“No,” admitted Ted slowly. “It isn’t. Frank ought to have had the decency to put you wise to what you wanted to know, even if he didn’t care to make friends.”
“Is there any reason why he shouldn’t care to make friends?” asked Bob. “Not that we want to force ourselves on him,” he added.
“Well, I did hear a little talk about him and his crowd saying they were afraid you fellows might come here with--well, if you’ll excuse me for mentioning it--with swelled heads, is about the best way I can put it.”
“Swelled heads!” cried Jerry. “What in the world have we to puff out our chests over?”
“Well, it’s those things you did--having so many adventures you know. Did you really go up in an airship and down in a submarine, the way Professor Snodgrass tells?”
“Why, yes, we did,” said Ned. “But that’s nothing. Any one could have done the same things we did.”
“Say, you sure have seen life!” exclaimed Ted admiringly. “But I guess that’s all that ails Frank. He thought you might try to lord it over us here, I guess.”
“I can see he is,” admitted Ted. “But, as I told you, Frank is headstrong. Once he gets a notion it’s hard to get it out of him.”
“I don’t know that we shall take the trouble to make him change his mind,” remarked Jerry. “If he wants to think that way about us, let him. We can get along without him.”
“Sure you can!” agreed Ted. “Don’t let it worry you any. There are plenty of other fellows in Boxwood Hall. Are you all settled?”
“No, we haven’t put up any of our stuff,” said Ned.
“Are you in our dormitory?” Bob inquired.
“No, I live at the Bull--that’s the junior frat house you know. Drop over and see me some time.”
“We will,” promised the three, and then, as Ted hurried on, explaining that he was due at a class meeting, Ned remarked:
“Well, _he’s_ some sort of a chap, _he_ is! I like _him_!”
“Quite a contrast to Frank Watson,” added Jerry.
After strolling about the college grounds a little longer our friends went back to their rooms. The door of the apartment across the hall, which had the three names on it, was closed, but from within came the sounds of talk and laughter.
“They seem to be having a good time,” observed Bob, rather wistfully.
“Yes,” agreed Ned. “I meant to ask Newton about those other two--Bart Haley and Will Hamilton. I wonder if they’re like Frank Watson?”