It was very late the following night when they reached their destination. Bill had come to the conclusion that Frank was not a very jolly traveling companion. He was moody and inclined to be really grouchy. And touchy.... Whew! It was all Bill could do to say the right thing. Finally he remembered that some people are always car-sick when they travel, and on being asked, Frank admitted that he didn't feel so very good. So Bill let him alone and things went better. Bill made a good many friends that day and came within an ace of being kissed by a pale little lady who found a chance to take a much needed nap because Bill took charge of her two-year-old terror of a baby boy while she slept. There was an old gentleman too, who asked him a million or more questions, and enjoyed himself very much. He asked the boys to take luncheon with him, and proved that he had not forgotten his boyhood by ordering the dandiest dinner—even a lot of things that were not on the bill. He was a director of the road, or vice-president, or something, the porter told Bill in a whisper, but Bill didn't pay much attention. What the old gentleman didn't tell was that he was a trustee of the very school the boys were going to attend. Some day they were going to meet him again, but that is another story.
Anyhow, it was very late when they arrived and they were piloted to their room by a pale young instructor who met them at the station in an ancient and wheezy Ford belonging to the school. They were the last boys to arrive, he told them, and school was to begin at eight o'clock in the morning. He warned them to be perfectly quiet as the boys were all asleep and it was against rules to speak or have the lights on after nine. But they were to be allowed a light to undress by, and he would come in in fifteen minutes and put it out.
They undressed in about a tenth of the time it usually took for that ceremony, and even Bill, who forgot to brush his teeth and had to get up again to do it, was deep under the covers when Mr. Nealum, the instructor, came silently in, said goodnight without a smile, turned off the light, found the door by the aid of a big flashlight he carried and silently disappeared.
"Undertaker!" whispered Frank.
"Shut up!" said Bill. He listened intently, then said under his breath, "Be careful! I thought I heard him breathe!"
"He is gone," answered Frank. "I heard him walk away."
"Not much you did!" said Bill. "He pussyfooted it. Must have had rubber soles on his shoes."
"I heard him anyhow," insisted Frank. The boys lay still, thinking over their new situation. It was very exciting. They were not lonely. Their narrow beds, but little wider than the quartermaster cots at Sill, were side by side, nearly touching. Presently Bill spoke.
"What's the matter with you, Frank?"
"Nothing! What ails you?" retorted Frank.