"Do you think he'll try to have anybody arrested?" questioned
Reff Ritter. He was just a little scared and wished he had not thrown
the inkwell.
"He'll have a job arresting the whole class," was Andy's
comment.
"It wasn't our fault," added Dale. "He started the trouble. It
was his mistake about the lesson."
"So it was," put in Dave Kearney.
"I knew paragraph twenty-four, but he gave us only to the end of twenty-two,
I am certain of it."
"So am I," added nearly every student
present.
"Boys, come to order!" called out Jack. "Everybody take his
books and sit down," and all but Ritter did as requested. The latter took up
the fallen inkwell and carried it to his seat.
"It wasn't fair to
throw that inkwell," remarked Joe Nelson.
"That was going a little too
far," said another student.
"Huh! Are you fellows going back on me?"
demanded the bully, uneasily. "Didn't you throw books and other
things?"
"Books aren't inkwells full of ink," remarked
Stuffer.
"You threw an apple core!" flared back Ritter.
"So I
did--into the air. But it struck the blackboard, not
old Crabtree."
"It's just as bad."
"Sure it is," put in
Coulter, bound to stand by his crony.
"We are all in this together," said
Paxton. "The fellow who tries to crawl ought to be kicked."
"And you'd
be the first to do it--if you could," retorted Pepper. "Just the same, nobody
is crawling yet," he added, quickly.
A warm discussion arose on all
sides, and it was generally admitted that, barring the inkwell incident,
Josiah Crabtree had gotten no more than he deserved.
"He ought to be
kicked out of this school," said Henry Lee. "We ought to combine and ask
Captain Putnam to get rid of him."
"He's under contract," said Bart
Conners. "If the captain sent him away, old Crabtree would most likely sue
for his salary."
"I'll tell you what we can do," said Jack. "Sit down and
begin to study just as if nothing had happened."
"But if he has gone
for the authorities----" began one of the cadets.
"I don't think he'll
go. He'll have to wash that ink off first--and the water will cool him
down."
"He won't dare to go, for we can complain too," added
Andy.
At that moment the door opened and Pluxton Cuddle stalked in,
followed by the gymnasium instructor and Peleg Snuggers. The general utility
man carried a cane and looked troubled. The new teacher marched to
the platform and the others did the same.
"This room will come to
order!" commanded Pluxton Cuddle, but this order was unnecessary, for every
cadet was in his seat and all were sitting up as stiff as ramrods. The
silence was so complete that the clock in the hall could be heard ticking
loudly.
"Mr. Crabtree informs me that a disgraceful scene just occurred
here," went on Pluxton Cuddle. "He was assaulted by books, inkwells and
other things. Were it not that he does not wish to bring disgrace upon
this institution of learning, he would at once summon the authorities
and have all of you placed under arrest."
The instructor paused,
hoping somebody would say something, but not a cadet opened his lips,
although all faced the teacher boldly.
"I want the names of all who threw
anything at Mr. Crabtree," continued Pluxton Cuddle. "Everybody who threw
anything stand up."
The cadets looked at one another and nobody budged
from his seat.
"Did you hear what I said, young gentlemen?" demanded the
new teacher.
To this there was no reply. The students acted as if they
were images of stone.
"I will call the roll!" cried Pluxton Cuddle.
"Snuggers, go to the door and see that no boy leaves this room."
"Yes,
sir," answered the general utility man, and with shuffling steps he took up a
position as required.
There was a pause, as the new teacher got out the
roll book and began to scan the pages. Then, of a sudden, the door opened
once more and Josiah Crabtree came in swiftly and marched to the desk. In his
hand he held a cat-o'-nine
tails.
CHAPTER
XIII PLUXTON CUDDLE'S PROPOSITION
"Say,
Jack, this begins to look serious," remarked Pepper in a whisper, as all eyes
were directed to Crabtree and the lash he carried.
"He'll make a big
mistake if he tries to whip us," was the young major's comment. "What's
this?" he asked, as a bit of paper was thrust into his hand. The paper
read:
"_Refuse to say a word about anything. Pass this paper
along._"
"That's the talk," said the young major, and slipped the sheet
to the student behind him. Thus the paper travelled from one end of
the classroom to the other.
"I was just going to call the roll, Mr.
