"What should we know about that place?" asked Dora. "We have
never been inside, excepting at one Christmas entertainment."

"But you must see some of the fellows occasionally."

"Not often," said Grace Laning. "Captain Putnam does not allow
his pupils to leave the grounds excepting on special occasions.
But papa caught three of the pupils in our strawberry patch once."

"He did? And what happened to the fellows?" put in Tom with deep
interest.

"Father made them pick twelve quarts of berries for him for
nothing, and didn't let them eat a single one."

"Great Caesar! What a fine fellow your dad -- I mean your father
-- must be."

"Of course he is fine. The boys had no right to attempt stealing
the berries. My father would have given them some for the
asking."

"But they wouldn't have been half as sweet as if they were hooked
on the sly," said Tom wisely, and everybody laughed.

"You boys ought to have fine times at Putnam Hall," went on Dora
to Dick. "I sometimes see the soldier boys marching; and once,
last summer, I visited their encampment."

"We are looking forward to a good time,"' was the answer. "And I