“Don’t you wish you knew?” demanded Pete, with a wink at his brothers.
“What would you do if you did know?” asked Bill.
“Make you fellows roll it back with your noses,” was the grim answer.
“How in the mischief did they do it?” some of the cooler-headed Seniors wanted to know.
“Why the little beggars must have used a platform, on long poles to carry it on,” decided one of the upper class. “Though how they got away with it, and so quietly, is a mystery. How are we going to get it back?”
“Have to hire a gang of men I guess,” said a companion dubiously.
The matter was spoken of by Dr. Burton at the morning exercises, and he requested whoever had perpetrated the “alleged joke,” as he called it, to make himself, or themselves, known. Of course no one confessed, nor did the good doctor expect them to, but he had done his duty, and then he hurried back to his study to resume work on translating some clay tablets, of early Assyrian characters, a friend had sent him.
It was Professor Landmore who solved the problem, by telling his class that day of a curious machine he had seen for applying the principle of the lever, and he described the big two wheeled affair he had noticed beside the road the previous evening. Then the secret was out, and the Seniors learned how the trick had been worked. It was even rumored that the Smith boys had had a hand in it, but nothing came of it, and the upper classmen had to endure the taunts and stings of the Freshmen until, by hiring some of the sewer contractor’s men, the stone was put back in its old place.
But the joke created quite a stir, and our heroes were considered “honor men” in the Freshman class, which had gained undying fame by so simple a means, for it was many years before the story of the removal of the Senior stone grew stale in the annals of Westfield.
But now matters were more or less settled down in the school, and our three friends gave at least part of their time to study. Meanwhile they had joined several Greek letter fraternities, and were having their share of college life. They wanted to make the Varsity football team, but failed, as there was an overabundance of material that fall. However they did make the Freshman team, and proved themselves worthy of the honor. But as I intend to tell of the prowess of the Smith boys on the gridiron in a book to follow this, I will merely mention now that Bill, Pete and Cap did more than their share of work in winning the Freshman championship for the school, after many hard-fought battles.