At length they reached the gateway of the Academy grounds. Wet to the skin, handkerchiefs round their heads, with their clothes ragged, and plastered with mud from head to foot, so that hardly any of the original color was visible, these two forlorn figures attracted universal attention; and soon all the small boys were around them cheering, and shouting, and asking about the schooner. Out came Mr. Long, who had arrived the previous evening without accident. Out came Dr. Porter, astonishment in his face. Out came every inhabitant of the Academy and its precincts, all making inquiries. And, last of all, out came Solomon, with an enormous white collar standing up above his ears, and,-- “O, de gracious! O, de sakes alive, now! What’s dis dat dis ole nigga does see! You gwine away whar glory takes you, an’ back agin to be de light of an ole cuss’s life! An’ whar’s all de rest ob all dem bressed chil’en? O, dis de-lightful day an’ hour! An’ you wet as ebber wet kin be by failin’ in de briny wave! Bress dis old nigga’s heart! but whar you git all dat mud from? An’ me hopin’ an’ prayin’ fur dis glorious time! What’s become ob all de Wenebble Breddren? Heah comes de Wenebble Patrick, an’ de Wenebble Wodden, wid de ‘Gran’ Panjydanderum in de shinin’ train! O, dis day an’ hour!” And with exclamations like these, poured forth with amazing volubility, Solomon walked along backward before them, and his voice died away, in the distance to a prolonged and unintelligible hubble-bubble. About an hour afterward Arthur, Phil, and Tom drove up, and were received in a very similar manner. If the “B. O. W. C.” liked to create a sensation, they certainly had reason to be satisfied. Mr. Simmons, with the rest of the boys, did not get to the Academy till late in the day. But long before that, in fact, at high noon, Solomon received the “B. O. W. C.” in the diningroom. They had luxuriated in the bath, and Solomon had prepared for them the banquet. He surpassed himself. His genius had invented new dishes expressly for the occasion, and the “B. O. W. C.” ate, and were refreshed. THE END