Crabtree," said Pluxton Cuddle. "We'll find out soon who is guilty of
assaulting you."
"Yes! yes! The quicker the better," answered the other
teacher, grimly, and clutched his cat-o'-nine tails tightly.
"If he
tries to use that there will be a regular fight, mark my words," whispered
Dale, who sat near Pepper.
"He's a fool to bring that here, at such a
time," answered The Imp. "What does he take us for, a lot of
kids?"
"Addison!" called out Pluxton Cuddle, with his eyes on the roll
book. "Stand up!"
The cadet addressed did so.
"Did you throw
anything at Mr. Crabtree?"
"I have nothing to say, sir."
"Do you
defy me?" fumed Pluxton Cuddle.
To this the pupil made no
answer.
"Sit down! Blackmore, stand up. What have you to say?"
"I
have nothing to say, Mr. Cuddle."
"What! You--er--Is this a plot,
sir?"
"I have nothing to say, sir, excepting that I am willing to go on
with my lessons, Mr. Cuddle."
"We'll have no lessons here until this
is settled!" cried Josiah Crabtree. "Call the next pupil."
"Blossom!
What have you to say for yourself?" asked Cuddle.
"I have nothing to say,
sir," replied the first lieutenant of Company A, in the same tone of voice
employed by those who had answered before him.
"This is--a conspiracy!"
gasped Pluxton Cuddle.
"I told you how it was!" cried Josiah Crabtree. "I
think the best thing I can do is to give each pupil present ten lashes with
this cat." And he shook the cat-o'-nine tails in the boys' faces.
"Mr.
Crabtree!" called out Jack, rising. "As major of the school battalion I feel
it my duty to speak out. I think the boys would like me to be their
spokesman."
"Yes! yes!" was the cry from all sides.
"Tell him we
won't stand for a licking," said one boy in the rear.
"Silence!" cried
the two teachers simultaneously.
"We want justice!" came from the middle
of the room.
"Leave it to Captain Putnam!" came from the
right.
"Forget it and go on with the lessons," added a voice from the
left.
"Boys!" called out Jack and waved his hand. "Let me do the
talking please." And at once the classroom became silent.
"Ruddy, I
want you to sit down!" thundered Josiah Crabtree.
"Perhaps it would be as
well to listen to what he has to say," whispered Pluxton Cuddle, who was
growing a little alarmed at the demonstration the pupils seemed to be on the
point of making.
"Mr. Cuddle, am I in authority here, or you?" demanded
the unreasonable Crabtree.
"You asked me to assist you, sir," answered
Cuddle, sharply.
"So I did, but--but--these young ruffians must be taught
to mind! The way they have acted is outrageous!"
"You won't gain much
by bullying them," went on Pluxton Cuddle. "If I had my way, I know what I'd
do, sir."
"And what would you do?" snapped Josiah Crabtree.
"I
should cut down their supply of food. That is the whole fault in
this school--the boys get too much to eat, sir, entirely too much. It
makes animals of them, yes, sir, animals!" Pluxton Cuddle was beginning
to mount his hobby. "I have told Captain Putnam about it already. If
the boys had only half of what they get now they would be brighter,
quicker to learn, and much more easy to manage. As it is, they get
large quantities of meat and it makes perfect bulls of them--and the
pastry clogs their brains, and they can't learn their lessons even if they
try. Put them on half rations, and in less than a week you will behold
a wonderful change in them."
"Humph!" mused Josiah Crabtree, struck by
a sudden idea. "It might be a good thing to cut down their food--give them
say one meal a day until they got to their senses."
"Two small meals,"
interposed Pluxton Cuddle, eagerly. "And meat but once every forty-eight
hours--and no pastry of any kind. It would do them a world of
good."
"Well, do as you think best, Mr. Cuddle. You have charge of them
outside of the classrooms, remember."
"Then you agree?" questioned
Pluxton Cuddle eagerly.
"You may do as you please--I leave them entirely
in your hands, outside of the classrooms. During school hours my word must be
law."
"Exactly, I understand." Pluxton Cuddle began rubbing his
hands together. "We'll start on the new system of meals this very
evening."
"Do as you like." Josiah Crabtree paused. "But I must finish
what I started out to do." He looked at Jack. "Ruddy, since you seem so
very anxious to talk, what have you to say for yourself?"
