The Putnam Hall Rebellion 6

	The Putnam Hall Rebellion 6

"Mr. Crabtree!" called out Jack, getting up. "In the name of this school I demand that you listen to me." He spoke in a full, ringing voice that penetrated every corner of the dining hall. Instantly every eye was fastened on the youthful major. "Ruddy!" gasped the teacher. "How dare you talk to me in this fashion! Sit down! Sit down instantly!" "Not until I have had my say. Mr. Crabtree, the cadets of this school had a meeting this afternoon, and we resolved to----" "Ruddy, sit down and be quiet, or I'll have you put out!" burst out Josiah Crabtree, purple in the face. "We resolved that we would not stand this treatment any longer. A committee was formed, of which I have the honor to be chairman. This committee is willing to have a conference with you and Mr. Cuddle, and----" Jack got no further, for, wild with rage, Josiah Crabtree had motioned to two of the strange men and these fellows now came forward, each with a whip in his hand. "Don't strike Ruddy!" called out Pepper. "If you do, you'll rue it!" And he caught up a plate from the table. "Put those whips down!" came from a dozen boys, and on the instant the mess hall was in an uproar. Nearly every cadet armed himself with a plate, cup or saucer. The strange men who had come close to Jack halted, and then slunk back. They saw that the cadets "meant business" and as a consequence they were afraid to act. "Boys, keep quiet!" called out Jack, in the midst of the din, and when the tumult had somewhat subsided, he went on: "Mr. Crabtree, do not go too far, or the consequences will be on your own head. We are willing to do what is fair and just. But you must treat us fair and just, too, and we want the same kind of food, and the same quantity, that we had when Captain Putnam was here." "I would like to ask one question," put in Frank Barringer. "Did Captain Putnam authorize anybody to cut down our food?" "He authorized Mr. Crabtree and myself to manage the school," snapped Pluxton Cuddle. "That isn't answering the question," said Jack. "Did the captain say anything at all about the food?" "I am not on the witness stand," snarled Cuddle. "We intend to manage this institution as we deem best," said Josiah Crabtree. "I command every student present to put down the dish he is holding." "Then make those men retire and put down the whips," cried Andy. "Yes! yes!" was the cry. "Take the men and the whips away!" Again the tumult arose, and in the midst of the uproar a plate whizzed through the air and struck Pluxton Cuddle on the shoulder, causing him to utter a cry of pain and alarm. Then a saucer landed on Josiah Crabtree's bosom. When the first plate was thrown the men with the whips sprang forward, and in a twinkling half a dozen cadets felt the keen lashes. But then came more dishes, and one man was hit on the nose and another on the hand. "Hi! we can't stand this!" called one of the men. "We'll be killed! Come on!" And dodging a sugar bowl, he ran out of a side door, and the other men, including the gymnasium instructor, followed him. Then, shaking his fist at the students, Josiah Crabtree backed out also, and Pluxton Cuddle followed. "Hurrah! We have vanquished the enemy!" cried Andy. "Boys, stop that plate throwing!" called out Jack. And then gradually the excitement died down. Only the cadets and the waiters were left in the mess room. The waiters were so scared and perplexed they did not know what to do. "Let us have some more eating," exclaimed Stuffer. "We may not get another chance like this in a hurry." And he gave a waiter an order to fill. Then came more orders, and the waiters went off, grinning from ear to ear, for at heart they sided with the students. While waiting for more food the cadets talked the situation over from every possible point of view. Many condemned the plate throwing, which had been started by Ritter and Coulter. Yet all were glad that the men with horsewhips had been routed. What to do next was a question nobody was able to answer. "I know one thing we ought to do," said Jack. "Telegraph to Captain Putnam to come back at once." "That's it!" cried Dale. "Do it before old Crabtree sends a message. That will show the captain we are not afraid to leave the case to him." "We'll have to get his address first," said Henry Lee. "I have it," answered Frank Barringer, "and I'll send him a telegram to-night. But I don't think he'll be able to get back here inside of several days."                               