"Please don't send me a three-column article about it, Benny. What did Brown want with the assembly room?" "Oh, that's telling! Spies have to keep mum. I've gotten to be the greatest little sneak in the school, you know." "It's all right so long as you do your spying in the open," laughed Dave. That afternoon the regulars went through their practice as usual. But the boys who gathered on the field seemed to be much more interested in comparing notes than they did in watching the players. "I reckon the big kick Alf Boggs spoke about is almost due," laughed Coach Steele. "Anyway, fellows, in spite of all this commotion, every one is steadily improving. I guess you've been a bit more disturbed than any of us really imagined." "Perhaps so," said Bob. "I suppose it's like everything else; our nerves have now become accustomed to the strain." "The unexpectedness of it was what got me," added Tom. "How'd you feel about it, Blake?" "Pretty badly, until the last few days," admitted Charlie. "You've both done rattling good work this afternoon," put in the coach, encouragingly. "Keep it up." "No one will ever see me play such a game as I did last time," said Tom. "We are finding our batting eye, too," remarked Dave. "With a couple more weeks' practice we ought to be right on edge." "I notice the 'outlaws' are not working to-day," said "Jack Frost." "Guess it means they're still busy for the good of the school. But don't let it worry any one." The staunch Somers partisans who witnessed the practice were much pleased. And they industriously spread this fact broadcast. When the students gathered in the assembly room next morning they expected to hear only the usual introductory remarks from President Hopkins. The head of the school, however, instead of dismissing them at the customary moment, rose from his seat at a desk and advanced to the edge of the platform. "Boys," he said, in an earnest tone, "I wish to speak to you about certain matters which I find are dividing the school into two factions, and, I regret to say, causing considerable ill-feeling." A murmur of suppressed excitement, which found relief in muffled "Oh's!" and "Ah's!" spread through the hall. "I do not doubt that the boys who are causing this commotion have been actuated by entirely good motives; but, unfortunately, movements of this sort, which spring from disappointment, instead of helping matters often act as a hindrance." "Crackers" Brown nudged his neighbor savagely in the ribs. "Did you get that, Platt?" he whispered--"a hindrance!" "You can just bet the 'Ancient Mariner' put the notion into his head. Those Ramblers seem to have even the faculty of the school right where they want 'em." "It's simply a-ma-zing!"