"I wish to
speak for the whole class--or at least for the majority of the boys,"
corrected the young major, with a glance at Ritter, Coulter, Paxton and
Sabine.
"Well, out with it!" snapped Crabtree.
"This trouble, sir,
is all due to a misunderstanding," pursued the young major. "We thought you
wanted us to study the Latin lesson up to and including paragraph twenty-two.
We were not prepared to go any further than that, even though Dave Kearney
did get through all right. We think the whole matter might be dropped where
it is--and we are willing to go back to our studies."
"Drop it!"
snapped Josiah Crabtree. "Never! If I do nothing more, I am going to thrash
the boy who threw that inkwell at me and covered my face with ink."
He
said this so fiercely that Reff Ritter grew pale and looked around anxiously.
The bully wondered if the other cadets present would help him to keep his
secret.
"I want the student who threw that inkwell to stand up," went on
the teacher, as Jack, having had his way, sat down.
Nobody moved,
although several pairs of eyes were turned upon Reff Ritter. Many lads
present would have been glad to have seen the bully punished, but they did
not consider it honorable to expose him.
Crabtree had Pluxton Cuddle go
through the roll, but this gave the teachers no satisfaction. Each and every
cadet answered that he had nothing to say.
After the last student had
been questioned there was another pause and an ominous silence. The boys were
curious to know what Josiah Crabtree would do next. The teacher was in a
quandary.
"We will take this up again another time," he snapped, finally.
"You may return to your lessons, and to-morrow we'll have for a Latin lesson
down to the end of paragraph thirty-two. Do you understand?--down to the
end of paragraph thirty-two--not thirty or thirty-one, but to the end
of thirty-two." And then turning he wrote the statement on the
blackboard. "Now there will be no further misunderstanding," he added sourly.
Then he dismissed Peleg Snuggers and the gymnastic instructor, put away
the cat-o'-nine tails in his desk, and turned to talk with Pluxton Cuddle
in a whisper, so that the scholars might not hear what was
said.
"Phew! I wonder if he really expects us to take such a long
lesson?" exclaimed Pepper in a low voice. "Why, from twenty-two to thirty-two
are ten paragraphs, and we never had over six before."
"He is going to
get square in one way if not in another," answered Andy. "Just the same, I'll
wager a lot of the fellows won't have the lesson to-morrow."
A few
minutes later Pluxton Cuddle hurried out to another classroom, and then the
routine for the day went on as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
The cadets even saw Josiah Crabtree smile to himself. It was a bad sign, and
they knew it.
"He's got it in for us," whispered Dale. "Look out for a
storm."
"Yes, and a hurricane at that," returned Stuffer.
The
classes were usually dismissed in the morning at ten minutes to twelve, thus
giving the cadets ten minutes for exercise before sitting down to dinner. But
twelve o'clock came and Josiah Crabtree made no motion to dismiss the
boys.
"Hello, this is a new move," cried Pepper, in a low
voice.
"Silence in the room," called out the teacher sharply. "We will
now take up the lesson in algebra. Conners, you may go to the
blackboard."
Somewhat perplexed, Bart Conners arose and walked to the
board. He did not know the algebra lesson very well, for he had counted on
going over it during the noon hour. He was given a decidedly difficult
problem in equations.
"Say, is he going to keep us here all noon?"
asked Hogan. "Sure, if he is, 'tis an outrage, so 'tis!"
"He isn't
going to starve me!" answered Stuffer, who, as usual, was very hungry. He
raised his hand, and then, to get quicker recognition, snapped his finger and
thumb.
"Singleton, what do you want?" asked Josiah Crabtree,
tartly.
"Please, sir, it's after twelve o'clock."
"I know
it."
"Aren't we to go to dinner, sir?"
"Not now. Sit down." And
the teacher frowned heavily.
Stuffer sank into his seat, a look of misery
on his face. His appearance was so woe-begone Pepper had to laugh outright.
At this Crabtree rapped sharply on his desk.
"Silence! I will have
silence!" he called. "Conners, go on with the example."
"I
can't--er--do it," stammered the captain of Company B.
"Huh! Then take
your seat! Ritter!"
"Please, sir, I am afraid I can't do it either. I was
going to study directly after dinner----" began the bully.