CHAPTER XVI                       PRISONERS IN THE DORMITORIES "Well, one thing is certain," observed Pepper, as he and half a dozen others left the mess hall. "We are getting into this thing deeper and deeper. I wonder how it is going to end?" "I doubt if it ends before Captain Putnam gets back," answered Jack. "Crabtree is just headstrong enough to attempt something even worse than getting men with whips. Maybe he'll have all of us locked up." "Will you stand for being arrested, Jack?" asked Andy. "No." "Old Crabtree is a fool!" burst out Henry Lee. "I'd give half my spending money to ship him to--to Africa or the North Pole." "Say, I've got an idea!" burst out Stuffer. "Why not send him a bogus telegram, saying his grandfather or second cousin is dying of brainstorm, or something like that, and ask him to come right on? That might take him away until the captain got back." "We might try that," mused Jack. "But let us see first what happens to-morrow. Maybe by morning Crabtree and Cuddle will cool off--and perhaps the fellows will cool off too." What had become of the teachers and the strange men none of the cadets knew, and the absence of all made the boys worry somewhat, although they tried not to show it. They wondered if the teachers had really gone off to summon more help, or make a formal complaint to the authorities. There was very little playing or studying done that evening. "Might as well go to bed," said Pepper, when the usual time for retiring was at hand. "I must say, I am dead tired. Such strenuous times are too much for me." One by one the cadets went to their various dormitories. A few were inclined to "cut up," but Jack soon stopped this in every room but that occupied by Reff Ritter and his cronies. "I want you to be on your good behavior," said the young major. "Remember, when Captain Putnam gets back I am going to give him a full and true report of what happened." "Don't you dare to say anything to him about inkwells and plates," growled Ritter. "If you do you'll get into trouble." "I expect every student to confess to just what was done," answered Jack. By ten o'clock the majority of the cadets went to bed, and an hour later the Hall was wrapped in stillness. Then, from the barn, there came a number of strange men, Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton Cuddle. "Now make no noise," cautioned Crabtree. "If you do some of them may wake up and make trouble." "We understand," answered one of the strange men, who appeared to be something of a leader. Then the whole party entered the school building by a back door, and went about carrying out a plan they had arranged. "Hello!" cried Pepper, as he woke up in the morning and looked at his watch. "Half-past seven! I didn't hear any bell." "Neither did I," came from Andy, who sat up at the same time. "I fancy it didn't ring." "Everything is going wrong in this school," put in the young major, as he slipped out of bed and commenced to dress. "Maybe old Crabtree and Pluxton Cuddle, Esquire, have given it up," suggested Pepper, as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. Jack was the first to be dressed and Andy quickly followed. "Let us take a look around and see how the land lays," suggested the young major. "I'm with you," responded the acrobatic youth promptly. "Beware of traps!" sang out Pepper. "Crabtree may be waiting for you with a club." "Or a shotgun," added Dale, with a grin. Jack walked to the door and turned the knob. To his surprise the door refused to open. He tried to shake it, but it remained firm. "What's the matter?" cried Pepper. "The door is locked." "Locked?" "Yes." Jack stooped down and looked into the keyhole. "The key is on the outside," he added. "Perhaps somebody is playing a trick on us," suggested Dale. "Yes--Crabtree and Cuddle," murmured the young major. "Let's try the door to the next room," suggested Andy. Several of the dormitories were connected by side doors, and hurried into the next room, Andy tried the door leading to the hall. "This is locked too!" he said. "We're locked in, that is all there is to it!" cried one of the cadets. "The enemy has locked us in while we slept!" "This must be a new idea for bringing us to terms," said Stuffer. "Wonder how long Crabtree and Cuddle expect to keep us here?" "Long enough to make you go without your breakfast, Stuffer," said Pepper, with a grin. "Not much! I'll break down the door first!" "No, you won't break down no door!" cried a harsh voice from the outer side of the barrier. "If you try it, you'll get hurt, remember that!" "Who are you?" demanded Andy, in astonishment. "I'm a man hired to watch this door, and I am going to do it. Don't you try no