CHAPTER V THE INTERVIEW IN THE OFFICE
"Hi, you--er--you let me alone!" sputtered Mumps. "Oh, my back! What didyou want to put ice down my back for? Oh, dear, I'll be all froze up!"And he danced around and let the two pitchers fall to the floor with acrash.
"That's the time we paid him back for his sneaking tricks," whisperedPepper, as he sped for his dormitory.
"Sure, he's makin' noise enough to wake the dead, so he is!" was Hogan'scomment. "If that don't wake Captain Putnam up he must be slapin' widcotton in his ears an' ear mufflers on!"
"The best thing we can do is to get in bed and lose no time about it,"answered the Imp, and began to undress before his bedroom was gained.
The others were speedily acquainted with the turn of affairs, and inless than three minutes every cadet was undressed and in bed. Thepasteboard boxes had been thrown out of a window and all the crumbs ofthe little feast swept up.
Hogan was right, the noise soon awakened Captain Putnam, and the masterof the Hall arose, donned a dressing gown, and sallied forth to see whatwas the matter. Then from an upper bed-chamber Mrs. Green, the matron ofthe school, appeared. She was a good-natured woman, but any alarm atnight scared her.
"What is the trouble, Captain Putnam?" she asked, in a trembling voice."Have burglars gotten into the school?"
"If they have they are making a big noise about it," answered CaptainPutnam. "I rather think some of the cadets are up to pranks."
"Perhaps the school is on fire?"
"Is the school on fire?" demanded a student, who just then stuck hishead out of a dormitory doorway.
"If the school is on fire I'm going to get out!" exclaimed anothercadet.
"No! no! There is no fire!" cried the master of the Hall, hastily. "Ibelieve it is nothing but some boys cutting-up. Listen!"
The sound in Mumps's dormitory had ceased, but now came another soundfrom downstairs--the overturning of a chair, followed by the crash ofglassware.
"That is in the dining-room, or the store-room!" shrieked Mrs. Green."Oh, they must be burglars, sir! The boys would not make such a dreadfulnoise."
"I'll soon get at the bottom of this," said Captain Putnam, sternly, andran down the back stairs as rapidly as his dressing gown would permit.In the meantime many boys came out into the corridors, and GeorgeStrong, the assistant teacher, appeared.
When Captain Putnam reached the store-room he found the door locked. Butthe key was in the lock, and he speedily turned it and let himself in.It was almost totally dark in the room, and he had not taken two stepsbefore he felt some broken glass under his feet. The window was open andhe darted to it, to behold two students on the campus outside.
"Stop!" he called out. But instead of obeying the command the studentskept on running, and disappeared from sight around an angle of thebuilding.
"I will get at the bottom of this--I must get at the bottom of it," themaster of the Hall told himself, and lost no time in lighting up. Aglance around showed him that a small stand containing somewater-glasses had been tipped over and several glasses were broken.
"That stand was in the way in the dining-room, so we had it removed tohere," explained Mrs. Green. "Oh, what a mess! Be careful, sir, oryou'll cut your feet."
"Mr. Strong, two students just leaped from this window and are outside,"said the captain, as his assistant appeared at the store-room door."Find out who they are and bring them to my office."
"Yes, sir," answered George Strong, and ran for a door opening onto thecampus. Once outside he saw Coulter and Ritter in the act of sneakingoff towards the barns and ran after them.
"It will do you no good to run away," he cried, as he came up and caughteach by the arm. "Ah, so it is you, Coulter, and you, Ritter. You willreport at once at Captain Putnam's office."
"We weren't doing anything," growled Gus Coulter.
"You can tell the captain your story."
Meekly Ritter and Coulter marched into the Hall and to the office. Theyknew not what to say. They had not dreamed of being locked in thestore-room, and the table with the glassware had been knocked over byRitter in an endeavor to get the window open in the dark.
"Well, young men, what have you to say for yourselves?" demanded CaptainPutnam, sternly, as he confronted the pair.
"We broke the glassware by mistake, sir," answered Reff Ritter. "I willpay for the damage done."
"But what were you doing in the store-room at this time of night?"
"We--er--we came down to get--er--to get some lemons," faltered Coulter."I--er--I had a pain in the stomach, and I thought sucking on a lemonwould cure it."
"Humph! Did you have a pain, too?" and the master of the Hall turned toRitter.
"No, sir, but--er--Gus was so sick I thought I had best come down withhim," answered Ritter.
"Are you still sick, Coulter?"
"Why--er--the pain seems better now, sir. I guess I scared it away!" Andthe guilty cadet smiled faintly.
"Indeed! Well, why did you leave the store-room by way of the window?"
"Because while we were inside somebody came and locked the door on us."
"Oh! Some other students, I presume."
"Yes, sir. It was too dark for us to see who they were."
"And you went down for nothing but lemons, eh?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, you go straight to bed, and after this, if you want any lemonsyou call one of the servants or teachers; do you hear?"
"Yes, sir."
"Wait just a moment. What was that noise upstairs?"