"Never mind
the rest, Ritter. Paxton!"
"I guess I can do it," answered Nick Paxton,
and shuffled to the blackboard. He soon had a mass of figures written down,
but they seemed to lead to nowhere, and Josiah Crabtree was more put out than
ever.
"That is all wrong, Paxton!" he said. "You are a blockhead! Take
your seat!" And Paxton did so, with his head hanging down.
In the
meantime the other classes had been dismissed, and those kept in could hear
the other cadets walk through the halls and enter the mess room. Then
followed a clatter of knives and forks and dishes. These sounds made many
cadets besides Stuffer feel an emptiness in the vicinity of their
belts.
"As no one appears to know the algebra lesson, we will take time
for studying," said Josiah Crabtree. "I will examine you again at
one o'clock. The room will be quiet."
Quarter of an hour dragged by
slowly. The boys wanted to talk the situation over, but Josiah Crabtree would
permit no whispering. Presently the teacher arose and walked to the
door.
"I will be back shortly," he said, in a cold voice. "I want
absolute order maintained during my absence." Then he went out, shutting the
door after him. A strange clicking followed.
"He has locked us in!"
exclaimed a youth who sat near the door, in a hoarse whisper. "Now what do
you think of that?"
CHAPTER
XIV IN WHICH THE STORM GATHERS
"I guess he
has gone off to get his own dinner, and he is going to leave us starve!"
groaned Stuffer. "I'm not going to stand it--no, sir!" And he jumped up from
his desk and began to walk around nervously.
"This is certainly a new
move," said Jack.
"I don't believe Captain Putnam or Mr. Strong would do
such a thing," vouchsafed Bart Conners.
"No, both of them are too
considerate," answered Dale.
"This is the combined work of old Crabtree
and Cuddle," came from Andy. "Cuddle loves to cut a fellow short on
grub."
Jack walked to the door and tried the knob.
"Locked, true
enough," he said.
"But the windows aren't," added Pepper. "I could get
out of a window almost as quick as out of a door," he went on
suggestively.
"Let's all climb out and make a break for the mess hall,"
cried Fred Century. "He has no right to cut us out of our dinner. It's paid
for."
"So it is!" answered several.
"I'll climb out if anybody
else will," said Reff Ritter.
"So will I!" said Dale and Coulter in a
breath.
"Look here, fellows, if we make a move we ought to have a
regularly appointed leader," said Dave Kearney. "I move we make Major Ruddy
our leader. He's the commander of the battalion anyway."
"Second the
motion!" came in a dozen voices.
"What's the matter with my leading?"
demanded Reff Ritter. "I made the suggestion to climb out of the window,
didn't I?"
"That's it--make Reff leader," put in Paxton,
quickly.
"He's just the fellow for the place," added Coulter, while
Sabine nodded.
"No, no, give us Ruddy!" called out a great number of
cadets.
"Ruddy! Ruddy!"
"No, give Ritter a show!"
"Might as
well put it to a vote," suggested Dale, when cries were heard from all sides.
"All in favor of Jack Ruddy for leader raise their
right hand."
Instantly fifteen hands went up.
"Now those in
favor of Reff Ritter."
Eight hands went up. The other cadets present
refused to vote at all.
"Major Ruddy has it," announced Dale. "Is
everybody satisfied?"
"Yes!" was the loud cry.
"I suppose we'll
have to be," grumbled Coulter. "But Ritter would have made a better leader.
He offered to go through the window, and----"
"Never mind chewing it over
now," broke in Pepper. "From now on, let Jack do the talking."
"Boys,
are all in favor of leaving this room and going to the mess hall?" asked the
young major, mounting to the top of a desk and gazing around
him.
"Yes! yes!" was the answer.
"Then let us get out of the
windows, form a company on the campus, and march into the mess hall in
regular soldier style. When we get there, let every fellow take his usual
place--and refuse to budge until dinner is served."
"Hurrah! That's
the talk!" cried Stuffer. "And a full-sized dinner too, with dessert!" he
added hastily.
For cadets used to gymnasium practice, it was an easy
matter to climb out of the classroom windows to the campus. Once on the
green, Jack lost no time in forming the boys into a single
company.
"Attention!" he called out. "By column of two, forward march!"