funny work, or you'll get hurt." "Are you one of the fellows who was in the mess hall yesterday?" asked Jack. "Yes." "Then you've been hired by Mr. Crabtree and Mr. Cuddle?" "That's it." "Where are they?" "That ain't none of your business," answered the strange man, roughly. "It is my business," returned the young major, warmly. "You send for Mr. Crabtree at once." "I ain't a-going to do it. I was told to stay here and watch these doors. Now you jest keep quiet and mind your own business." "Supposing we break down the door?" asked Pepper. "The first boy who tries it, will get a good licking, and he'll be tied up in the coal cellar in the bargain." "Are you alone?" asked Fred Century. "Not much I ain't! There are ten of us here and outside, and we are actin' under orders from the teachers. They are going to show you that you can't run this school during Captain Putnam's absence." "I wonder if he is telling the truth?" whispered the young major to his chums. "Ten of them! It doesn't seem possible!" "Wait till I take a look out of a window," said Dale, and ran to the nearest opening. He poked out his head and looked down on the campus. "Well, I declare!" he ejaculated. "What do you see?" asked several in a chorus. "Three men down there, and they are armed with clubs and guns!" "Never!" burst out Jack, and ran forward to take a look himself. Soon every window was crowded with cadets, all gazing down to the ground below. There were three strange men, including one of those who had been in the mess hall the evening previous. As Dale had said, each had a club in one hand and a gun in the other. They walked up and down the side of the building, every once in a while glancing upward. "This is the limit!" cried Pepper. "Why, you'd think we were prisoners in a penitentiary!" "Yes, and some of those men were the keepers," added Andy. "Oh, I say," he went on, "let us give them something to let them know we are awake." "Right you are!" cried Pepper, quick to catch on to a joke. "Everybody hand them a souvenir!" In a moment more each cadet present in the two rooms had armed himself. One had a cake of soap, another an old pair of shoes, another a pitcher of water, and the rest old books and odds and ends of various kinds. "Now then, all together!" cried Pepper. "One, two, three!" And down went the miscellaneous collection on the heads of the guards. Yells of pain and wonder arose, for each of the men was struck. Before the guards could recover from the unexpected attack, each cadet withdrew from sight. "Hi, you! We'll get square, see if we don't!" yelled one of the men. "Don't you attempt to git out o' them windows or you'll git shot!" "Do you think they'd attempt to shoot us?" asked one of the boys, in consternation. "I don't know what to think," answered Jack, and his tone was very grave. He realized that the situation had become a truly serious one.                               CHAPTER XVII                          ANDY SNOW'S DISCOVERY Leaving the windows, the cadets went back to the doors leading to the hallway. They again called up the man on guard there and asked for Josiah Crabtree. "We must speak to him," said Jack. "And if you won't call him we'll all rush the doors, break them down, and--well, you know what to expect." At first the man wanted to argue again, but presently he became frightened and blew a whistle he carried. Then the cadets heard footsteps approaching. "What do you want?" came in Josiah Crabtree's sharp voice. "They want to talk to you," answered the guard doggedly. "Said they'd break down the doors if I didn't call you." "They'll not dare to do it!" cried the teacher. "Yes, we will dare!" shouted several of the boys who heard the remark. "Mr. Crabtree, what is the meaning of this?" demanded Jack, in a loud, clear voice. "It means that I am going to keep you in your rooms until you learn how to behave yourselves," was the cold answer. "What about breakfast?" "You can have something to eat when you come downstairs." "Then let us come down now," put in Stuffer. "Not a cadet shall leave these rooms until he has apologized to Mr. Cuddle and myself and given his word of honor that he will in the future do precisely as he is told," said Josiah Crabtree, in the overbearing, dictatorial tone he so often employed in the classroom. "Apologize!" gasped a number of the cadets. "That is what I said." "I'll not apologize!" murmured Fred. "Not in a year of Mondays," added Dale. "I don't know that I did anything to apologize for. He and Cuddle started the row." "Mr. Crabtree, I demand my breakfast!" cried Stuffer. "I am entitled to