"Where?"
"In the neighborhood of your dormitory."
"I don't know," said Coulter.
"Maybe it was made by the boys who locked us in," was Reff Ritter'scomment.
"I see. Well, go to bed. If I hear any more noise, or learn of any moreprowling around in the dark, I'll make an example of somebody," addedCaptain Putnam, and with that the two cadets were dismissed, and theylost no time in making for their dormitory. There they learned fromMumps how the sneak had been treated by Pepper and Hogan.
"That chunk of ice was as cold as--as Greenland!" said the sneak,dismally. "It melted right on my backbone, so how could I help but makea noise. There are the two pitchers. I wish I could fire them atsomebody's head!"
"Put them out in the hall--away from our door," ordered Ritter. "If theyare found here they will make more trouble--and we've had enough for onenight."
"Jack Ruddy's crowd put this up our back," was Coulter's comment. "Oh,how I wish I could get square with them!"
"I am glad I didn't go downstairs," came from Nick Paxton.
"Then you didn't get hold of the strawberry shortcakes at all," saidMumps.
"No, and we don't know if they got 'em, either," answered Coulter."Maybe you were mistaken, Mumpsy."
"No, I wasn't mistaken."
"Well, we made a fizzle of getting the cakes anyway," growled Ritter. "Iam going to bed," and in a thoroughly bad humor he turned in, and hiscronies followed his example.
The joke on Coulter, Ritter, and Mumps could not be kept, and by thenext day many students were laughing at the two bullies and the sneak.This made the three very angry, but they did not dare to say anything inpublic, for fear of getting into trouble with Captain Putnam.
The contest between Coulter and Andy Snow was to come off in thegymnasium that afternoon after school and, as a consequence, quite anumber of students assembled to witness what was to take place. A largenumber thought Andy would win out, yet Gus Coulter had quite a fewsupporters, for he was known to be not only large but strong.
When Andy came in Coulter had not yet arrived. At once Andy began topractice. As soon as he did this Nick Paxton came up to him.
"Do you want to swing against me?" demanded Paxton.
"No, I have a contest with Coulter to-day," answered Andy shortly. Hehad no use for Paxton, and was not above letting the latter know it.
"Afraid, eh?" sneered the other cadet.
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br /> "No, I am not afraid of you, Paxton, and you know it," answered Andy,promptly.
"Yes, you are afraid," growled the other boy, and moved off. In aminute, however, he came back, and seizing hold of a long rope suspendedfrom the gymnasium ceiling, commenced to swing upon it.
Jack and Pepper came in, and they stood talking to Andy as Paxtoncontinued to swing back and forth, close at hand. Then Paxton changedhis course, so that his feet struck Jack on the arm.
"Stop that, Paxton!" cried the young major, but before he could say morethe cadet on the rope launched himself forward again, with feetextended, and caught Andy in the left wrist. The blow was so strong thatthe acrobatic youth was bowled over on the polished floor.
"Ouch, my wrist!" cried Andy, as he scrambled up. Then he gazed sharplyat Paxton. "What did you do that for?" he demanded.
"Excuse me, I didn't mean to touch you," was the short answer, andPaxton dropped from the rope and started for the other end of thegymnasium.
"Hold on there!" cried Pepper, and ran after Paxton.
"What do you want, Pep Ditmore?"
"You struck Andy on purpose!"
"I did not!"
"And I say you did! It was a mean thing to do."
"Oh, you make me tired," grunted Nick Paxton, but his tone betrayed hisuneasiness.
"I believe you struck Andy so as to injure him," said Jack. To thisPaxton made no answer. Instead he moved on, and soon lost himself in acrowd of boys in another part of the gymnasium.
"Andy, does your wrist hurt much?" questioned Pepper, turning to hisacrobatic chum.
"Yes, it does," was the answer. "See, he scraped part of the skin off."
"He ought to be hammered for it," was Pepper's emphatic declaration.
Andy walked over to a sink and there allowed the water to run over hiswrist. Soon there was a small swelling, which pained considerably. Jackhelped to tie a handkerchief around the bruised member.
"Well, Snow, are you ready for the contest?" demanded Gus Coulter,walking up. He had just passed Nick Paxton, and the latter had winked athim suggestively.
"Andy has been hurt," explained Jack. "Paxton kicked him in the wrist."
"Huh! Is this a trick to get out of meeting me?" grumbled Gus Coulter.
"No, it is no trick!" exclaimed Andy.
"Andy, you can't meet him with your wrist in such bad shape,"expostulated Pepper.
"Postpone it until to-morrow," suggested Dale, who was present.
"If he is to meet me at all it must be to-day," said Coulter, flatly."That bruise doesn't amount to a hill of beans. I've got a hurt myself,"and he showed the back of his left hand, which had been slightlyscratched by a playful kitten several days before.
"That is nothing to Andy's bruise," said Pepper. "See, his wrist isquite swelled."
"Never mind, I'll meet him, anyway--and beat him, too," declared Andy."Come on--I am ready if you are!"