"There they are!" suddenly exclaimed Bert Wilson, pointing toward a small building just outside of the school property. It was a shack where "Pop" Swab sold soda and "pop," from which he took his name.

"Yes, that's them all right," a.s.sented Tom.

"And some car they have," added Jack. "I wonder where they got it?"

"They won't have it long, if they treat it as recklessly as that,"

commented Bert, for the two lads having leaped into the auto, Sam threw in the gears so clumsily that the machine was stalled, with a grinding that did not augur well for the mechanism.

It was evident that the two cronies, having satisfied their thirst, were about to drive on, but Sam's error made it necessary for him to get out to crank the car again. This gave our friends a chance to come up to them.

Sam had his back to them, as he bent over to take hold of the crank, but something Nick said in a low voice caused him to turn around. Then he saw Tom and the others.

There was something In Tom's manner that caused Sam to take an att.i.tude of defence, though our hero had no intention of coming to blows with the bully.

The oncoming party of lads came to a halt a short distance from the auto, and Sam, straightening up, surveyed them, a shade of wonder, not unmixed with apprehension, pa.s.sing over his face. Nick, sitting in the car, openly sneered.

"So you've come back," spoke Tom cuttingly.

"Of course we have," answered Sam, breathing a little easier, as he saw that he was in no immediate danger.

"And we're going to stay," added Nick with a laugh.

"You are?" Jack almost yelled.

"We certainly are," was the answer. "This is a free country, you know; and we've paid for our board. See you later, fellows. Crank her up, Sam!"

The brazen effrontery of the two amazed our friends. They had not believed that the two cronies would come back. And that they would dare remain, after what they had done, seemed incredible.

"Are you in earnest?" asked Bert, raising his voice to be heard above the thundering exhaust of the auto which Sam started.

"Of course we are," declared Sam calmly, as he took his seat. "What's the matter with you fellows, anyhow? Why shouldn't we stay?"

"You know why you shouldn't stay!" cried Tom, shaking his finger at Sam and Nick. "After the mean trick you played on Bert and Jack, standing guard over them in the old mill, in league with that scoundrel Skeel--giving Jack and Bert only bread and water--after that you dare come back here and expect to be treated decently? Well, you're expecting too much, that's all I've got to say! We'll make Elmwood Hall too hot to hold you! You'll live in Coventry all the while you're here. You won't get a decent----"

"Oh, get out of my way, Fairfield, or I'll run you down!" snapped Sam, as he threw in the gear and released the clutch, and, had our hero not leaped back, he would have been struck by the heavy touring car.

"Well, of all the gigantic, unmitigated nerve!" gasped Jack, as he stared at the swiftly moving car. "That is the limit!"

CHAPTER III

THE ADVICE OF BRUCE

The silence amid the group of Tom's friends, punctuated at first by the exhaust from the car, was finally broken by Bert Wilson, who asked:

"Well, Tom, what do you think of that?"

"I don't know what to think," was the answer, given slowly. "It gets me!"

"And it does all of us," added Jack. "In the first place, I never thought Sam and Nick would have the nerve to come back, but since they had, I surely thought they'd cave in when they saw we meant business."

"So did I," agreed Bert. "But since they haven't, what's to be done?"

"There's only one thing," decided Jack. "We've got to expose 'em, that's what!"

"Sure!" cried George Abbot, getting a bit excited. "Let the whole school know what they did to you, and I guess that will end things for them at Elmwood Hall."

"It seems to be the only way," agreed Tom. "Of course I'm out of it, in a way, for they didn't keep me locked up In the old mill, with nothing but bread and water. But they did Bert and Jack, and that's the same thing. And there's d.i.c.k to be thought of. Of course he isn't an Elmwood lad, though he may be soon, for he wants to come here. But I feel that I ought to take his part."

"Sure!" chorused Jack and Bert, while the former added grimly: "We're on the job, and can look after ourselves. You can represent d.i.c.k, Tom, and we'll form a combination."

"To run them out of this school!" exclaimed Bert with energy.

"That being the case," went on Tom, "we'll have to consider the ways and means of doing it. Of course Nick, being a Junior, isn't in the same cla.s.s with Sam. If it had been two Juniors who acted the way those fellow did I don't know that we would have such a kick coming, but when a member of your own cla.s.s turns against you it's time to do something!"

"Hurray!" cried George. "What are you going to do, fellows? Will you let me in on it? Will you haze 'em? Say, you'll let me have part in it; won't you?"

"Hold on, George!" begged Tom with a smile. "Just shut off your gas, throw back your spark, and put on the brakes. You're skidding a bit."

"Aw, say, I want to be in on it," begged the small chap earnestly.

"Oh, you will be all right," Jack a.s.sured him.

"The whole Soph.o.m.ore cla.s.s will be in it when we give those fellows the lesson they need."

"I'd--I'd like to------" began Bert energetically as he clenched his fists and look at the departing car, which was now almost hidden in a cloud of dust. "I'm going to------"

"Hold on," broke in Tom soothingly. "Let me prescribe for you, Bertie my boy," and taking his arm he steered his chum around and toward the little shack where Pop Swab held forth.

As they filed into the little building two other school lads pa.s.sed by.

"What's going on?" asked Bruce Bennington, one of the twain.

"Oh, it's Tom Fairfield and some of his chums," answered Morse Denton.

"I don't know just what the row is, but I heard that Sam h.e.l.ler and Nick Johnson played some kind of a mean trick on Tom and Bert and Jack this summer. I don't just know the particulars."

"That's so," agreed Bruce. "I did hear something about it. Feel like having some pop?"

"Not now, and if any of those fellows expect to make the eleven this fall I'll have to make them cut it out."

"Right! How's football coming on?"

"Oh, I've got some good material, and I expect more when the new fellows begin to arrive."

"Going to play Tom Fairfield?"