“Say, I’ve just thought of something!” exclaimed Sid. “Maybe there’s a thief in college, and he’s been going around snibbying things from the fellows’ rooms. He’s been found out, and made to put the things back. He got our clock mixed up with another, and the other chap has got our ticker.”
“Not a bad idea,” assented Phil. “In that case a notice on the bulletin board would be all right, and we’ll wait about writing to Chicago. But Langridge is out of it, I think.”
“Well, I don’t,” declared Tom, half savagely, for his ankle hurt him when he rubbed it vigorously. “You’ll find that he’s been mixed up in this somehow. The clock is from Chicago, he comes from Chicago, and there’s some connection there, you can depend on it!”
“Well, maybe,” admitted Phil. “But let’s get at the notice, and then it will be grub time. Might as well say something about our chair while we’re at it; eh, fellows?”
“No,” came from Tom, “let that go. I think the clock and chair were two different propositions. We’ll work the chair ourselves.”
After some talk his chums were inclined to agree with Tom, so Phil wrote out a notice about the timepiece, while Sid interestedly examined the clock, making various speculations concerning it, while Tom doctored his ankle.
“There, I guess that will do for a while,” he announced, with a wry face, as he pulled on his shoe. “I hope I’m not lame for practice to-morrow.”
“Well, here’s the notice,” exclaimed Phil, a little later. “I’ll read it. ‘For exchange: one mahogany-case clock, new; striking the hours and half hours——’”
“Hold on!” interrupted Sid. “Does it strike the half hours?”