And he led the way, the cadets following in pairs, and marching as stiffly
as if on dress parade.
It may be that somebody was on the watch, yet
the boys were not disturbed, and soon they filed into the mess hall, where
the other cadets were just finishing their midday meal. At one table sat
Pluxton Cuddle and at another Josiah Crabtree. Both leaped to their feet
in amazement.
"How dare you!" gasped Josiah Crabtree. "How dare you!"
For the moment he could think of nothing else to say.
"As it was past
the dinner hour the class made up its mind to come in and get something to
eat," said Jack, stiffly, and looking the teacher full in the
face.
"You--you--rascal!" exploded the teacher. "I'll have you to
underst----"
"Excuse me, Mr. Crabtree, I am not a rascal," interrupted
Jack. "I am the major of the Putnam Hall battalion and the spokesman of
our class--so chosen by a vote of the cadets. We decided that we
wanted dinner--and we are here to get it."
"This is
mutiny--rebellion!" gasped Pluxton Cuddle.
"You can call it what you
please, Mr. Cuddle. We are entitled to our dinner and we mean to have
it."
"Good for you, Major Ruddy!" came from a pupil from another
classroom.
"Crabtree and Cuddle have no right to do you out of your
dinners," added another.
"Make them give you what you pay for," added
a third.
The cries increased until it looked as if the demonstration in
the mess hall would be greater than that which had occurred in the
classroom. Pluxton Cuddle called for order, but even as he spoke a hot potato
went sailing through the air and hit him in the shirt front. Then a shower
of bread went up into the air, falling all around both Cuddle and
Crabtree.
"Boys! boys!" gasped Josiah Crabtree, and now he turned pale,
wondering what would happen next.
"Better give 'em something to eat,
sah!" suggested the head waiter, a colored man. "Some of them hungry chaps
look wicked, sah!"
"They have all been fed too much, that is the reason,"
said Pluxton Cuddle. "I don't mean to-day, I mean in general. However,
perhaps it will be as well, just now, to let them have a--er--a light
repast," he went on stammeringly, for another hot potato had hit him on
the shoulder.
"Boys!" called out Jack. "Stop throwing things. Mr.
Crabtree wants to say something." For he saw that the teacher wanted to speak
to the assemblage.
"I--er--I wish to state," began Josiah Crabtree,
when the cadets settled down at Jack's command, "that I--er--I did not intend
to make you do without your dinner. I was--er--going to--er--let you come to
the mess hall--er--after the other pupils had finished. But as it is----"
he gazed around somewhat helplessly, "I--er--I think you can stay.
The waiters will bring in the dinner." And he sat down and mopped
his perspiring forehead with his handkerchief.
"Gosh! I'll bet it was
hard for him to come down!" whispered Dale to Pepper.
"He's getting
afraid of the crowd," returned The Imp. "He was afraid we'd pass him the
stuff on the table without waiting for plates!" And Pepper grinned
suggestively.
The cadets had to wait a long time before they were served.
Meanwhile Pluxton Cuddle consulted with the head waiter and paid a visit to
the kitchen. As a result, when the dinner came in, the cadets found the
food both scanty and exceedingly plain.
"Say, how is a chap to get
along on this," growled Stuffer. "I could eat twice as much!"
"Make
the best of it this time," said Jack. "We can hold a meeting after school and
decide upon what to do in the future--if things don't mend."
The worst of
it--to Stuffer's mind--was that there was nothing but a little rice pudding
for dessert. All of the cadets who had rebelled went from the mess room
hungry--and out on the campus they discovered that the other cadets had fared
little better.
"It's Cuddle's doings," said one of the other students.
"He's a crank on the question of eating--thinks a man ought to eat next to
nothing to be healthy and clear-minded."
"Crabtree was willing enough
to fall in with his views," returned Pepper.
"That's because he wanted
to square up with you. Personally, Crabtree likes to eat as hearty a meal as
anybody."
"I know that."
"I don't know what we are coming to, if
Captain Putnam or Mr. Strong don't come back soon," said another cadet. "We
had a row in our classroom too."
"Neither Crabtree nor Cuddle are fit
to manage a school," said Dale. "They may be good enough teachers, but they
need somebody in authority over them." And this statement hit the nail
squarely on the head.
