Dave looked at the man for a moment in silence. "You are very polite, I must say," he observed. "I haven't done anything to you, have I?"
"No, but you young bloods are all in together. I know you! Last spring I was on the train with a lot of college boys, and they tried to run things to suit themselves. But we fixed 'em, we did. And we'll fix you, too, if you try to run matters here," and with a savage shake of his head the stout man passed down the aisle and dropped heavily into the first vacant seat he reached.
"Isn't he a peach?" murmured Sam Day to Dave. "Meekest man I ever saw, and ought to have a monument for politeness."
"I hope all his eggs are smashed," said Shadow Hamilton. "He certainly deserves it."
"Shouldn't wonder if they are—he came down hard enough," answered Dave.
By good luck all the students had seats close to each other, and as the train rolled along they told of their various holiday experiences and discussed school matters.
"Just four weeks and then we'll close down for Christmas," said Roger.
"We ought to have lots of fun," said Ben. "We can go skating and ice-boating, and we can build a fort——"
"And snowball Pop Swingly and Horsehair," interrupted Sam, mentioning the janitor of Oak Hall and the driver for the institution. "Don't forget them or they'll feel slighted."
"What's the matter with snowballing Job Haskers?" asked Phil, mentioning a teacher who was anything but popular with the students.