somewhat subsided. "You all know what timid creatures Professors Gale and Hall are. They room together, and I believe they'd scream if they saw a mouse. Not that they're a bad sort, for they have both helped me a lot in my lessons. But men ought not to be such babies. Now what's the matter with a couple of us disguising ourselves as burglars and going into their rooms about midnight? The rest of us can hide and hear the fun." "Maybe they'll shoot," suggested Sam. "Shoot! They'd be afraid to handle a revolver," was Nat's comment. "Well, as long as it won't do any real harm, and as we positively have to have something happen, let's go on with it," said Jack. "Who'll be the burglars?" "Nat'll have to be one," spoke John Smith, as he proposed it." "Ll-l-let me be t-t-the o-o-o-other," said Will Slade haltingly. "What? And when you demand their money or their lives how would you say it?" asked Sam. "Nice sort of a burglar you'd make. 'G-g-g-give m-m-m-me y-y-y-your m-m-mon--'" Sam stopped suddenly and dodged back, as Will aimed a blow at him. In doing so he stumbled over a pile of books and went down in a heap. "Serves you right," said Jack. "Just for his making fun of Will I vote we elect Will as one of the burglars." The others agreed, even Sam, and Will regained his good nature. "How about masks?" asked Sam. "I'll make some," replied Jack, and, from some pieces of black cloth, he quickly cut two false-faces. "I-I-I-I've g-g-got t-t-t have a g-g-g-g--" came from Will. "Are you trying to say a pair of gum shoes?" asked John Smith. "I'll lend you a pair of moccasins." "I guess he means gun," volunteered Nat. "But these will do just as well," and he got a couple of nickel-plated bicycle pumps from a drawer. "They'll shine in the dim light just like revolvers," he went on. "Guess I'll take a stroll down the corridor and see how the land lies," said Jack. "We don't want to burglarize a room that has no one in it, and they may not be in when the second story men get there." "That's so, how are we going to get in?" asked Nat.