“Oh, nothin’—­at least not yet, until I’ve looked around a bit,” replied Mr. Appleby.  “You needn’t be so touchy.  Ain’t I seen you before, somewhere?” he asked, peering into Tom’s face by the dying glow of the fire.

“You have,” answered our hero calmly.  “I had the pleasure of paying you ten dollars for some corn you said we spoiled the night we were lost on the cross-country run, and you refused to direct us to the right road.”

“Humph!  I thought I recognized you,” and the farmer turned away without so much as a word of thanks to Tom and his chums.

“Keep the change,” called Tom after him.  “Next time you have a fire send for us!”

“The old grouch!” gasped Jack.  “Isn’t he the limit?”

“And then some more,” added Bert.  “Come on back to bed.  I smell like a smoked ham I imagine.”

“We all do,” agreed Jack.  “But I wonder what old Appleby was driving at when he said some of our lads might know more about this fire than they were saying?”

“Oh, just talk I imagine,” said Tom quickly.  “He hedged when I tried to corner him.  He’s so excited he doesn’t know what he is saying.  Come on; let’s go back.”

They filed out of the still smoky farmyard and made their way back to the Hall, other lads doing the same thing.  The excitement was over now, and soon Elmwood Hall had taken on her normal appearance at night, with her students resuming their interrupted slumbers.

There was much talk of the fire the next morning, the topic forming a fruitful source of conversation at the breakfast tables, and on the way to chapel.  Then came lessons, when the lads separated.  But in Tom’s mind there rankled the words the old farmer had used.

“I wonder what will come of it?” he mused.

He had not long to wait to find out.  That afternoon, following some hard football practice, when he and his two particular chums were on their way to the gymnasium for a shower bath, they heard a voice behind them asking: 

“I say, kin you boys tell me where I kin find Doctor Meredith?  I want t’ have a talk with him.”

They turned, to behold Farmer Appleby, dressed in what were apparently his best clothes, and with a “biled” shirt, the collar of which obviously galled his neck.

“There is the doctor’s residence, over there,” indicated Tom.  “I trust the fire is all out,” he added, half sarcastically.

“Humph!  Yes, it’s out, but I ain’t done with it yet,” and the farmer nodded his head vigorously.  “I’ve got some suspicions, and I’ve come t’ tell ’em.  I want t’ have a talk with Doctor Meredith about that fire.”

“Here he comes now,” said Jack, as the tall form of the head master was seen approaching over the campus.  Seeing the group of lads, and recognizing them, the doctor turned and approached Tom and his mates.  Mr. Appleby, assuming an air of importance, stood waiting.