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142 money," said Dick to Captain Blossom one day. "Is his father rich?"

"I can't tell you," answered the youthful commander of Company A. "Fact of the matter is, nobody knows much about Baxter&mdash;not even Mumps his chum. Nobody ever comes to see him, and he seldom ever gets any letters. Yet he always has all the spending money he wants."

"Perhaps he's got a gold mine somewhere," laughed Dick.

"I don't know about that, but I do know that there are days when he hasn't a cent, and the next day he will have just such a roll of bills as you saw him with day before yesterday—and the money doesn't come to him through the mail either."

"Perhaps Captain Putnam deals it out to him."

Captain Harry shook his head. "Not much! The captain wouldn't let him have more than five dollars at a time. I've been through the mill, and I know."

Here the matter was dropped, but Dick had good cause to remember this conversation later on.

The distance from Putnam Hall to Pornell Academy was a mile and a half, and it was arranged that the football team, Captain Putnam,