"Of course we are," declared Sam calmly, as he took his seat. "What's
the matter with you fellows, anyhow? Why shouldn't we stay?"

"You know why you shouldn't stay!" cried Tom, shaking his finger at Sam
and Nick. "After the mean trick you played on Bert and Jack, standing
guard over them in the old mill, in league with that scoundrel
Skeel--giving Jack and Bert only bread and water--after that you dare
come back here and expect to be treated decently? Well, you're
expecting too much, that's all I've got to say! We'll make Elmwood
Hall too hot to hold you! You'll live in Coventry all the while you're
here. You won't get a decent----"

"Oh, get out of my way, Fairfield, or I'll run you down!" snapped Sam,
as he threw in the gear and released the clutch, and, had our hero not
leaped back, he would have been struck by the heavy touring car.

"Well, of all the gigantic, unmitigated nerve!" gasped Jack, as he
stared at the swiftly moving car. "That is the limit!"




CHAPTER III

THE ADVICE OF BRUCE

The silence amid the group of Tom's friends, punctuated at first by the
exhaust from the car, was finally broken by Bert Wilson, who asked:

"Well, Tom, what do you think of that?"