“Dick, what are you going to do when you get out of college?” asked Tom.

“I don’t know—­go into business, I imagine.”

“Oh, he’ll marry and settle down,” chimed in Sam.  “He and Dora will live in an ivy-covered cottage like two turtle doves, and—­”

Sam got no further, for a pillow thrown by Dick caught him full in the face and made him stagger.

“Sam is thinking of what he and Grace are going to do,” said Dick.  “And you and Nellie will likely have a cottage across the way,” he added, grinning at Tom.

“Really!” murmured Tom, and got as red as a beet.  “Say, call it off,” he added.  “Do you know we have the necktie rush this afternoon?”

“It won’t amount to much,” answered Sam.  “Too many sophs out of it.”

“Don’t you believe it,” said Dick.  “Remember, the juniors come into this as well as the sophs.”

“Say, I’ve thought of a plan!” cried Tom.  “Greatest ever!  I’m going to patent it!” And he commenced to dance around in his excitement.

“What’s loose?” asked Songbird, coming up at that moment, followed by some others.  “Tom, have you got a pain in your inwards?”

“No, an idea—­it’s about the same thing,” responded Tom gaily.  “We want to get the best of the second and third-year fellows during the necktie rush, and I think I know how we can do it.  We’ll all sew our neckties fast!”

For a moment there was silence, and then, as the others caught the idea, they commenced to laugh.

“That’s it!” cried Sam.  “I’ll sew mine as tight as a drum!”

“I’ll rivet mine on, if that will do any good,” added Dick.

“Sure thing!” came from Songbird, and he commenced to recite: 

  “Oh, the sophs and the juniors will try
  To steal from the freshies each tie;
      But they will not win,
      For we’ll fight them like sin—­”

“And bust ’em right plumb in the eye!” finished Tom.  “Oh, say, but will you all sew your neckties fast?”

“Sure!”

“And we’ll tell the rest to do so, too,” added another freshman who was present.

The news soon circulated, and was kept from all but the first-year students.

It must be confessed that many of the students found it hard to fix their minds on their lessons that afternoon.  One boy, Max Spangler, brought on a great laugh when the following question was put to him: 

“What great improvement in navigation did Fulton introduce?”

“Neckties,” answered Max abstractedly.

“Neckties?” queried the instructor in astonishment.

“I—­er—­I don’t mean neckties,” stammered the German-American student, “I mean steamboats.”

When the afternoon session was over the students hurried to their various rooms.  The sophomores and the juniors who were to take part in the contest talked matters over, and as far as possible laid out a plan of action.  It was decided that the largest and heaviest of the second and third-year students were to tackle the smallest freshmen first, while the others were to hold the rest of the first-year men at bay.