“A dollar and a half this year. It used to be a dollar, but they put up the price on us. You’ll get your money’s worth, though.” “Why, I suppose I’ll go. Does every one? All the fellows in the class, I mean.” “Pretty much. A few pikers stay away. Same with all the class feeds, I guess.” “Do you mean that all the classes have these dinners?” “Sure. We have ours in November, the freshies have theirs in February, the juniors in April and the seniors in June, just before Class Day.” “Where do we have it?” asked Leonard. “Kingman’s this year. There are only about two places, Kingman’s restaurant and the Alton House. Last year we had the freshman feed at the Alton House, and it wasn’t very good.” “Is it fun?” “Sure it is. Especially when the freshies try to break it up! Last year the sophs had their shindig at Kingman’s and we smuggled Billy Wells into the basement in the afternoon and he hid behind a pile of boxes until about seven o’clock and then unscrewed the electric light switch. We came rather near getting into trouble over that. The sophs were upstairs, on the second floor, and of course we didn’t want to put the lights out all over the building, but we had to do it. Mr. Kingman was tearing mad and made a holler to faculty. It ended with an apology from the freshman class, though, for Kingman thought it over, I suppose, and realized that if he made too much of a fuss we’d stop going to his place. Billy almost got caught getting out that night. He was sneaking out the back way when he ran into one of the cooks. Billy swears the man had a cleaver in his hand. Anyway, Billy got behind a door or into a corner and they didn’t see him.” Slim chuckled. “The sophs didn’t get on with their banquet for nearly an hour.” “But what’s the idea?” asked Leonard. “Why did you want to bust up their party?” Slim pondered a moment. Then he shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s just a custom. It’s always been done, I guess.” “And do the sophs do the same thing when the freshmen have their blow-out?” “Oh, no, that would be beneath our dignity. But we try to make things a little difficult for the juniors.” “I see.” Leonard smiled. “Then, after I’ve paid my dollar and a half, I can’t be quite certain that I’ll get my dinner, eh?” “Oh, you’ll get it,” answered Slim confidently. “No silly bunch of freshies is going to bust up this party, son! We’ll see to that. And that reminds me. Keep your ears open from now on and if you hear anything let me know.” “Hear anything?” “Yes. You might, you know. Freshies like to talk big, and one of them might let drop some information that would be of interest to us. Of course, they’ll try something, you know, and it would make it easier for us if we got an inkling beforehand so we’d know what to look for.” “I see,” said Leonard. “I suppose you, as Class President, are sort of responsible for the success of the affair, Slim.”