it--my folks have paid for it--and I am not going to let you swindle me out of it." "Swindle you!" gasped the teacher, in a rage. "Such language! To me! me! Ha! boy, wait till I get my hands on you!" "Mr. Crabtree, I think you'll find it best to let us out and give us our breakfast," continued the young major. "You certainly can't intend to starve us." "We do intend to starve you, until you come to your senses," said another voice in the hallway. It was Pluxton Cuddle who had come up. "As I have said many times, you eat too much and it has made you saucy, impudent and unreasonable. An empty stomach may bring you to your senses." "It may make us desperate," murmured Stuffer. "I am not going to let anybody starve me!" During this talk there had been considerable pounding on the doors of various other dormitories. Evidently the great majority of the cadets were held prisoners in their rooms. Now Josiah Crabtree went off to talk at another door, and was followed by the new teacher. "Boys, I want you to come to order!" called out Jack, to the cadets of the two rooms that adjoined each other. "Going to hand around sandwiches?" questioned Stuffer, dolefully. "If you are, give me about six!" "Pull up your belt, Stuffer," was the answer, with a smile. "If you don't get breakfast to-day you may get it to-morrow." "I'll have breakfast to-day--or pull down the Hall!" said the youth who loved to eat. "The question is, What are we going to do?" said Jack, in a loud voice. "Mr. Crabtree wants us to apologize and promise to do exactly as we are told in the future. What have you to say to his proposition?" "No apologies!" was the cry. "No promises to do just whatever he wants," added Dale. "He is too unreasonable." "That's it!" said Fred. "Tell him we are willing to return to our lessons and behave ourselves," said Bart Conners. "And add that we are willing to leave the question of punishment for what has happened to Captain Putnam." "That's the talk!" said several. "And if he won't give in, sure, we can break down the dures, bedad!" came from Emerald. "We can have a regular Donnybrook Fair time, so we can!" "If possible we ought to keep from further quarrels," said Jack. "Let us arbitrate if it can possibly be done." So it was finally decided, and again Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton Cuddle were called to one of the doors of the two rooms. In a calm voice Jack explained to the teachers and pleaded that the whole matter be allowed to rest until Captain Putnam's return. He said he would vouch for it that the boys would go back to their studies just as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He added, that he thought it was a disgrace to bring the strange men to the Hall as guards and he asked that they be dismissed. It was with difficulty that Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton Cuddle could be made to listen. The two instructors had talked the matter over between them, and the unreasonableness of the one was bolstered up by the other. They refused to listen to any argument, and stuck by the proposition Josiah Crabtree had first laid down. "And not a mouthful of food shall any cadet have until he does as we demand," said Crabtree. "And if you try to break out you'll do it at your peril," added Pluxton Cuddle. And then the two teachers gave the guards in the hallways some instructions in whispers, and went below again. It would be hard to define the feelings of the cadets when they were left alone once more. Some wanted to break down the doors at once, while others spoke of climbing out of the windows, using knotted-together bedsheets for that purpose. Still others advised waiting to see what might turn up. "We can all do without our breakfast," said Jack. "And we can go without dinner, too, if we have to." "Maybe you can, but I can't," groaned Stuffer. "I think old Crabtree wants us to break down the doors and do as much damage to the building as possible," said Andy. "Then he'll be able to prove to Captain Putnam what a lot of ruffians we are." "Maybe you are right," answered Dale. "I agree with Jack, let us go slow and see what happens." "I wonder how Reff Ritter and his crowd are taking it," said Henry Lee. "Coulter won't want to go without his breakfast," answered Andy. "He is the greatest feeder in the school. He eats even more than Stuffer." "Reff Ritter can eat his share, too," said Bart. "Ritter is responsible for a good deal of this trouble," went on Dave Kearney. "He made old Crabtree boiling mad by throwing the inkwell, and he started the throwing of things in the mess room." It