For a moment the two stood confronting one another, locked in a fierce grip. Then, as the student seemed to believe the assurance given him, he asked:

"Then you're not after—not after my——"

"We're not after anything," was the answer. "It's a joke, I tell you," and, tearing off his mask, the pretended hold-up man revealed himself as Frank Racer.

CHAPTER IV

A MYSTERIOUS MAN

"Say, it went off all right; didn't it?"

"And we sure had 'em going!"

"None of 'em suspected anything until after you fellows went out, and then we heard a laugh in the hall."

"That gave the thing away."

"Oh, but it was all right anyhow."