clearer. I've got to do some boning anyhow. Put 'em away, Tom."
Soon only the ticking of the fussy, little alarm clock was heard, mingled with the rattle of paper as books were leafed or as the lads wrote out their lessons. Even the clock stopped after a bit, and the sudden silence was so startling that Phil exclaimed:
"She's run down! Hope nothing's the matter with her," and he picked up the timepiece with an anxious face.
"Probably got toothpickitis," suggested Tom. "Give it a shake."
Phil did so, with the result that a piece of toothpick did fall out, and then the clock went on ticking again.
"That's better," sighed Phil, though often he had objected to the incessant noise. "It would be like loosing an old friend If that went back on us."
He settled into the depths of one of the old armchairs, Sid being in another, while Frank, who had succeeded to the sofa stretched out luxuriously on that, having ousted Tom, who, on a stool drawn up to the table, was making an ancient war map that was to be used in class the next day.
Morning brought no clearer view to the puzzling problem of the clues to the missing jewelry, and, having all agreed to keep silent about the matter, the lads laid aside the articles and hurried