was a dreary wait in the dormitories, and the majority of the boys did not know what to do with themselves. Joe Nelson started to study but soon gave it up. One lad had some dominoes and several cadets played a dozen games or more. While this was going on Jack walked around the two rooms and looked into the various clothing closets. Presently an idea struck him and he called Andy to his side. The two entered one of the closets, and the acrobatic youth got up on a shelf and pulled loose a board of the ceiling. Then he wormed his way through the opening made. "What is Andy doing?" asked Pepper, coming up. "Why, I remembered the board ceiling in this closet," answered Jack. "I wondered what was above it. Andy is such a gymnast I sent him up to investigate." It was so dark beyond the hole that little or nothing could be seen. Andy was gone over quarter of an hour. Then his head appeared and he called softly. "Jack!" "Well, have you discovered anything?" asked the young major, eagerly. "Have I discovered anything? Well, I just guess yes!" was the reply. "I've made the greatest discovery of the century!" "What?" "Here, take these bags first. I would have brought more, only I couldn't carry them." And then, to the amazement of the cadets who assembled in the clothing closet and near the doorway, the acrobatic youth passed down four large paper bags, each filled with something to eat. Then he came down himself, closing the opening in the ceiling after him. "Tell us, Jack, where does the hole lead to?" asked Dale. "That hole leads to one end of the trunk room," was the answer. "The door to the trunk room was unlocked, and from there I passed to a back hallway and down a back stairs to the kitchen and pantry. Fellows, we've got Crabtree and Cuddle beaten a mile! We can get all the grub we want--and have our liberty too!"                              CHAPTER XVIII                         ON A FORAGING EXPEDITION The announcement that Andy made was received with keen interest by all. Every cadet crowded around to get some of the food brought in and to learn the particulars of his foraging and exploring expedition. "Getting down the back stairs was easy," said the acrobatic youth. "But once I was in the lower entryway I had to keep my eyes open, to escape the cook and the waiters. I found the bags on a hook behind the door and I got the grub from the pantry when nobody was near. I was careful what I took, for I didn't want anybody to discover what had been done. I may want to go back for dinner, you know," and Andy grinned broadly. "Andy, you have saved my life!" cried Stuffer, with his mouth full of bread and cheese. "I shall remember you in my will." "Leave some for me," was the reply. "I am just as hungry as anybody. All I had in the pantry was one cold sausage and a cracker." "Here, we'll divide the stuff equally," said Jack, and this was done. Fortunately the paper bags held quite some food, so there was more than enough for all. "It's a pity we can't get some of this stuff to the fellows in the next dormitory," said Pepper. "I suppose they are as hungry as we are." "I've got an idea!" cried Dale. "Put all your contributions for the next room into this bag," and he held up the receptacle as he spoke. "How are you going to get it to them?" questioned Henry Lee. "I have a brand new, patented and copyrighted way," went on Dale. "Just fork over, everybody, for the benefit of the heathens in Hungry Land." The bag was soon filled with bread, cheese, crackers and chipped beef, and then Dale tied it fast to the end of a hockey stick. This done, he went to one of the windows and looked out cautiously. Not one of the guards below was looking up. He shoved the bag outside and swung it to the left as far as possible--directly in front of another window. "Hello, what's this?" a voice cried, and then the bag was caught and taken in. Then the head of a cadet appeared. "Much obliged," he said to Dale. "Just what we were wishing for. How did you get it?" "That's a secret," answered Dale. "Maybe, if you keep mum, there will be more coming later." "Are you fellows going to give in?" went on the cadet from the next dormitory. "Never!" "Just what we've decided. We've got a plan." "What's that?" "If we are kept here until to-night we are going to run away." "Perhaps we'll be with you," answered Dale, and then, as a guard looked up, he drew in his head. "That's a great idea, Dale," said Jack. "By means of the windows we can communicate with every dormitory on this side of the building. Queer we didn't think of it before." "We were too much upset by the