Reff Ritter was still disturbed, thinking that
Crabtree might find out that he was guilty of throwing the inkwell, and he
went around, "sounding" various cadets and getting them to promise not to
mention the matter. He was chagrined to think that he had not been chosen
leader in the rebellion, and was half inclined to draw away from Jack's
friends and form a party of his own.
"Ruddy wants to lead in
everything," he growled to Coulter. "It makes me sick!"
"Well, you
can't afford to go back on him now," was the answer. "If you do he may take
it in his head to let old Crabtree know about the inkwell, and
then----"
"Oh, he can lead if he wants the job so bad," interrupted the
bully hastily.
At the proper time the bell rang for the afternoon
session and all of the cadets marched to their various classrooms as if
nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. Lessons were taken up where they
had been dropped, but the boys found it hard to concentrate their minds on
what they were studying or reciting. All felt that a storm--and a big one
at that--was brewing.
Josiah Crabtree did not come into the classroom
occupied by Jack and his chums, and Reff Ritter and his crowd. Instead he
sent an under teacher, a meek man who did just what he was told, no more and
no less. With this teacher the boys got along very well.
"Wish we
could have him right along," observed Stuffer.
"If you did have him you
wouldn't make much progress," answered Jack. "He's good enough for the lower
classes, but that's all. He doesn't know half as much as Mr.
Strong."
When the cadets were dismissed for the day they hurried out on
the campus, and here Jack asked all who were interested in what had
occurred to attend a meeting at the boathouse. About three-quarters of the
cadets responded, those holding back being the smaller lads and a few
timid ones like Mumps.
At this meeting it came out that every class in
the school had "caught it," either from Josiah Crabtree or Pluxton Cuddle.
Sharp words and almost blows had been exchanged in the classrooms, and every
cadet had some fault to find with the food served for dinner.
"Cuddle
not only wants to cut down the amount, but he wants the meats and other
things cooked in a peculiar way," said one cadet. "I have always been used to
a good table and I am not going to stand for it."
"Nor will I!" cried
Stuffer. "Our parents pay for good board--and that means three square meals a
day."
"I understand Captain Putnam and Mr. Strong expect to be away for
at least ten days," said Henry Lee. "I am not going to starve myself
for that length of time, even to please Crabtree and Cuddle."
"Just
what I say!" exclaimed Pepper.
"We are certainly entitled to as good a
table as we have been having," was Jack's comment.
"Then, if we don't
get it, let's strike!" cried
Andy.
CHAPTER
XV WORDS AND BLOWS
The meeting at the
boathouse lasted for nearly an hour, yet no definite conclusion was reached.
Some of the boys wanted to wait and see what developed, while others were for
taking the most drastic action immediately. At last it was voted to wait, and
to leave the matter of what was to be done in the hands of a committee of
five, of which Jack was the chairman. The other four members of this
committee were Pepper, Dale, Bart Conners and a cadet named Barringer, a
youth who had the distinction of being the first cadet enrolled at the Hall,
and whose folks were warm personal friends of Captain Putnam.
"I am
sure if we act with care and fairness Captain Putnam will uphold us," said
Frank Barringer. "But there must be no rowdyism. If there is I shall withdraw
from the committee and from whatever is done."
"I shall not favor
rowdyism," answered the young major. "But neither shall I allow Crabtree or
Cuddle to walk over us."
"Oh, I agree on that, Major Ruddy. Both of those
teachers have been far too dictatorial. But it was a mistake to throw
potatoes and bread around the dining room, and it was vile to throw an
inkwell at Crabtree," added Frank Barringer.
During the afternoon
Josiah Crabtree drove to Cedarville in Captain Putnam's coach. When he
returned he had with him three men, burly individuals who looked like dock
hands--and such they were.
"What are those men going to do here?" asked
Andy of his chums.
"I can't imagine," answered Pepper. "If they were
going to do some work they wouldn't come at this time of day."
"Let us
see if Peleg Snuggers knows anything about it," suggested Dale, and he and
the others walked down to the barn, where they found the general utility man
putting up the team the teacher had used.
"Come to help me, young gents?"
asked Snuggers, with a grin.
"Peleg, we want to know what those three men
came for?" said Dale.
"Oh!" The general utility man shrugged his
shoulders. "Better go an' ask Mr. Crabtree--he brung 'em."
