Taking off their shoes and collars, ties and coats, the boys said their prayers and laid down.  Sam was soon in the land of dreams, and presently Tom and Dick followed.

Two hours passed and the three lads were sleeping soundly, when suddenly Tom awoke with a yell.  A stream of cold water had struck him in the head, making him imagine for the instant that he was being drowned.

“Hi, stop” he spluttered and then stopped, for the stream of water took him directly in the mouth.  Then the stream was shifted and struck first Dick and then Sam.  All three of the Rovers leaped from the beds as quickly as possible.  Although confused from being awakened so rudely, they realized what it meant.

They were being hazed.

CHAPTER VI

A HAZING, AND WHAT FOLLOWED

The stream of water came from a small hose that was being played through a transom window over the door of the room.  A lad was holding the hose, and in the dim light Dick recognized the face of a youth named Bart Larkspur, a sophomore who did not bear a very good reputation.  Larkspur was poor and Dick had heard that he was used by Flockley, Koswell and others to do all sorts of odd jobs, for which the richer lads paid him well.

“Stop that, you!” cried the oldest Rover, and then, rushing to the door, he flung it open and gave a shove to what was beyond.  This was a short step-ladder upon which Larkspur and several others were standing, and over the ladder went with a crash, sending the hazers to the floor of the hallway in a heap.

“Get the hose,” whispered Tom, who had followed his brother, and while the sophomores were endeavoring to get up, he caught the squirming hose and wrenched it, nozzle and all, from Bart Larkspur’s hand.

“Hi, give me that!” yelled Larkspur.

“All right, here you are,” answered Tom merrily, and turned the stream of water directly in the sophomore’s face.  Larkspur spluttered and shied and then plunged to one side into a fellow student standing near.  This was Dudd Flockley, and he was carried down on his back.

“Play away, Six!” called out Tom in true fireman style, and directed the stream on Flockley.  It hit the dudish student in the chin and ran down inside his shirt collar.

“Stop, I beg of you!  Oh, my!” screamed Flockley, trying to dodge the water.  “Larkspur, grab the hose!  Knock that rascal down!  Why don’t somebody do something?”

“Give me that hose, you freshie!” called out Jerry Koswell, who was in the crowd.  “Don’t you know better than to resist your superiors?  I want you to understand—­”

“Keep cool, old man, don’t get excited,” answered Tom brazenly.  “Ah, I see you are too warm.  Will that serve to keep your temperature down?” And now he turned the hose on Koswell, hitting the fellow directly in the left ear.  Koswell let out a wild yell and started to retreat and so did several others.