talk with Cuddle and Crabtree," answered Stuffer. "Let us pass along some notes and see how the different rooms feel over this affair," continued the young major. Soon the notes were written, each having on it the number of the dormitory for which it was intended. Then the communications were pinned to the hockey stick, and by this means passed from one room window to the next. Thus five rooms were reached, and soon notes began to come back. "We are certainly of one mind," said Jack, after the various communications had been read. "Everybody says, 'No surrender!' That's plain enough." "Barringer's room is giving out apples," said Bart. "That's not so bad. I shouldn't mind an apple myself." "They are all waiting for food, and I suppose it is up to us to supply them with some," continued Jack. "I have half a mind to go down myself and look around." "I'll go with you," put in Pepper. "I am tired of being boxed in here." "Well, be careful, or you'll give the snap away," cautioned Andy. "Some of the steps of the back stairs squeak terribly. I left my shoes in the trunk room when I went down." "We'll leave them here," answered The Imp, and took off the footwear then and there, and Jack did likewise. It was no easy thing to climb through the ceiling opening into the trunk room, and once above they had to feel their way through the darkness to the door. Pepper stubbed his toe on a trunk and drew a sharp breath of pain. "Hurt?" whispered Jack. "No, but I put an awful dent in the trunk," was the joking reply. "Let us get a candle when we go down. I hate this darkness." With bated breath the two cadets walked out into the deserted hall and then down the back stairs. Once they heard somebody close at hand slam a door and their hearts leaped into their throats. "If anybody sees us, run like mad for the trunk room and fasten the door somehow," said Jack. "We don't want a soul to know what we are up to. If we can get food we can stand Cuddle and Crabtree off indefinitely." At last the boys reached the back entryway, and through a crack of the door peered into the kitchen. Nobody was present, and the big pantry was also deserted, and so was the mess hall. "We've got it all to ourselves!" whispered Pepper joyfully. "Jack, this is a cinch, a picnic! Let us take up all the food we can carry!" "Here is just what we want," replied the major, and took from a hook two big waiters' aprons. "We can bundle up a lot of stuff in these." "And here are two fresh tins of crackers, ten pounds in each tin. We must take these by all means--and that fresh chunk of cheese!" "You take what you can carry to the trunk room," answered Jack. "I'll hunt up something a little more appetizing." While Pepper was on his errand the young major made a careful survey of the pantry, and into a wooden box he found there placed a freshly-boiled ham, some cold roast beef, several loaves of bread, some butter, three bottles of pickles, some cans of sardines and some bottles of milk. Then, from a barrel, he filled a wash basin with apples. "This will do for the present, I'm thinking," he said, as he surveyed the stuff. "Now for a candle and some matches," and he procured them. He carried the wooden box on his shoulder and Pepper came down and got the apples, and also two loaf cakes which had been baked the day before, and some knives, forks and several glasses and tin plates. "You'd think we were getting ready for the annual encampment," said The Imp, while he and Jack were on the way upstairs with the last of the things. "Listen!" exclaimed the young major, suddenly. "Somebody is coming!" "It's the cook!" gasped Pepper, as he caught sight of a well-known figure coming along the upper hallway. "Jack, what shall we do?" "I--I don't know! We'll have to run past her, I guess." "We can't do it--the hall is too narrow." The cook came closer, and the two cadets turned back and tried to crouch out of sight in a doorway. The boys' hearts were, figuratively speaking, in their throats. But just as the cook was almost on them she paused and turned back. "Oh dear, I meant to bring that clean apron down!" the cadets heard her murmur, and then she passed out of sight. "What a lucky escape," gasped Pepper. "Don't stop any longer--get up to the trunk room before it is too late," urged his chum, and together they sped on as if a ghost was at their heels. Having arrived there they shut the door and pulled a trunk in front of it, first, however, lighting the candle, that they might not break anything. It took some time to transfer all the food to the dormitory below. The quantity made all the boys