"You
mustn't say 'brung,' Peleg," said Pepper. "It's bad geography. You ought to
say bringed or brang."
"Well, you see, I ain't never had much schoolin',"
was the reply, as the man scratched his head. "Say," he went on, with a grin,
"you had high jinks this mornin', didn't you? I wanted to laff right out, but
I didn't dast."
"Are those men going to work here, Peleg?" demanded
Jack, sternly.
"Why don't you ask Mr. Crabtree? He brung--no, bringed, no
brang 'em."
"Are they here to keep the peace?" asked Andy,
suddenly.
"Mr. Crabtree said as how I wasn't to say nuthin' about it,"
stammered the general utility man.
"Then he brought them here for that
purpose?" demanded Jack.
"Yes--but don't let on as how I told ye!"
whispered Peleg Snuggers. "He an' Cuddle got scart, I reckon, and Crabtree
said he was goin' to git some special policemen to keep the
peace."
"Well, if that isn't the limit!" cried Pepper.
"The next
thing you know he'll be marching the whole school down to the Cedarville
lock-up," came from Dale. "That is--if he can!" he
added significantly.
"Now please don't let on I said a word about it!"
pleaded Peleg Snuggers. "If ye do it may cost me my place."
"We won't
utter a syllable," answered Jack. "Remember that, fellows," he added, and the
others nodded.
"Crabtree is awful mad," went on the man of all work. "He
an' that new teacher have got it in for all of ye! Better watch
out!"
"We will," said Pepper; and then he and his chums walked
away.
It was now time for the afternoon dress parade, and the cadets had
to hurry to get ready. Soon the drum sounded out and the cadets gathered
on the campus. Jack got his sword and took command, and put the
boys through a drill that would have done any army officer good to
behold. Only a few boys, like Ritter, Coulter and Paxton took advantage of
the fact that Captain Putnam was absent, and to these the young major
and the other officers paid scant attention. Ritter hoped he would
be "called down," so that he might have a chance to answer back, and
it made him sour when this opportunity was denied to him.
It was
whispered around what the three Cedarville men had been brought for, and loud
were the denunciations of Josiah Crabtree in consequence.
"He wants to
give Putnam Hall a black eye," said Stuffer. "If he was a gentleman he would
let us settle this matter among ourselves."
"If those men try to do
anything I fancy there will be a pitched battle," said another.
As was
the custom, Jack marched the battalion around the grounds and then into the
mess hall, and here all sat down to the tables for supper. They saw the three
strange men sitting at a side table, in company with the gymnastic
instructor, and near at hand were half a dozen heavy carriage
whips.
"Jack, did you notice the men and the whips?" questioned Pepper,
in a low, excited voice.
"I did--and I think Crabtree and Cuddle are
crazy," was the equally low response.
"Young gentlemen!" called out
Josiah Crabtree, from his place at the head of a table. "This noon we had a
most outrageous scene enacted here. Such a scene must not be repeated. We
must have order--no matter what the cost." And he allowed his eyes to wander
toward the three strange men and the gymnastic instructor and then to the
whips.
No more was said, and the waiters began to bring in the food.
There was bread and butter, some very thin slices of cold roast beef, tea,
and some exceedingly small pieces of plain cake.
"What a supper!"
murmured Pepper. "Does he take us for fairies?"
"I could eat three times
as much as this," said Andy. "Poor Stuffer, this will just about finish
him!"
"It's an outrage!" cried Dale, but in a low tone.
"Mr.
Crabtree!" The call came from Stuffer, who had arisen.
"What do you want,
Singleton?" snapped the teacher.
"I want more to eat."
"You have
all you are going to have. Sit down, or else leave the room."
"I am
hungry, and----"
"You boys all eat too much," interposed Pluxton Cuddle.
"Hereafter you are to have what is proper for you and no more."
"I
tell you I am hungry," insisted Stuffer.
"Sit down, or leave!" cried
Josiah Crabtree.
"I want some more too," put in Andy.
"So do I!"
added Henry Lee.
"We are entitled to more," came from Dave
Kearney.
"Our folks pay for it," said Reff Ritter.
"Will you be
quiet," stormed Josiah Crabtree. "Mr. Cuddle and I know what is best for you." |
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