16 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



oak slamined-to as before, fifteen or twenty minutes 

 were occupied in picking the lock, and when admis- 

 sion was gained the windows were closed and fastened, 

 and the room was once more full of smoke. When 

 the smoke had cleared away, the smouldering pile of 

 tobacco and the heated poker were found exactly as 

 before. Not the smallest sign was to be found of 

 the perpetrator of the mysterious joke ; not a trace 

 could be discovered of the manner in which he had 

 made his entry and exit. The two men were com- 

 pletely at fault. 



Then an idea struck the aggrieved owner of the 

 rooms. Whose was the poker ? It was a very ordinary 

 poker, with nothing whatever distinctive about it; 

 but it was not the poker which belonged to the room. 

 That was lying in the fender as usual, and had not 

 been meddled with. Clearly the proper thing to do 

 under the circumstances was to send a scout round 

 the college on some pretext or other, in order to find 

 out whose fireplace was without its poker. No sooner 

 said than done. A scout was entrusted with the 

 commission, and visited every room; but every room 

 had its poker. 



A council of war was then held, and it was agreed 

 that the owner of the mysterious implement should 

 never see his poker again. So at midnight there set 

 out a solemn procession of two, one bearing the 

 poker, and the other the necessary tools for its inter- 

 ment: to wit, a crowbar, a wooden mallet, and a 

 heavy coal-hammer. With the crowbar a deep hole 