smile, and Stuffer's eyes fairly glistened. "This is the best yet," said the youth who loved to eat. "Say, isn't it most dinner time?" "I wish Bob Grenwood was in this room," said Jack. "I'd appoint him quartermaster once more--to divide the rations." "Make me quartermaster," pleaded Stuffer. "He'll be sure to look out for No. 1!" said Fred, with a laugh. "This food is to be divided among all the rooms we can reach," said Jack. "And it is to be a fair division, too." The division then commenced, and for the best part of an hour the cadets were busy, passing stuff from one window to another. They had to do this with care, so that none of the guards on the campus might discover what was going on. "And now for dinner!" cried Pepper, as he looked at his watch and saw that it was twelve o'clock. "Boys, I think we can all be truly thankful for the good things provided." "So we can," answered Dale. At that moment there sounded footsteps in the hallway and then came a knock on the door.                               CHAPTER XIX                       WHAT HAPPENED TO JACK RUDDY "Boys, get the eating out of sight--somebody may want to come in!" cried Jack, in a low voice. And in a few seconds the food was placed in a closet and covered with papers and books. "I want to talk to you!" called the voice of Josiah Crabtree. "What do you want, Mr. Crabtree?" demanded the young major. "It is now twelve o'clock," went on the teacher. "Dinner will be served in a few minutes. Are you ready to do as I wish?" "You mean for us to apologize?" asked Pepper. "Yes, and to promise to do as ordered in the future." "We won't apologize," answered several, in unison. "Don't you want your dinner?" demanded the teacher, in a somewhat crestfallen tone of voice. "This is not a question of dinner--it is a question of principle, Mr. Crabtree," answered Jack. "Exactly--but you must be hungry." "We are," and this was true, for nobody had as yet started to eat. "There is no use of your being stubborn," continued Josiah Crabtree. "We are not stubborn." "Yes, you are!" "You are the one who is stubborn," put in Dale. "You and Mr. Cuddle think you are right--but we are about thirty or thirty-five to two." "Bah! you are only boys and do not realize what you are doing." "We are going to leave this matter to Captain Putnam." "Then you don't want any dinner, eh?" Josiah Crabtree felt certain that the cadets must be very hungry. "Not on your terms," answered Jack. "Do you all say that?" called out the teacher. "Yes!" came in a chorus. "Very well, you can go hungry a while longer!" cried Crabtree in a rage, and stalked off to interview the boys in some of the other rooms. One and all refused to "surrender," as they expressed it. Then Josiah Crabtree went below to the office, where he met Pluxton Cuddle. "They are as yet not hungry enough," said Cuddle, after listening to the other teacher's story. "Wait until the middle of the afternoon, or supper time. I'll warrant they will then be glad enough to do anything we wish." "Let us hope so," answered Josiah Crabtree, and then he and Cuddle talked the matter over from beginning to end, and fixed up the story they should tell Captain Putnam when he returned. According to their idea the cadets were to blame for everything and had assaulted them most outrageously. Crabtree had already interviewed one of the men hired by him at Cedarville and this fellow was ready to corroborate any tale the instructors might put forth. The teachers had just about finished their talk when they heard a hurried knock on the door of the office and one of the waiters appeared. "The cook and the head waiter would like you to come to the kitchen at once, please!" cried the colored man. "What for?" demanded Josiah Crabtree. "A lot of the eating has been stolen, sah!" "Stolen!" screamed Pluxton Cuddle. "Yes, sah. They jess found it out, sah, and they sent me to tell you, sah." "This is--er--extraordinary!" "It's those confounded boys!" roared Josiah Crabtree. "They must have gotten to the kitchen somehow and taken the things." "But the guards--you forget the guards," returned Pluxton Cuddle. "Perhaps one of them was bribed--and perhaps a waiter was bribed too," said Crabtree with something like a groan. "Oh, I know no longer whom to trust here!" Both of the teachers followed the waiter to the kitchen. Here they found the cook and several others talking excitedly. Nobody could tell exactly what had been taken, but the cook was certain it was considerable. "They have outwitted us!" moaned Pluxton Cuddle. "Now they will stuff themselves and be more ugly than ever!"