CHAPTER XVII ANDY SNOW’S DISCOVERY
Leaving the windows, the cadets went back to the doors leading to thehallway. They again called up the man on guard there and asked forJosiah Crabtree.
“We must speak to him,” said Jack. “And if you won’t call him we’ll allrush the doors, break them down, and—well, you know what to expect.”
At first the man wanted to argue again, but presently he becamefrightened and blew a whistle he carried. Then the cadets heardfootsteps approaching.
“What do you want?” came in Josiah Crabtree’s sharp voice.
“They want to talk to you,” answered the guard doggedly. “Said they’dbreak 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 howto 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 futuredo 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 didanything to apologize for. He and Cuddle started the row.”
“Mr. Crabtree, I demand my breakfast!” cried Stuffer. “I am entitled toit—my folks have paid for it—and I am not going to let you swindle meout 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 ourbreakfast,” continued the young major. “You certainly can’t intend tostarve us.”
“We do intend to starve you, until you come to your senses,” saidanother voice in the hallway. It was Pluxton Cuddle who had come up. “AsI have said many times, you eat too much and it has made you saucy,impudent and unreasonable. An empty stomach may bring you to yoursenses.”
“It may make us desperate,” murmured Stuffer. “I am not going to letanybody starve me!”
During this talk there had been considerable pounding on the doors ofvarious other dormitories. Evidently the great majority of the cadetswere held prisoners in their rooms. Now Josiah Crabtree went off to talkat another door, and was followed by the new teacher.
“Boys, I want you to come to order!” called out Jack, to the cadets ofthe two rooms that adjoined each other.
“Going to hand around sandwiches?” questioned Stuffer, dolefully. “Ifyou are, give me about six!”
“Pull up your belt, Stuffer,” was the answer, with a smile. “If youdon’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 wholoved 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 aretold 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 toounreasonable.”
“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 ofpunishment 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 wecan!”
“If possible we ought to keep from further quarrels,” said Jack. “Let usarbitrate if it can possibly be done.”
So it was finally decided, and again Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton Cuddlewere called to one of the doors of the two rooms. In a calm voice Jackexplained to the teachers and pleaded that the whole matter be allowedto rest until Captain Putnam’s return. He said he would vouch for itthat the boys would go back to their studies just as if nothing out ofthe ordinary had happened. He added, that he thought it was a disgraceto bring the strange men to the Hall as guards and he asked that they bedismissed.
It was with difficulty that Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton Cuddle could bemade to listen. The two instructors had talked the matter over betweenthem, and the unreasonableness of the one was bolstered up by the other.They refused to listen to any argument, and stuck by the propositionJosiah Crabtree had first laid down.
“And not a mouthful of food shall any cadet have until he does as wedemand,” said Crabtree.
“And if you try to break out you’ll do it at your peril,” added PluxtonCuddle. And then the two teachers gave the guards in the hallways someinstructions in whispers, and went below again.
It would be hard to define the feelings of the cadets when they wereleft alone once more. Some wanted to break down the doors at once, whileothers spoke of climbing out of the windows, using knotted-togetherbedsheets for that purpose. Still others advised waiting to see whatmight turn up.
“We can all do without our breakfast,” said Jack. “And we can go withoutdinner, 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 muchdamage to the building as possible,” said Andy. “Then he’ll be able toprove to Captain Putnam what a lot of ruffians we are.”
“Maybe you are right,” answered Dale. “I agree with Jack, let us go slowand 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 isthe 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 DaveKearney. “He made old Crabtree boiling mad by throwing the inkwell, andhe started the throwing of things in the mess room.”
It was a dreary wait in the dormitories, and the majority of the boysdid not know what to do with themselves. Joe Nelson started to study butsoon gave it up. One lad had some dominoes and several cadets played adozen games or more.
While this was going on Jack walked around the two rooms and looked intothe various clothing closets. Presently an idea struck him and he calledAndy to his side. The two entered one of the closets, and the acrobaticyouth got up on a shelf and pulled loose a board of the ceiling. Then hewormed 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. “Iwondered what was above it. Andy is such a gymnast I sent him up toinvestigate.”
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 hecalled 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’tcarry them.”
And then, to the amazement of the cadets who assembled in the clothingcloset and near the doorway, the acrobatic you
th passed down four largepaper bags, each filled with something to eat. Then he came downhimself, 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. “Thedoor to the trunk room was unlocked, and from there I passed to a backhallway and down a back stairs to the kitchen and pantry. Fellows, we’vegot Crabtree and Cuddle beaten a mile! We can get all the grub wewant—and have our liberty too!”